WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.125 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:00:02.125 --> 00:00:03.780 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: Instead of saying, analyze 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:06.570 align:middle line:84% this theoretical problem, I said, analyze your toenails. 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:09.690 align:middle line:84% Tell me how much arsenic and gold you've got in your body. 00:00:09.690 --> 00:00:12.660 align:middle line:84% All we study at MIT is the natural world and things 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.930 align:middle line:84% we make out of it, so everything is reducible to practice. 00:00:15.930 --> 00:00:19.440 align:middle line:84% Everything can be real, if you put in the effort. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.060 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Today on the podcast, 00:00:21.060 --> 00:00:23.760 align:middle line:84% we're talking about ionizing radiation 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.660 align:middle line:90% and nuclear engineering. 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:29.000 align:middle line:84% How do you make these things real and tangible? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.360 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: Matter is a form of energy. 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:33.180 align:middle line:84% And once that clicked, everything 00:00:33.180 --> 00:00:34.830 align:middle line:84% seemed to make sense-- radioactive 00:00:34.830 --> 00:00:37.350 align:middle line:84% decay, nuclear reactions, all these things. 00:00:37.350 --> 00:00:40.800 align:middle line:84% I remember that aha moment in this class 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:44.220 align:middle line:84% that I teach as a second-year student back in 2002. 00:00:44.220 --> 00:00:45.840 align:middle line:84% And it's those kind of moments that 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.132 align:middle line:84% made me want to stay in it, because I feel like, wow, I 00:00:48.132 --> 00:00:50.215 align:middle line:90% really know this field now. 00:00:50.215 --> 00:00:52.050 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Welcome to Chalk Radio, 00:00:52.050 --> 00:00:54.750 align:middle line:84% a podcast about inspired teaching at MIT. 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:59.650 align:middle line:84% I'm your host, Sarah Hansen from MIT OpenCourseWare. 00:00:59.650 --> 00:01:02.930 align:middle line:84% The Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation course 00:01:02.930 --> 00:01:07.010 align:middle line:84% at MIT take students from understanding basic physics 00:01:07.010 --> 00:01:10.040 align:middle line:84% to grappling with the core concepts of Einstein's E equals 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:11.660 align:middle line:90% mc squared. 00:01:11.660 --> 00:01:13.490 align:middle line:84% In this episode, we're going to delve 00:01:13.490 --> 00:01:15.530 align:middle line:84% into how this is possible, and what 00:01:15.530 --> 00:01:19.160 align:middle line:84% it takes to make a class that's not only hands-on, but also 00:01:19.160 --> 00:01:21.590 align:middle line:90% capable of evolving daily. 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:24.410 align:middle line:84% My guest is one of the main people that makes this happen, 00:01:24.410 --> 00:01:26.410 align:middle line:90% Professor Mike Short. 00:01:26.410 --> 00:01:29.090 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: This course is all about radiation, 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:32.310 align:middle line:90% both its origins and its uses. 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:36.080 align:middle line:84% So this is the first course on its intro to everything nuclear 00:01:36.080 --> 00:01:38.200 align:middle line:84% that any student at MIT would take. 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.060 align:middle line:84% And a lot of times for students, it's their first modern physics 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:41.930 align:middle line:90% course. 00:01:41.930 --> 00:01:44.420 align:middle line:84% The physics courses that first-year students take 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:48.380 align:middle line:84% are often things that we've known for 100 to 300 years. 00:01:48.380 --> 00:01:51.740 align:middle line:84% And the field of nuclear physics is still evolving. 