This illustrated lesson provides students with many illustrations, hyperlinked articles, and essential questions that can be used to create their own PowerPoint project.

1. Nuclear Power: Safe
Solution or Future
Disaster
Research Projects for Students
By
Dean R Berry, Ed. D.

2. The Mission
You are the chairperson of the
Federal Energy Commission. The
Congress has passed a law that
requires your commission to
explore the safety and reliability of
nuclear power plants. You will then
need to develop a proposal to
support or not support the
expansion

3. The Focus
In order to get started, you will need to
research the safety issues regarding the
use of nuclear power plants in populated
areas of the United States and make a
determination whether or not the U.S.
should expand the use of nuclear energy.

4. Essential Questions
• Use the following questions to guide your research.
• 1. How well does nuclear power work in other
countries like France and Japan?
• 2. What is the safety record of nuclear power
plants?
• 3. How well have the current nuclear power plants
in the United States performed? Have there been
any significant problems?
• 4. Do the risks of operating nuclear power plants
out weigh the benefits?

5. Begin Your Internet Research
• Consulting different sources about your topic
requires the use of critical reading skills to
help determine the reliability of each source.
• Identifying an author’s main points and
evaluating supportive evidence is an
essential task in verifying the importance
and validity of an author’s argument.
Complete the following assignment and turn
it in with your research notes before you
begin writing your 2-3 page proposal.

6. Evaluation of Sources Assignment
In order to complete the research
requirement, you will need to read and review
8-12 of the following internet sources and
take notes. As you read your sources
carefully, use the essential questions that
have been provided to gather relevant
information about your topic. After reviewing
your 8-12 sources, select three of them and
provide a thorough analysis of each by
completing the following questions.

7. As you read your internet
articles, look for supportive
evidence. Do not accept the
author’s argument or point of
view unless strong supporting
evevidence is provided.

8. The evidence must be in the text!

9. Evaluating Sources Assignment
Select three articles and answer 5 of the 9 questions for each article.
• 1. Is there a message or main idea presented in the text?
What in the text led you to that conclusion?
• 2. Is the author trying to convince the reader of
something? What? How do you know this?
• 3. If the author is comparing something, what is being
compared and what makes the comparison effective?
• 4. Has the author used any words, phrases, or sentence
structures to create a particular effect or convey a
meaning? Explain and give examples from the text.
• 5. Does the author use any words that may have more
than one meaning? Identify the words and their multiple
meanings.

10. • 6. Read between the lines and select a point that you
think the author is making without directly saying it. How
do you know you can infer this meaning from what the
author is saying?
• 7. Is there anything missing from the text that you
expected to find? Why might the author have left that out
of the text?
• 8. Do you have any reason to question the validity or
reliability of the author’s supporting evidence? Explain
your concerns about the evidence presented by the
author.
• 9. Does the author make a claim that is supported by a
source that is considered credible by the academic
community at large? How do you know this?

11. PowerPoint Version Available
The research hyperlinks and PowerPoint images are
available in PowerPoint format. Look under the
Resources tab on our web site. This format will
enable you to hyperlink directly to internet sources and
to change image slides for your own use.

12. World Nuclear Safety
•http://www.world-
nuclear.org/info/safety-and-
security/safety-of-
plants/safety-of-nuclear-
power-reactors/

13. How Safe are Nuclear Power Plants?
•http://www.scientificamerican.c
om/article/how-safe-are-old-
nuclear-reactors-lessons-from-
fukushima/

14. Overview of Nuclear Safety
and Security
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wik
i/Nuclear_safety_and_secu
rity

15. Nuclear Energy: Problems and Promises
Several Articles on Buzzle.com
•http://www.buzzle.com/articles/nu
clear-energy/

16. Nuclear Reactor: How it Works Animation
•https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=1U6Nzcv9Vws

17. Nuclear Safety
•http://science.time.com/20
13/07/08/nuclear-energy-is-
largely-safe-but-can-it-be-
cheap/

18. Is Nuclear Power Safe?
•http://science.howstuffwor
ks.com/environmental/ene
rgy/nuclear-power-
safe.htm

19. Nature and Nuclear Fallout:
Chernobyl and Fukushima
• http://article.wn.com/view/2014/05/06/Nature_adapts_to_Chernob
yl_u/

20. Nuclear Safety
•http://www.greenpeace.org/internation
al/en/campaigns/nuclear/safety/

21. Nuclear Power Accidents
•http://www.ucsusa.org/our-
work/nuclear-
power/nuclear-power-
accidents#.VKYUUCvF-T0

22. Are Nuclear Power Plants Safe?
•http://www.ucsusa.org/our-
work/nuclear-power/nuclear-
power-accidents#.VKYUUCvF-
T0

23. Nuclear Power Plant Risks?
•http://www.physics.isu.edu
/radinf/np-risk.htm

24. Nuclear Power is Safe
•http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/
2011/07/23/nuclear-power-is-
extremely-safe-thats-truth-
about-what-learned-from-japan/

25. Using Graphs and Charts
as Primary Sources
Use the following slides as
primary source information
and evidence to support your
arguments. Take careful notes
so you can use the data as you
write your paper.

