Lesson Plan in Environmental Science

Science 8a
Name: Carah Jean A. Hurtado Schedule: T 9-11 Th10-11
Grade & Section: 8-Gemini Allotted Time: 2 hours

I. Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students must have:
1. solved a problem regarding on the current issue of a nuclear power plant here in the
Philippines,
2. enumerated the biological effects and uses of radiation through debate,
3. compared the ionizing and penetrating powers of α, β and γ radiations, and
4. explained the importance of nuclear energy.

II. Subject Matter: Nuclear Energy

References:
1. Gayon, E.2011. Our Changing Environment 2nd Edition Textbook. Diwa Learning
Systems Inc., Makati City, Philippines. Pp 264-277
2. Cano, M, Et Al.2010. Dynamic Science An Integration Of Physical & Biological
Sciences Modular Approach 2nd Edition. Vibal Publishing House Inc. Pp. 94-112
Materials: Book, Slideshow presentation, Articles
Teaching strategies: Activity Method (Issue-Based Approach), Brainstorming
Method, Debate, Discussion

III. Procedure:

Teacher’s Activity Students’ Activity

a. Preparation Good morning, class! Jorigae,
please lead the prayer for us. Our father …. Amen.
Good morning, Ma’am!
Good morning class! I’m glad
your seats are properly arranged
today. Very good. Keep it up,
okay?
Who’s absent today? None, Ma’am.
Very good class. I hope that you
could maintain that perfect
attendance for the rest of the
school year.
b. Motivation Now, since you already have
groups, right? So I want you to
stay in your groups.
You will be given cut out papers
and you have to puzzle out the
sentence that can be formed out
of those paper within five
minutes.
(Correct Answer:
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS
OF THE BATAAN NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT)
1st group to finish: 10 points
2nd group to finish: 9 points
3rd group to finish: 8 points
4th group to finish: 7 points
5th-8th group to finish: 6 points (The students begin to arrange the
words)
c. Lesson Proper The students will be given an
article entitled “The future
prospects of the Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant”. They will discuss
the article for 15 minutes and
come up with a conclusion that
Philippines should or should not
use a nuclear power plant.

After 15 minutes, each group will

report their discussion with the
group.