00:01:51.740 --> 00:01:55.160 align:middle line:84% We're still using nuclear radiation spectra 00:01:55.160 --> 00:01:58.490 align:middle line:84% to detect the presence of water on Mars or the moon. 00:01:58.490 --> 00:02:00.530 align:middle line:84% We're still confirming our knowledge 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:02.780 align:middle line:84% of which particles do and don't exist and why. 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:06.666 align:middle line:84% So this is also intro to modern physics. 00:02:06.666 --> 00:02:11.240 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: So nuclear science and radiation in particular 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.210 align:middle line:84% are emotionally charged topics, you know? 00:02:14.210 --> 00:02:18.410 align:middle line:84% You read on the internet claims like, cell phones cause cancer, 00:02:18.410 --> 00:02:19.820 align:middle line:90% things like that. 00:02:19.820 --> 00:02:23.420 align:middle line:84% How are you preparing students to debunk pseudoscience 00:02:23.420 --> 00:02:25.545 align:middle line:90% and to really serve the public? 00:02:25.545 --> 00:02:27.170 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: We actually spent two weeks 00:02:27.170 --> 00:02:29.570 align:middle line:84% at the end of the class looking at studies 00:02:29.570 --> 00:02:32.690 align:middle line:84% that are false or have exaggerated claims 00:02:32.690 --> 00:02:34.742 align:middle line:84% and teaching students what to look for. 00:02:34.742 --> 00:02:36.200 align:middle line:84% So the first 11 weeks of the class, 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:38.240 align:middle line:84% we teach the students the fundamentals 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:39.590 align:middle line:90% of nuclear science. 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:42.500 align:middle line:84% And then we turn to published articles, and blogs, 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:44.210 align:middle line:90% and other things in the field. 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:46.340 align:middle line:84% And we debunk myths like cell phones 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:48.760 align:middle line:84% cause cancer due to ionizing radiation. 00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:51.050 align:middle line:84% Cell phones don't emit ionizing radiation. 00:02:51.050 --> 00:02:54.020 align:middle line:84% We debunk myths like, the tiniest little bit 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:57.230 align:middle line:84% of irradiation can harm you, when in truth, we 00:02:57.230 --> 00:02:59.690 align:middle line:90% don't have the data for that. 00:02:59.690 --> 00:03:04.640 align:middle line:84% But a lot of misinformation in radiation and nuclear science 00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:08.558 align:middle line:84% is incorporated into culture, into our sort 00:03:08.558 --> 00:03:10.100 align:middle line:84% of collective consciousness, and even 00:03:10.100 --> 00:03:12.950 align:middle line:84% in what's called the linear no threshold model, which says, 00:03:12.950 --> 00:03:15.360 align:middle line:84% every little bit of radiation does harm. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.090 align:middle line:84% We don't know that to be true or false, 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:18.382 align:middle line:90% and it's a good thing we don't. 00:03:18.382 --> 00:03:21.110 align:middle line:84% Because we would need to have exposed tens of millions 00:03:21.110 --> 00:03:22.685 align:middle line:84% of people to low levels of radiation 00:03:22.685 --> 00:03:24.560 align:middle line:84% in a controlled study, which is not something 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:26.760 align:middle line:84% I think is ethically correct to do. 00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:29.000 align:middle line:84% It's also not ethically correct to say 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.490 align:middle line:84% that all radiation causes harm, because we don't know. 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:35.960 align:middle line:84% And I want students to both recognize false science 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:37.790 align:middle line:84% in the field, and recognize when we 00:03:37.790 --> 00:03:40.820 align:middle line:84% don't know enough information to say something confidently, 00:03:40.820 --> 00:03:43.260 align:middle line:84% and be comfortable with that lack of knowledge. 00:03:43.260 --> 00:03:45.407 align:middle line:84% It means there's something new to explore. 00:03:45.407 --> 00:03:47.240 align:middle line:84% But if you don't have something to conclude, 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:48.240 align:middle line:90% don't draw a conclusion. