Manhattan Project2
After our big Disney World trip last year, our class was exited to have the privilege of going on another big trip this year. In September, we where introduced two options for a possible field study. We could take the first trip and explore the Manhattan project in New Mexico, or we could take the second trip later in the year, dive into the Cold War and go to Nevada. I obviously consulted my mother, as to which option I should go for. She thought I should take the New Mexico trip, as the itinerary looked like we would hit more cool landmarks and museums. I listen to my mom so I agreed, and here starts the adventure of the Manhattan Project Project.
We started off this project by refreshing our historical significance lens. We completed a C-E-R writing piece, which stands for claim, evidence, reasoning. I chose to write about the invention of the printing press and prove its significance. I’ve always loved the story of the printing press, and believed in its significance, but making a C-E-R makes you lay out researched facts and reasoning to prove your point. This was difficult for me to get the hang of, and took me a handful of revisions. I’m now more comfortable with the C-E-R format, and I think it would take me less time to complete one in the future.
Building Knowledge
The next step, and our first delve into the subject matter of this project, is building knowledge. For a good couple weeks, we learned about the creation of the Manhattan Project, the building of the Los Alamos research facility and Nuclear Fusion and Fission. We did this through lectures from our teachers.
New Mexico
Our final product was creating an Ebook proving the historical significance of the Manhattan Project. With this in mind, we took our research into groups and came up with ideas for what our book would look like. Less than a week into our book creation, a portion of our class (including me) left for New Mexico. Two learners from each group went on this trip, and I got to go with my friend Brooke. The purpose of our trip, was to bring back crucial evidence to support the claims we were making in our book. We set out to gather photo, video and interviews to put in our book. We had scripts and shot-lists to ensure we got what we needed.
Our New Mexico trip had twelve students, and we were there for 9 days. We fit in almost everything related to the manhattan project that New Mexico had to offer. We went to the Los Alamos research town, the trinity test site, and a handful of museums on the way. One I found particularity interesting was the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. We got to tour this museum and it had dozens of nuclear missile replicas, which I thought were pretty cool to read about. Additionally we went to many locations and museums that didn’t have anything to do with the manhattan project, like Roswell’s UFO Museum and Carlsbad Caverns National park. These placer were all super cool to visit, and let us explore the diverse cultures and things to see in New Mexico. Brooke and I successfully got lots of footage, and interviews on our trip, and were eager to bring them home to our group.
Final Product
As soon as we got back, it was right to work. The rest of our group at home had been working on the design, chapters and writing for our book. You can read their blogs here:
Arianne, Brooke, Cole, Nolan, Sepaus.
With the footage Brooke and I brought back, we started putting together the pieces of our book. My role for much of our time on this book, was making videos to insert. I took our videos, pictures and voice-overs, and added resources from online, to make a couple films to accompany our book.
Regrettably, by the time our book was finished, we had a completely different angle and point to make. This meant that much of the footage we’d taken was irrelevant to our book. Unfortunate as this was, this shows something that we have to overcome in almost every project. Finding ways over, around, or through obstacles is a skill we’ve had to develop over the years. Being able to “pivot” as PLP says, and chose a new direction to move your work into is a crucial part of every project.
Competencies
Technically speaking, there were no competencies specifically worked on during this project. I did however felt like we improved on some of our critical and creative thinking skills. Those of us who went on the trip and the group members who helped plan used our preparation skills, to ensure that we had shot-lists scripts and interview questions planned out. Additionally, and identical to every other project we do, we worked on our collaborating and communicating skills. This was the most apparent growth during this project. Every day we were in class was packed with brainstorming, peer critique, asking for help and collaborating. My team worked really well as a group, and managed to assign tasks, and manage work highly effectively. Finally, our whole group was super engaged and helpful during this project. We all learned a lot and were happy with our final product, and being proud of your work is super important to me.
The Fallout
I’m super happy with the way this project went, and proud of my group for being able to pivot, and persevere and produce a really cool book. I learned a lot about historical significance, the history of the atom bomb and nuclear fission/fusion. Thank you all for reading, this has been the Manhattan Project Project.
Best wishes, Declan.