Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: radiations that ionise

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How will you:

• deal with perceptions of risk
• draw out children's understandings of radioactive
• connect ionising radiations with other radiations

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 ionisation from contamination
• separate penetrating power from activity
• separate damage done from activity
• connect ionising radiations with other radiations
• explain half-life, connecting this to randomness events, and to safety

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.