There have been many driving questions we’ve studied, and investigated throughout this year in PLP. We have studied what the nature of evil was, how are the rules made, foundations for futility, and finally we studied how fear is used as a political, defensive, and cultural tool. This last question was investigated throughout our third term in PLP, and here is how it went!
The driving question of: “How was fear used as a defensive, political, and cultural tool” was given to us at the beginning of our final term. This question was imposed to drive our inquiry as we explored three case studies: the Atomic Era and the resulting Cold War, the rise of American organized crime, and the unconventional growth and development of Las Vegas. These were the many different topics that we investigated, and learned about how the influences of fear was used. We watched movies such as China Syndrome, and other documentaries surrounding the topic of nuclear energy and the atomic era. We were assigned to study these movies and documentaries, and create a learning portfolio post about them. This is when I wrote my Nuclear Fear post.
Radiophobia: How the Fear of Nuclear Power is Killing Our Enviroment
Viva Las Vegas! Our studies had transitioned over, and focused on the mob in Vegas, Las Vegas’s unconventional growth, and many other factors on the sin city. All of this was in preparation for our Arizona/Nevada trip. This trip was our big trip for PLP 11, and I was extremely excited for it. The trip was designed for us to learn first hand about Las Vegas, the Atomic Era, the Cold War, and The Mob. Each student, before leaving, was required to create a driving question to focus on in this trip. These driving questions were going to become essays when we arrived home, and then transformed into video essays. An example of great video essay’s are the ones created by Adam Westbrook. Before leaving on our trip, our class created our driving questions. I had no struggle creating my driving question, and almost immediately had one. This driving question was: “How did the end of WWII bring Las Vegas into the eyes of the mob as a potential money making and tourism haven?”. I left with my class on our trip with this driving question in mind, ready to investigate and interview.
Arizona and Las Vegas were both amazing. Within the first four days in Arizona, we visited the Pima Air and Space Museum, Boneyard, the Biosphere II, National Parks, The Titan Missile Museum, and many great diners and lunch’s. I acquired some interesting opinions and facts through interviews at some of the museums, all going towards my question relating the mob. I had an amazing time learning, and spending bonding time with my buddies, while in Arizona. We learned a great deal on a vast amount of topics throughout all of the places we visited.
It was time for the PLP gang to take on Las Vegas. This part of the trip is what I was most excited for, as there was a high amount of fun and enjoyment on our agenda. We visited places such as the mob museum, the museum of Nevada’s history, the Atomic Testing museum, and many more greats places. Something very unfortunate had happened to me the day we got to Vegas, and lingered for the next few days. I had somehow gotten very sick, causing me to throw up 14 times on the first day alone. This held me back from some activities on our first day, but I powers through the next few says while I still did not feel 100%. Thankfully I still had an amazing time in the sin city, and learned a great deal. While I was in Vegas, it had come to my attention that the driving question I had created for the project, and conducted interviews for, was insufficient. I had to create a new one, and there was only a few days left in Las Vegas. I had a great deal of trouble coming up with a driving question in those last few days, due to the pressure I had of creating one. I thought up a question surrounding gambling in Las Vegas, but did not fully develop this question until about a week after returning from the trip.
Once we had arrived back home, I worked with the teachers to fully develop my question. The final driving question I had decided on was: “Las Vegas had altered the face of gambling throughout its prolonged history, and turned it into a source of substantial income to support and expand, yet how did this significant city turn gambling from sin to salvation?”. I was excited to work on this question, yet there was one major problem. I had no interviews on this topic that I had done in Las Vegas, so I had to improvise. I contacted two individuals, who were very knowledgable on gambling in Las Vegas, and asked them some questions over email. One of the people I interviewed was Professor Michael Green of UNLV, and the other was the head on international gambling of UNLV, Bo Bernhardt. This was my way of improvising interviews to gain a professional viewpoint on my project. I then completed multiple drafts of an essay, which would later transform into a video essay. Here is my essay.
After getting an immense amount of revisions in my essay, I then completed multiple drafts of my video. This video took a very long time to produce, and I hope that I clearly answers my driving question to you.