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:49.970 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: Uh-huh. 00:03:49.970 --> 00:03:52.730 align:middle line:84% How does this connect to the irradiated fruit 00:03:52.730 --> 00:03:55.330 align:middle line:90% party that have in the class? 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:55.872 align:middle line:90% What is that? 00:03:55.872 --> 00:03:56.580 align:middle line:90% MIKE SHORT: Yeah. 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:59.390 align:middle line:84% The last day of class, we often have an irradiated fruit party, 00:03:59.390 --> 00:04:01.070 align:middle line:84% where I bring in fruit that could only 00:04:01.070 --> 00:04:04.740 align:middle line:84% be brought into the US because it's irradiated. 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:06.897 align:middle line:84% So there are many fruits that are-- 00:04:06.897 --> 00:04:08.480 align:middle line:84% there many different types of produce, 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:10.490 align:middle line:84% including fruits, that are irradiated, 00:04:10.490 --> 00:04:14.660 align:middle line:84% and it's the only known way to kill all of the insect, viral, 00:04:14.660 --> 00:04:18.860 align:middle line:84% and bacterial pathogens that can wreak havoc on either people 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:20.690 align:middle line:90% or on our crops. 00:04:20.690 --> 00:04:24.260 align:middle line:84% An interesting point of information, Hawaii 00:04:24.260 --> 00:04:26.930 align:middle line:84% and Puerto Rico, despite being part of the US, 00:04:26.930 --> 00:04:29.510 align:middle line:84% are agriculturally distinct areas, 00:04:29.510 --> 00:04:30.950 align:middle line:84% and you are not allowed to simply 00:04:30.950 --> 00:04:32.210 align:middle line:90% import produce from those. 00:04:32.210 --> 00:04:35.030 align:middle line:84% I had an apple confiscated from the airport in Puerto Rico 00:04:35.030 --> 00:04:37.410 align:middle line:84% when I learned that to be the case. 00:04:37.410 --> 00:04:39.110 align:middle line:84% However, if you irradiate foods, like, 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:42.050 align:middle line:84% this is why we can get a lot of pineapples from Costa Rica. 00:04:42.050 --> 00:04:43.580 align:middle line:84% We've started getting mangosteens 00:04:43.580 --> 00:04:46.160 align:middle line:84% in from Thailand, where I didn't know what that fruit was 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:47.930 align:middle line:84% until a few years ago and now, you 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:50.450 align:middle line:84% can find them at H Mart in Cambridge. 00:04:50.450 --> 00:04:53.390 align:middle line:84% A lot of this is because we can kill the pests, 00:04:53.390 --> 00:04:54.920 align:middle line:90% and it doesn't harm the food. 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.170 align:middle line:84% It doesn't make the food radioactive. 00:04:57.170 --> 00:05:00.120 align:middle line:84% But a lot of this is to personalize the science. 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.510 align:middle line:84% So when students eat food that they may or may 00:05:02.510 --> 00:05:06.450 align:middle line:84% not known have been irradiated, they taste good. 00:05:06.450 --> 00:05:07.280 align:middle line:90% They seem safe. 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:09.890 align:middle line:84% And it's one of those things where once it's personalized, 00:05:09.890 --> 00:05:11.390 align:middle line:90% it's not as scary. 00:05:11.390 --> 00:05:14.540 align:middle line:84% When you learn the knowledge and then you see it for yourselves, 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:16.272 align:middle line:84% it becomes a lot more acceptable. 00:05:16.272 --> 00:05:18.230 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Yeah, learning through experience 00:05:18.230 --> 00:05:20.690 align:middle line:90% is very powerful. 00:05:20.690 --> 00:05:22.550 align:middle line:84% What does it mean to you for students 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:24.910 align:middle line:84% to develop fluency in this field? 00:05:24.910 --> 00:05:27.200 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: It's important to be fluent in this field 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:29.780 align:middle line:84% because a cursory knowledge of radiation science 00:05:29.780 --> 00:05:31.200 align:middle line:90% is not enough. 