26. Primary Document

27. Primary Documents

28. Primary Documents

29. Primary Document

30. Primary Document

31. Primary Document

32. Primary Document

33. Primary Document

34. Primary Document

35. Primary Document

36. Primary Document

37. Write a Proposal
Use your notes to write a two or
three page proposal to
recommend whether or not
nuclear power plants are safe to
operate in the U.S. Provide
specific information to support
your proposed ideas with clearly
articulated arguments and
sufficient evidence.
37

38. Your Proposal
• Define the
issue/problem
• Outline the details of
your argument
• Cite supporting
research
• Project possible
roadblocks
• Specify contingency or
back up plans
38

39. Evaluate and Verify Research Sources
• Internet sources will vary greatly in accuracy
and reliability
• Consider the expertise and reputation of each
website
• Compare facts and information of different
internet sources
• Select information that is supported on
several reliable websites
• Question or refute information that lacks
consistent support

40. Fact checking can be a useful way
of verifying information that may
be unreliable. The following
websites may help.
http://www.snopes.com/
http://www.factcheck.org/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blog
s/fact-checker/

41. Develop a Writing Plan
• Determine what your
main point will be, and
write a topic sentence
that provides focus for
your essay.
• Choose several main
ideas that support your
topic sentence.
• Sort your information
into supporting details
with facts and
examples.
41

42. Use the five
paragraph
essay to write
your paper.
42

43. 43
Five Paragraph Essay
Outline
Introduction
What is my topic
sentence?
Body-Main Ideas
With supporting
details
Conclusion
How can I summarize
my paragraph?
How can I rephrase my
topic sentence?

44. Details Must Support the Main Ideas
Provide specific
facts, examples,
and reasons for
each main idea
in the body of
your essay

45. Create an Outline
Topic Sentence___________________________________
_______________________________________________
A. Main Idea_____________________________________
_______________________________________________
Details/Evidence__________________________________
_______________________________________________
Details/Evidence__________________________________
_______________________________________________
B. Main Idea_____________________________________
_______________________________________________
Details/Evidence__________________________________
________________________________________________
45

46. Prepare to Write
•Use your outline and
write a five paragraph
essay on your topic.
•As you write your rough
draft, it will be very
important to use special
words that enable you to
transition smoothly from
one idea to the next.
46

47. Transition Words
As you view these
words, select the words
that help you make
transitions smoothly
from one idea to the
next.
• as a result
• such as
• for example
• nevertheless
• for that reason
• finally
• at this time
• therefore
• furthermore
• in addition
• in conclusion
• as well as 47

48. Review, Edit, and Rewrite
1. Re-read your essay several
times.
2. How can you improve your
sentences to communicate more
clearly?
3. Are your main ideas supported
by examples and details?
4. Exchange papers with another
student and read each other’s
essay out loud.
5. Make final corrections and write
the final draft of your polished
essay. 48

49. Once you have completed your independent
research and written your paper, you will
demonstrate your knowledge of the topic by
creating a PowerPoint that illustrates the main
points of your research. Begin your powerpoint
by stating your topic and presenting your main
points with supporting evidence.
Convert your Knowledge
into Action
49

50. Creating Your PowerPoint
•Use some of the following slides with
images and create an illustrated
PowerPoint presentation about your
research topic. Change the images
and content as needed. Use a
minimum of ten slides with
illustrations and text.

51. PowerPoint Version Available
The research hyperlinks and PowerPoint images are available in
PowerPoint format. Look under the Resources tab on our web
site. This format will enable you to hyperlink directly to internet
sources and to change image slides for your own use. In order to
merge the image slides with your own PowerPoint, you will need to
click on the insert tab and and click on new slides. Then click on
reuse slides and browse your files for a copy of the PowerPoint
student project presention(PowerPoint version found under our
resources tab). You will then be able to see the image slides we
have provided for you in the right margin. Click on the slides you
want add to your own PowerPoint.

52. Your Caption Here

53. Your Caption Here
Major Accidents

54. Your Caption Here

55. Your Caption Here

56. Your Caption Here

57. Your Caption Here

58. Your Caption Here

59. Your Caption Here

60. Your Caption Here

61. Your Caption

62. Your Caption Here

63. Your Caption Here

64. Your Caption Here

65. Explosion of Nuclear Power Plant

66. Your Caption Here

67. Your Caption Here

68. Your Caption Here

69. Your Caption Here

70. Your Caption Here

71. Your Caption Here

72. Your Caption Here

73. Your Caption

74. Your Caption Here

75. Chernobyl Caused Birth Defects

76. Chernobyl affected animals as well as humans.

77. Graphic Organizers For Your Project
• The following slides contain graphic organizers that can
be easily adapted to include your content. Click on a
frame and type in your words or information. Erase the
letters that currently occupy the graphic organizer.
These graphic organizers will provide you with a great
way to display key ideas about your topic. Try to include
2 or 3 of these graphic organizers in your PowerPoint
presentation.

81. a

83. 83

85. 85

86. 86

87. 87
Title
a
a
a
a