Radioactive Decay

The main presentation is a PowerPoint with animated sequences showing the radioactive decay series of uranium 238.

Support Material
Readme (instructions for whole lesson)
Learning Outcomes (PowerPoint)
Starter Activity (PowerPoint and Worksheet)
Main Activity (PowerPoint with worksheets and answer sheets)
Lesson Notes (hand-out)
Plenary Activity (PowerPoint and worksheet)

It is intended for all science teachers but particularly those who are not physics specialists. It is, primarily, aimed at 14 to 16 year old pupils but can also be used at a higher level as a precursor to a more in-depth study of this topic. Normally, the activities would fill a 45 to 60 minute lesson but could be spread over two lessons if needs be.

If you buy this resource, please print the Readme document as it contains the instructions and details of the files included.

Learning Outcomes
The learning outcomes are based on Bloom’s taxonomy of hierarchical classification: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The lesson title and learning outcomes are:

Why does uranium turn into lead in 4.5 billion years?
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge

• to recognise the effect that radioactive decay has on the atomic number and the mass number of a radioisotope
  Analysis
• to calculate the change in atomic number and mass number due to alpha and beta emissions

Differentiation
The activities have varying degrees of differentiation; please refer to the Readme document.