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:34.535 align:middle line:84% I'd say there are a lot of self-proclaimed experts-- 00:05:34.535 --> 00:05:36.470 align:middle line:90% I call them armchair PhDs-- 00:05:36.470 --> 00:05:39.980 align:middle line:84% who have learned a bit of genuine knowledge, but then 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:41.990 align:middle line:90% extrapolate it too far. 00:05:41.990 --> 00:05:43.880 align:middle line:84% And that combined with all the things 00:05:43.880 --> 00:05:46.550 align:middle line:84% we've heard in pop culture, unfortunately 00:05:46.550 --> 00:05:49.670 align:middle line:84% sometimes from celebrities spouting falsehoods 00:05:49.670 --> 00:05:52.220 align:middle line:84% about radiation, or vaccines, or other things 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:55.700 align:middle line:84% that they don't understand, people listen to other people, 00:05:55.700 --> 00:05:58.800 align:middle line:84% and people listen to role models and folks that they look up to. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.920 align:middle line:84% But it's important to be fluent and well-grounded 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.620 align:middle line:84% in the fundamentals so that you can sort out fact from fiction. 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:06.830 align:middle line:84% And I want every student that leaves my class 00:06:06.830 --> 00:06:09.300 align:middle line:84% to be able to recognize something that's incorrect, 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:13.800 align:middle line:84% even if it's told to them by a celebrity, an expert, a parent, 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:15.260 align:middle line:90% a friend, anyone-- 00:06:15.260 --> 00:06:18.380 align:middle line:84% that they know what the reality is, and it shouldn't depend 00:06:18.380 --> 00:06:19.613 align:middle line:90% on the source it comes from. 00:06:19.613 --> 00:06:21.780 align:middle line:84% They should be able to tell whether it's real or not 00:06:21.780 --> 00:06:23.120 align:middle line:84% and verify if the source is genuine. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.140 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: Uh-huh. 00:06:24.140 --> 00:06:27.110 align:middle line:84% And how do you help students develop this fluency? 00:06:27.110 --> 00:06:29.690 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: So it starts off with the fundamentals 00:06:29.690 --> 00:06:30.740 align:middle line:90% of radiation science. 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.410 align:middle line:84% So like any class, we teach all the fundamentals 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:35.450 align:middle line:90% from well-established theory. 00:06:35.450 --> 00:06:39.760 align:middle line:84% But along the way every week, we have labs and personalisation. 00:06:39.760 --> 00:06:41.510 align:middle line:84% Like, for example, the first day of class, 00:06:41.510 --> 00:06:43.635 align:middle line:84% I ask students to bring in their toenail clippings. 00:06:43.635 --> 00:06:44.510 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:06:44.510 --> 00:06:46.190 align:middle line:84% And they usually say, that's disgusting. 00:06:46.190 --> 00:06:46.880 align:middle line:90% What are we doing? 00:06:46.880 --> 00:06:47.630 align:middle line:90% And I say, you'll see. 00:06:47.630 --> 00:06:49.340 align:middle line:84% We're going to put them in the reactor. 00:06:49.340 --> 00:06:51.140 align:middle line:84% And we irradiate their toenail clippings. 00:06:51.140 --> 00:06:53.930 align:middle line:84% And because to some degree, you are what you eat, 00:06:53.930 --> 00:06:57.590 align:middle line:84% some of the elements which we eat and we don't want to, 00:06:57.590 --> 00:06:59.570 align:middle line:84% things like arsenic, or selenium, 00:06:59.570 --> 00:07:02.780 align:middle line:84% or chromium, some of which can be good in small amounts, 00:07:02.780 --> 00:07:04.015 align:middle line:90% bad in large amounts-- 00:07:04.015 --> 00:07:05.390 align:middle line:84% others like arsenic, I'm not sure 00:07:05.390 --> 00:07:06.920 align:middle line:90% if there's a good use of it-- 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:09.230 align:middle line:84% get incorporated into our toenails. 00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:12.500 align:middle line:84% So we activate those toenails by putting them in the reactor. 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:16.220 align:middle line:84% They absorb neutrons and give off characteristic gamma rays, 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:18.710 align:middle line:84% giving away how many atoms of arsenic, 00:07:18.710 --> 00:07:21.200 align:middle line:84% and selenium, and such are incorporated into the toenails 00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:23.570 align:middle line:90% with striking precision. 