The report should answer the

following:
1. Why should we/should
not use nuclear power
plants in our country?
2. What will be the
advantages/disadvantages
of using nuclear power
plants?
3. If you do not agree to
revive the Bataan nuclear
power plant, what would
be the other means for us
to have enough energy
sources? (Students begin to discuss and
afterwards, report their discussions
in the class.)
Thank you class for sharing your
ideas.
With the activity that you have
done, what do you think is our
lesson today class? About Nuclear Energy, Ma’am.
Yes, Ada. Thank you.
Let’s now tackle nuclear energy. I
assume that you have read about
nuclear energy already. Who
among you knows what nuclear
energy is?
Anyone? Yes, Ariane. Nuclear energy is harnessed from
changes occurring in unstable
atomic nuclei.
Very good, Ariane. And those
nuclear changes you made
mention may occur naturally or
may be artificially induced.
When we talk about nuclear
energy, radioactivity is one close
term that we could immediately
associate with it, right? What is
radioactivity by the way? It is when unstable nuclei
disintegrate spontaneously and emit
ionizing radiations. Atoms with
unstable nuclei have to reach
stability, that these atoms give off,
 or emit, the excess energy or mass
Very good, Gian! Now, I have
here a picture of the types of
ionizing radiation. What are the
names of the types of ionizing
radiation class? Alpha, beta and gamma.
Very good! In what way is alpha
different from the other two
ionizing radiation? Yes, Jason? Alpha particles are positively
charged and are made up of two
protons and two neutrons from the
atom’s Nucleus.
Yes! Good. Who can add to
Jason’s idea? Alpha particles have the highest
ionizing power but have the least
penetrating effect.
Very good, Beryl. So why do you
think so it has the least
penetrating effect? Yes, Miah? It is because it takes energy to
produce more ion pairs, the energy
of the alpha rays is spent fast as
they produce more ion pairs.
Very good. I hope we are clear
with regards to alpha particles.
Do have something to clarify? None, Ma’am.
Okay then, let’s proceed with the
beta particles. Anyone who has an
idea about beta particles? Yes,
Kaye? Beta particles are small, fast-
moving particles with β a negative
electrical charge that are emitted
from an atom’s nucleus during
radioactive decay.
Very good, Kaye. Any other idea? It would take a thin sheet of
aluminium to stop beta rays.
Good, Rigil. Can you now
understand the difference between
alpha rays and beta rays class?
Very good. So now let’s go over Yes ma’am.
the third type. Anyone of you
here knows what is the third type?
(Most of the students raised their
Yes, Kent? hands)
Very good, Kent. Anyone here Gamma rays ma’am.
who can define gamma rays? Yes,
Clyde?
Gamma rays are weightless packets
of energy called photons and it is
pure energy. Gamma rays are often
emitted along with alpha or beta
Very good Klyde. How about the particles during radioactive decay.
idea of Gian?
It has the least ionizing power but
Very good. Let’s take a look at have the highest penetrating ability.
this picture.
Alpha particles come from the
decay of the heaviest radioactive
elements such as uranium, radium
and polonium.
While the beta particles come
from certain unstable atoms such
as hydrogen-3 (tritium), carbon-
14 and strontium-90.
Lastly, gamma rays are from
technetium-99m (the most
commonly used radioactive
material in nuclear medicine),
iodine-125, iodine-131, cobalt-57,
and cesium-137.
Any questions? Yes, Nicole?
Ma’am is there a different effect if
the radiation source is within the
Yes, take a look at this picture. body?
(the pictures shows the
penetrating ability of the ionizing
radiation)
What did you observe, Krylov?
I observed that among the three, the
gamma rays are the most
Very good. In here, you will see penetrating.
that alpha particles cannot
penetrate the outer dead layer of
skin and can be stopped by a
sheet of paper. How about the
beta particles, Christine?
A thin sheet of aluminium or almost
any other metals can stop beta
Very good, how about the gamma particles.
rays Dawn?
Gamma rays can only be stopped by
Regarding to your question a thick lead.
while ago, when the radiation
source is outside the body the
alpha and beta rays are not as
dangerous as gamma rays. Why
do you think so Shiena?
It is because most alpha rays can be
stopped by the skin. Although alpha
particles have the highest ionizing
power it has the least penetrating
ability while beta rays have
Very good. However, if the intermediate properties.
energy source is within the body,
alpha particles are particularly
dangerous. Why do you think so
Oli?
It is because the greater the ionizing
ability they leave behind more ions
Very good, Oli. Do you have and molecular debris.
questions?
Okay very good. Are you familiar None, ma’ am.
with the word half-life class?
The rate of radioactive decay Yes, ma’ am.
follows a natural law, unaffected
by external conditions such as
temperature, climate, humidity
and air pressure.
The rate of decay can be gauged
from the half-life (t1/2) which is
constant for a given radioactive
element.
What is the definition of half-life
class? Yes, Malcolm?
It is the time required for one-half
of number of atoms originally
Very good, Malcolm. For present in the sample to decay.
example, strontium 90 (90Sr) has a
half-life of 28 years.
Starting with 10g of sample, 5g of
90
Sr will remain after 28 years,
2.5 g after 56 years, 1.24 after 84
years, 0.625 g after 112 years,
0.3125 after 140 years and so on.
Did you understand what half-life
class is?
Can you give another example, Yes ma’am.
Zaira?
Carbon-14 ma’am. It has a half-life
Very good, can you give another of 5730 years.
one, Dave?
Hydrogen-3 which has a half-life of
Very good, please add another 12.3 years.
one, Alex.
Technicium-99m has a half-life of 6
Very good. Some isotopes have hours.
short lifetimes while the other has
long lifetimes, those isotopes that
have billion years of half-life.
Who knows how the activity of
radioactive atoms is expressed?
Yes, Cynthia?
Very good, Cynthia. A curie is It is expressed in curie (Ci) ma’am.
equal to the radioactivity of a
source disintegrating at the rate of
37 billion atoms per second.
Now, radiation can be naturally
occurring such as those from
space and human-made such as
nuclear energy sources and
medical sources.
Class, how radiation can affect a
living system? Yes, Ryan?
It can affect us in two ways,
Okay, thank you. Somatic means? somatic and genetic.
Producing changes on the body
Yes, Ryan. How about genetic, cells during its lifetime.
Charity?
It is the passing along of changes to
Very good. its offspring.
(the class will be divided into 2
groups and they will have a
 debate)
Title:
The use of radiation brings great
advantages to us.
One group will be for the
affirmative side and the other for
the negative side.
(They will be given 10 minutes to
discuss.)
(The debate will be for 30 (The students start to discuss.)
minutes.)
d. Summary Nuclear energy are used mostly
by rich countries since they have
greater demand for energy
however as we can see, there is a
great risk if we misused nuclear
energy.
What did you learn today,
Charity? I learned today that using nuclear
energy may bring us great
advantage but same as those other
energy sources if not used correctly
it will give us disadvantages to the
extent that it will cause our lives.
Very good, any other else, Jacob? I learned that radiation can be found
everywhere. It is used to treat
disease especially cancer and used
for x-rays however if we
accumulate radiation inside our
body it will damage our cells and
other body organs.
Very good. How about the
learning of Shyra? I learned that radiation could either
be ionizing or non-ionizing. It is
present also in space and can be
accumulated inside the body
through the water we drink, the
food we eat and the air we breathe.
Basically, radiation is everywhere.
Very good, how about you Jana? I learned that nuclear energy uses
the decay of the heaviest
radioactive elements and could
harm us. If we don’t have the right
technology and knowledge, we
might as well not use nuclear
energy.
Very good, how about you
Dinsel? For me, we should start to use
nuclear energy because facing the
fact that we are increasing our
demand for energy sources, we
must find ways to get a large
amount of source and nuclear
energy is a good way. I think now is
the time for us to embrace the
knowledge and advantage of having
nuclear power plants using nuclear
 energy.
Very good class. I
can see that you have learned a
lot in our class today.

IV. Evaluation

In a ½ sheet of paper cut crosswise

1. Write the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy. ( 10 points)

V. Assignment

In a one whole sheet of paper, write a reflection based on what you have learned or
realize during the reporting and debate.

 Minimum of 3 paragraphs and maximum of 5 paragraphs

 Follow correct margin and indention
 10 points

VI. Resources
Any resources will do.