High energy (ionizing) radiation is emitted as the unstable atoms of radioactive materials transition to a stable state. Ionizing radiation comes from both natural sources, such as the atmosphere and soil and rock, and manmade sources, such as medical X-rays.

We benefit from many uses of radiation but it can also pose serious health risks, leading to two major questions:

• How big a risk does radiation pose to our families, our environment, and to future generations?
• What should individuals and society do to ensure that the benefits of radiation are not outweighed by the risks?

The National Safety Council has created a kit to help teachers explore these questions and others with their students. The new kit is available in the United States FREE to high school teachers to help educate students about radiation and risk. Single copies of the guidebook are available to the general public in the United States. For information on ordering multiple copies, please email Donald Gooding.

A Resource Kit for High School Science Teachers
The Understanding Radiation Resource Kit contains:
Two 10-minute videos

• "A Look at Radiation” – an overview of radiation as part of our everyday lives.
• "Managing Radiation” – a look at how federal, state, and local agencies manage radiation.

Guidebooks

• “Understanding Radiation in Our World” – a 60-plus page book with in-depth discussion of radiation related issues (also available online as a portable document format (pdf) file).
• A Companion Guide for high school science teachers with suggested classroom activities and a lesson plan on radiation related risk (aligned with learning goals in national science education standards). (This teacher's supplement is also available as a pdf file.)

• A set of overheads (16) and handouts (14) for use in conjunction with the risk analysis lesson plan.

• A poster (11” by 14”) summarizing nuclear science issues (produced by the Contemporary Physics Education Project and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

A journalist's supplement is also available as a pdf file.

The kit was developed through a cooperative agreement between the National Safety Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To order your Understanding Radiation Kit, e-mail your request to ehc@nsc.org or fill out the information below and mail or fax to: