Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post! This was a huge project so I’m going to do my best to try and cover everything…I learned so many things inside and outside the classroom that I’m excited to share! I hope you enjoy 🙂

Driving Question – How did the development of the atomic bomb change the world?

Answer – The development of the of the atomic bomb changed the whole world as we know it. In a speech that we read that was written and delivered by Robert Oppenheimer, he talked about how the development wasn’t a huge step for humanity but more of a leap in science. I completely disagree with this. When you really thing about it, the fact that we’ve developed a weapon that could wipe out our existence as we know it is terrifying and has warped my view of the world. I’m sure this is the same for many other people around the world. Besides this point, the Manhattan Project is the reason the science of nuclear fission and fusion are creating positive change in our world today. To back this claim up, I have an entire book that my group and I wrote. 

To start off this project, we did a C-E-R (claim, evidence, reasoning) writing piece. This was super was a good way to start because it let me practice my historical significance. It also let me see where I needed to improve. I originally decided to write mine on COVID-19, but quickly realized that it was too soon to know the long term effects which is a key piece of determine historical significance. So I switched to the discovery of insulin. This was interesting to research because I didn’t know very much about it. While I learned a lot about the discovery of insulin, I also learned the important life skill that is revision and knowing that it’s okay to pivot if what you’re doing isn’t working.

Next up, we built our knowledge. This doesn’t happen very often in PLP but we were given a few lectures and took notes. By doing this, we gained general knowledge and back ground information of the Manhattan Project. This was useful because even though I had watched Oppenheimer in theatres, this gave me a more in-depth understanding and was useful in writing our book. 

Then, we started coming up with a design and theme for our book. This took a very, very, very long time. So long in fact, that we were still deciding on a theme when Theyrn and I were on the field study. If I were to go back and do this project, I would definitely try to manage our time better with deciding the theme so that this wouldn’t happen again. Because of how long it took for us to decide on a theme, it cut into our time for research, graphic designing, and writing. After all of the debating and going back and forth, we went with my idea of having a compilation of news clippings to tell the story of the atomic bomb. At the time I thought this was an original idea, but after talking with other people from different groups, I found out this was actually a somewhat common theme. Oh well. Below is our final product ⬇️

Half way through this project, Theryn and I went to New Mexico. What’s in New Mexico? You might ask. Well, literally everything related to the Manhattan Project. Ok, not everything but a lot. For example, Los Alamos, the Trinity Test Site, and tons of museums that are about the project. Theryn and I recorded all of the media for the book at these places. This included videos, interviews, photos, and audio recordings. For example, while waiting to drive to the Trinity Test site, I got an interview with some protesters who are called downwinders. They were downwind of the test site and got radiation poisoning. Then when we drove a ways to the actual test site, I got an interview with someone who completely disagreed with the protesters and thought that what they were saying was fake. It was really interesting to see the contrasting opinions and it added a really nice touch to the book. 

One of the first places we went to while we were on the filed study was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. While we were waiting in line, we started talking to an elderly couple in front of us. After talking to them for a few minuets, we found out that the gentleman was born and had grown up in Los Alamos. His dad was a meteorologist and worked with Oppenheimer to determine if the weather would be good enough to do the test. We got an amazing interview with him but unfortunately there was a mariachi band playing in the back. I learned some really interesting things from talking to him nether the less. You can watch the interview below ⬇️ 

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When we came back, it was grind time. I decided to make a section in the book which I think extended my learning because I didn’t have to and it was actually a lot of extra work and thinking. We had different clips and things that Theryn and I collected along the way connected to our book but we didn’t necessarily have a section for them. So I made one. It took me a while to come up with an idea, but in the end it turned out really cool. We had some videos on Roswell, the petroglyphs created by ancient Pueblo people, and on the downwinder protesters which I talked about above. I revised this piece of the book more times than I can or would like to count. However, it was totally worth it. I’m super proud of the work that I did. Below you can see my section of the book ⬇️ 

Overall, I’m super proud of this project. Going to New Mexico was an amazing experience and was super fun. I learned a lot more then I would have in the class room by being hands on with my learning. At the bottom of this post, I’ll put a slide show with my favourite pictures from the trip. I learned a lot about the Manhattan Project of course, but in the bigger picture, I learned a lot about communication, teamwork, and how important it is to revise your work. 

Thanks to my amazing team (Teva, Max, Ben, Theyrn)!!

Thanks for reading : )

Best wishes,

-Dana

P.S. Here are some pictures from the trip! One is more informational and one is more fun : )