00:07:23.570 --> 00:07:26.840 align:middle line:84% And so we're able to tell where students come from based 00:07:26.840 --> 00:07:28.760 align:middle line:90% on analysis of their toenails. 00:07:28.760 --> 00:07:33.650 align:middle line:84% We had one student who had a lot of gold in their toenails. 00:07:33.650 --> 00:07:37.160 align:middle line:84% And I said, I thought I asked you guys to clean these off, 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:37.930 align:middle line:90% remove any polish. 00:07:37.930 --> 00:07:40.110 align:middle line:84% And the student said, yeah, I did. 00:07:40.110 --> 00:07:43.340 align:middle line:84% But I live near a gold mining town, and it's in the water. 00:07:43.340 --> 00:07:45.048 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Wow, that's so interesting. 00:07:45.048 --> 00:07:46.965 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: So that's what I mean by personal, 00:07:46.965 --> 00:07:48.950 align:middle line:84% is they discover things about themselves 00:07:48.950 --> 00:07:50.270 align:middle line:90% through nuclear science. 00:07:50.270 --> 00:07:52.430 align:middle line:84% In the problem sense, instead of saying, 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:54.380 align:middle line:84% analyze this theoretical problem, I said, 00:07:54.380 --> 00:07:55.430 align:middle line:90% analyze your toenails. 00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:58.175 align:middle line:84% Tell me how much arsenic and gold you've got in your body. 00:07:58.175 --> 00:07:59.720 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: Right, right. 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:02.133 align:middle line:84% So in the course, you make a point 00:08:02.133 --> 00:08:03.800 align:middle line:84% of saying that the method of instruction 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:09.500 align:middle line:84% is often context first, theory second, and then context again. 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:12.200 align:middle line:84% How does that relate to that method of instruction? 00:08:12.200 --> 00:08:15.060 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: This is an example of that method of instruction. 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:17.120 align:middle line:84% I like to start by opening knowledge gaps 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:19.670 align:middle line:84% rather than spouting theory that someone. 00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:22.540 align:middle line:84% It doesn't usually stick if I just say, here are some facts. 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:23.040 align:middle line:90% Learn them. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.748 align:middle line:84% That's usually in one ear, out the other, 00:08:24.748 --> 00:08:26.022 align:middle line:90% if they're listening at all. 00:08:26.022 --> 00:08:27.980 align:middle line:84% But when you show someone something surprising, 00:08:27.980 --> 00:08:29.210 align:middle line:90% they're fully engaged. 00:08:29.210 --> 00:08:30.910 align:middle line:84% They're always multi-sensory engaged. 00:08:30.910 --> 00:08:32.515 align:middle line:90% They're listening. 00:08:32.515 --> 00:08:34.640 align:middle line:84% In a lot of cases, they're touching, in some cases, 00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:35.468 align:middle line:90% even smelling. 00:08:35.468 --> 00:08:37.010 align:middle line:84% Taste is the sense that we don't tend 00:08:37.010 --> 00:08:39.620 align:middle line:84% to engage in nuclear science, with good reason. 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:40.710 align:middle line:90% [CHUCKLES] 00:08:40.710 --> 00:08:43.610 align:middle line:84% But you can sense, and feel, and hear a lot 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:44.960 align:middle line:90% of things in nuclear science. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:49.400 align:middle line:84% Like yesterday, I was with one of my graduate students. 00:08:49.400 --> 00:08:52.160 align:middle line:84% We were looking at some highly irradiated materials 00:08:52.160 --> 00:08:55.010 align:middle line:84% for a reactor in Idaho, and we heard this little faint 00:08:55.010 --> 00:08:57.630 align:middle line:84% buzzing noise in the Geiger counter. 00:08:57.630 --> 00:08:59.630 align:middle line:84% And if you put your ear up to the Geiger counter 00:08:59.630 --> 00:09:01.400 align:middle line:84% near the radiation source, you can hear 00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:02.900 align:middle line:90% tiny electrical discharges. 00:09:02.900 --> 00:09:04.940 align:middle line:84% You can hear the detector working. 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:08.210 align:middle line:84% And then I want the student to say, why is that? 