Colorado School of Mines Teacher Enhancement Program

Do You Know Your 3 R's? Radiation, Radioactivity, and Radon

• Use Geiger counters and cloud chambers to 'see' ionizing radiation in our environment. 
• Explore basic concepts of radioactivity (nuclear emissions, half-life, decay series). 
• Take home the curriculum of 15 activities (plus resources appropriate for Grades 5-12 and beyond) 
• Borrow Teacher Resources kits to use (Geiger counter, cloud chamber, radioactive sources, plus more) 

Course Number: CT-9898-17D
Credit: 1.00 semester credit hours
Location: CSM campus & Denver Federal Center
Date: June 27-29
Time: June 27-28 (8:00am-5:00pm), June 29 (9:00am-12:00pm)

Fees Tuition Fee: $55.00

Check out the class schedule -

Tuesday, June 27th

8:00am Welcome; Introduction of 3R’s/A Brief look at the Curriculum

UNIT 1: WHAT IS RADIATION?

• 8:15am 1-1, Have You Ever Been Exposed to Radiation? 
• 8:30 1-2, Electromagnetic Radiation Spectrum 
• 8:50 1-3, What Are the Sources of Ionizing Radiation? 
• 10:00 A Little History of Ionizing Radiation 
• 10:30 Break 
• 10:45 Info:α, β, & γ 
• 11:00 1-4, I Can See Clearly Now! 
• 11:45 Lunch 
• 12:45pm 1-5, Keep Your Distance! 
• 2:00 1-6, Shields Up! 
• 2:45 Break 

UNIT 2: WHAT IS RADIOACTIVITY?

• 3:00 ‘A is for Atom’ 
• 3:15 2-1, Do You Know Where Your Children Are? 
• 4:15 Follow-up: Decay Series 

Wednesday, June 28th

• 8:00am Decay Series Review 
• 8:15 2-2, Time After Time 
• 8:45 Info: Uranium chemistry 
• 9:00 2-3, Radioactivity in Earth 
• 9:15 2-4, Radioactivity in Water 
• 9:30 2-5, What is Your Personal Ionizing Radiation Dose? 
• 10:00 Follow-up: Units; Safety & Ionizing Radiation (Tom Lehrer, too) 
• 10:30 Break 

UNIT 3: WHAT IS RADON?

• 10:45 3-1, Life Goes On! 
• 11:00 Info: Radon and RDP; Equilibrium and Working Level 
• 11:30 Radon: The Invisible Killer 
• 11:45 Lunch 
• 12:45pm 3-2, Radon in Your Lungs 
• 1:30 Follow-up: Epidemiology 
• 2:00 Hexaflexagons 
• 2:30 Break 
• 2:45 Info: Radon Entry, Watras.... 
• 3:00 3-3, Radon: An “Uninvited” Guest 
• 3:30 Radon: The Invisible Killer 
• 3:45 3-4, Trivia Challenge 
• 4:00 Brainstorming use of curriculum and kits 
• 4:15 Course evaluations, Graduation 

Thursday, June 29th - 9:00am-12:00pm Field Trip - Denver Federal Center Nuclear Reactor

Register early since the class is limited to the first 15 participants. Contact Chris Nichols for course information or questions: cnichols@ecentral.com or 303-674-6477.

Teacher Development Workshop

Interested in learning how to teach creatively about climate change?

CIRES Education Outreach group in collaboration with Inside the Greenhouse and the Colorado Film School, is hosting a 7.5-hour or 15-hour teacher professional development workshop on June 9th at the University of Colorado Boulder. The one-day, 7.5-credit, hands-on workshop will cover how to teach climate science creatively using technology and provide resources for classroom implementation. These strategies link the sciences and the arts through societally important topics, as attendees learn technical skills and topic context. The additional 7.5 credit hours can be earned by producing a short video or other media product about a climate or environmental science topic after the workshop.

This workshop combines tested classroom practices from the NSF-funded Lens on Climate Change project, which has engaged Colorado middle and high school students in climate through filmmaking and the CU Boulder based Inside the Greenhouse course series.

This workshop is intended for middle and high school science, art, and technology teachers. The curricula are aligned to specific Colorado standards in the Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Visual Arts. They welcome interested and passionate teachers who want to bridge their expertise with their colleagues’ to create wide-ranging educational experiences.

They are providing many resources that will support implementation in the classroom.

To apply for this workshop, please visit: https://cires.colorado.edu/outreach/LOCC/training

Teacher Professional development credit is coordinated through University of Colorado Boulder’s Science Discovery Program. If you are interested in earning graduate level credit please indicate this on the application form.