Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: radiation sources

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How will you:

• develop the model of the nuclear atom
• maintain the connection between randomness for an individual nucleus and predictability over an ensemble
• keep the atomic electrons out of the model
• draw on existing understandings of energy to separate nuclear and atomic processes

Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.

Focusing on the physics:

Representing–noticing–recording. How will you:

• separate transmutations from annihilations
• relate different representations of exponential decay
• relate emissions to transmutations
• explain why some nuclei are radioactive and some not

Teacher Tip: Connecting what is experienced with what is written and drawn is essential to making sense of the connections between the theoretical world of physics and the lived-in world of the children. Don't forget to exemplify this action.