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.820 align:middle line:84% Why do I hear this fuzzy noise near the detector 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:11.990 align:middle line:90% when it's working? 00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:15.380 align:middle line:84% Then when you explain why, students tend to remember. 00:09:15.380 --> 00:09:17.870 align:middle line:84% Not too many people learn well by being lectured at, 00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:20.660 align:middle line:84% but everyone learns well by opening knowledge gaps. 00:09:20.660 --> 00:09:24.890 align:middle line:84% And you're effectively pulling the information in rather 00:09:24.890 --> 00:09:26.815 align:middle line:84% than us pushing it to the students. 00:09:26.815 --> 00:09:28.190 align:middle line:84% Something I learned from a mentor 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:30.400 align:middle line:90% here is you can't push a string. 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:32.150 align:middle line:84% You want knowledge into a student's brain, 00:09:32.150 --> 00:09:33.108 align:middle line:90% they've got to pull it. 00:09:33.108 --> 00:09:35.126 align:middle line:90% You can't push it. 00:09:35.126 --> 00:09:38.560 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: You made a choice in this iteration of the course 00:09:38.560 --> 00:09:43.070 align:middle line:84% to offer students the ability to do analytical homework 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:45.650 align:middle line:90% or take-home, hands-on labs. 00:09:45.650 --> 00:09:46.598 align:middle line:90% How did that work out? 00:09:46.598 --> 00:09:48.140 align:middle line:84% What does that look like in practice? 00:09:48.140 --> 00:09:50.390 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: Interestingly, I spent all this time 00:09:50.390 --> 00:09:52.460 align:middle line:90% making these optional labs. 00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:54.330 align:middle line:90% Nobody did them. 00:09:54.330 --> 00:09:56.270 align:middle line:84% So the next couple of years, I simply 00:09:56.270 --> 00:09:58.130 align:middle line:90% made everything mandatory. 00:09:58.130 --> 00:10:00.067 align:middle line:84% The students said they loved the flexibility. 00:10:00.067 --> 00:10:02.150 align:middle line:84% They're really psyched that I put in all this time 00:10:02.150 --> 00:10:03.500 align:middle line:90% to do the labs. 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:05.550 align:middle line:84% But it wasn't for a grade, so they didn't do it. 00:10:05.550 --> 00:10:06.350 align:middle line:90% And so that's when I learned. 00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:08.450 align:middle line:84% If it's not graded, it's not going to get done. 00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:10.250 align:middle line:84% So I made all the labs mandatory. 00:10:10.250 --> 00:10:12.320 align:middle line:84% I cut out a little bit of the analytics 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.740 align:middle line:84% in favor of adding context before and after the theory, 00:10:15.740 --> 00:10:17.720 align:middle line:90% and retention went up. 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:19.550 align:middle line:90% Grades went up, on average. 00:10:19.550 --> 00:10:21.680 align:middle line:84% And the course evaluations went up, too. 00:10:21.680 --> 00:10:24.520 align:middle line:84% So anything numerical we can get improved-- 00:10:24.520 --> 00:10:26.740 align:middle line:84% and in my subjective opinion, so did 00:10:26.740 --> 00:10:29.750 align:middle line:84% the students' knowledge of what's happening. 00:10:29.750 --> 00:10:31.270 align:middle line:84% And that, I get from my colleagues, 00:10:31.270 --> 00:10:34.690 align:middle line:84% because I track these students as they progress through MIT, 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:35.950 align:middle line:90% through our department. 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:38.590 align:middle line:84% And my colleagues who teach further-on courses, 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:40.810 align:middle line:84% the more advanced ones, can tell me whether or not 00:10:40.810 --> 00:10:42.518 align:middle line:84% the students really know the fundamentals 00:10:42.518 --> 00:10:43.750 align:middle line:90% that they're depending on. 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:45.417 align:middle line:84% So far, things have been getting better, 00:10:45.417 --> 00:10:47.135 align:middle line:90% but it requires planning. 