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Science
Teachers Workshops on Radioactivity
A Brief
History of the Workshops
The Radiation
Protection Programs in the NJ Department of Environmental
Protection (NJDEP) supported a Board that was tasked with finding
a site for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. This
task ended in 1998 and the Board has been dissolved by Governor
McGreevey's signing of bill S1688 on December 2, 2002.
In the mid-1990's,
the NJDEP and the Board discussed the possibility of hosting a
facility with many municipality representatives and members of
the public. It was apparent that the general public knew very
little of the properties of radioactive materials. The greatest
influence on their knowledge appeared to come from the emotional
reactions to atomic bomb deployment and testing, Three Mile
Island and Chernobyl. The benefits of nuclear power generation,
nuclear medicine disagnostics and therapy, and the use of
radioactive materials used in the manufacture of many everyday
products never appeared to be considered.
After 1998 the NJDEP
and the Board started an educational initiative to educate the
public on basic concepts of the use of radioactive materials, by
providing training for middle school and junior high school
teachers. Our first science teacher workshop was held in July
2000 at the Grover Middle School in West Windsor, NJ. In 2001 we
held summer workshops at Bordentown High School and Montclair
State University. In 2002, workshops were held in the Reynolds
Middle School in Hamilton, NJ and also Montclair State
University. In 2003, workshops were held in Bridgewater -Raritan
High School and the Carl Sandberg School in Matawan, NJ. Each
three days of classroom work was followed by a ½ day
educational tour of a facility that uses radioactive materilas in
research. We have visited Bristol Myers Squibb, Wyeth Ayerst,
Hoffman La-Roche, Merck, Inc., Princeton University, Aventis US,
and Rutgers University.
Middle school and
high school teachers, hired by the NJDEP, present the material
that staff of the NJDEP has helped them learn. There are guest
presentations on radiology, nuclear power generation and radon.
Participating teachers digest the material and discuss how they
would develop lesson plans on some of this material for their
students. Each participant receives generous handouts and
references, a certificate, approximately 21 professional
development hours, and a $350 stipend.
For information on
any future workshop contact Ed Truskowski,
ed.truskowski@dep.state.nj.us |
