To start this bright and shining year in PLP we are studying World War I. More specifically the Manhattan project. The ‘Manhattan Project’ is just a fancy and professional sounding name for ‘America creating of the first atomic bombs’ There is much more to the Manhattan Project, though, shrouded in secrecy and lies, this top secret development of devastating weapons would lead to major global change. The Manhattan project took place at Hanford Washington, conveniently close to where we live… wink.
We worked on mini projects that I guess are called ‘assignments’ in PLP/HPC/Flight that included writing a letter from the perspective of a person working at Hanford, we then had our letter screened by the government [I mean Chris] I then screened a letter from a classmate (michael) for confidential information like they do in the movies. I also created a character card to really immerse ourselves in the past.
The question that drove us forward is ‘How did the development of the atomic bomb affect the lives of those living in the Hanford area and what role did they play in ushering in the atomic era?’ But the bigger and more impactful idea we intelligent students are supposed to grasp and understand is that ‘Global and regional conflicts have been a powerful force in shaping our contemporary world and identities’
So off we left to Seattle on a cold Wednesday morning to embark on a hands-on field study of the Manhattan project. The main goal of this trip being to capture material at and around Hanford that would enrich our learning and strengthen our projects. Over two half days and two full days, we explored Washington and Oregon. We spent time at Reed College where we were exposed to a real nuclear reactor.
we cruised around the massive Hanford site visiting the landmarks that are scattered in the surrounding area.
visited the REACH museum and finally, we were lucky enough to step into the building where B reactor once operated not too long ago. (this is the reactor btw)
Below I have attached our professionally made itinerary, made by Mr Hughes.
To demonstrate our learning, understanding and performance abilities we were separated into groups of five and tasked with explaining a key part of the Manhattan project and the people working there. Within these groups, the five of us had sub-topics that slid nicely into our project. My group’s project was ‘The Science behind Hanford and the B reactor’ and my sub-topic was ‘the science behind the location of Hanford’. This format follows the style of video that Hughes and Willemse had shown us in class “History in 5” I was with fellow class members Chris | Cashel | Tom | Maria
When I look back and reflect the flaws become apparent, I see the holes and faults within my, and my groups work. I realize now that for a project like this to succeed everyone has to be on the same page. In a project where everyone is dependent on each other to produce quality work your group really is only as strong as your weakest piece. This puts a fire under your group’s ass to all work at the highest level. I can see now that my group was not always on the same page, for a perfect project the segments should blend into one movie and all the different parts should be indistinguishable. I think that for a project like this to work everyone needs to be showing the group their drafts regularly and everyone should be scrutinizing hard on the flaws and errors to fix. Once everyone is happy with each other’s work and everyone is happy with your personal chunk the parts need to blend together not glued. With this subdivision type of work, there comes pros and cons. I think that it is great that one person can’t just carry the group to the finish on their single work, you can see the flaws in everybody’s personal work, and you can see their shining accomplishments. I believe that with more revision and critique my group’s project can only get better.
Here is Tom Clancy to make everyone”s day better.