00:10:47.135 --> 00:10:48.760 align:middle line:84% And it also requires a lot of thinking, 00:10:48.760 --> 00:10:50.620 align:middle line:84% where I'll look through my syllabus, 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:53.613 align:middle line:84% and I have an empty column where the user doesn't 00:10:53.613 --> 00:10:55.780 align:middle line:84% exist in most syllabi, which is, what is this week's 00:10:55.780 --> 00:10:56.980 align:middle line:90% hands-on instruction? 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:58.780 align:middle line:84% And I try to make sure that's full. 00:10:58.780 --> 00:11:01.580 align:middle line:84% So another example is if you want to know, 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.580 align:middle line:90% do you have real diamond rings? 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:05.860 align:middle line:84% When we get to reading electron spectra 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:07.702 align:middle line:84% and characteristic X-ray spectra, 00:11:07.702 --> 00:11:09.910 align:middle line:84% I could either give them a problem from theory, which 00:11:09.910 --> 00:11:12.970 align:middle line:84% is boring, or I can run some standard for them, 00:11:12.970 --> 00:11:14.650 align:middle line:90% where they know what to expect. 00:11:14.650 --> 00:11:16.630 align:middle line:84% Or I can say, that's a nice diamond ring. 00:11:16.630 --> 00:11:18.680 align:middle line:84% Do you want to know if it's real? 00:11:18.680 --> 00:11:20.797 align:middle line:84% And the student invariably says, absolutely, I 00:11:20.797 --> 00:11:21.880 align:middle line:90% want to know if it's real. 00:11:21.880 --> 00:11:22.660 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: Right. 00:11:22.660 --> 00:11:24.077 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: So we have the student 00:11:24.077 --> 00:11:26.320 align:middle line:84% take the controls of the electron microscope 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.770 align:middle line:84% and analyze it to see, does that diamond emit zirconium x-rays? 00:11:30.770 --> 00:11:33.160 align:middle line:84% Because if it does, it's cubic zirconia. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:36.580 align:middle line:84% If it emits silicon x-rays, it's moissanite or silicon carbide. 00:11:36.580 --> 00:11:39.340 align:middle line:84% My favorite one was this day happened 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:40.750 align:middle line:90% to fall on parents' weekend. 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:43.180 align:middle line:84% So I asked the students, does anybody have a diamond ring? 00:11:43.180 --> 00:11:45.180 align:middle line:84% And one of the students' mothers said, oh, yeah. 00:11:45.180 --> 00:11:46.930 align:middle line:90% Let's check my engagement ring. 00:11:46.930 --> 00:11:49.302 align:middle line:84% And her husband was just, oh, gosh. 00:11:49.302 --> 00:11:50.260 align:middle line:90% What's going to happen? 00:11:50.260 --> 00:11:51.218 align:middle line:90% What's going to happen? 00:11:51.218 --> 00:11:52.765 align:middle line:84% He thinks he bought a genuine ring. 00:11:52.765 --> 00:11:53.902 align:middle line:90% It turned out to be real. 00:11:53.902 --> 00:11:54.610 align:middle line:90% We had the proof. 00:11:54.610 --> 00:11:55.860 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: OK, that's good. 00:11:55.860 --> 00:11:57.385 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:11:57.385 --> 00:11:58.255 align:middle line:90% 00:11:58.255 --> 00:12:02.380 align:middle line:84% Mike, can you tell us about the radioactive scavenger hunt? 00:12:02.380 --> 00:12:03.700 align:middle line:90% MIKE SHORT: Sure. 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:06.370 align:middle line:84% I challenge the students to find the most radioactive place 00:12:06.370 --> 00:12:07.590 align:middle line:90% in Boston. 00:12:07.590 --> 00:12:09.688 align:middle line:84% And each of them had to go in teams of two 00:12:09.688 --> 00:12:11.980 align:middle line:84% and pick a place that they thought would be radioactive 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:15.370 align:middle line:84% based on what we'd learned about where you find radiation. 00:12:15.370 --> 00:12:18.610 align:middle line:84% So radiation, a lot of it comes from space, 00:12:18.610 --> 00:12:21.100 align:middle line:84% from cosmic protons that hit the atmosphere. 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:23.810 align:middle line:84% So some students thought, I'll go to the tallest building, 00:12:23.810 --> 00:12:25.810 align:middle line:84% and I'll probably get more radiation. 00:12:25.810 --> 00:12:28.060 align:middle line:84% Others had read about radon underground, 00:12:28.060 --> 00:12:31.905 align:middle line:84% because there are isotopes of radium emitting radon gas. 00:12:31.905 --> 00:12:34.030 align:middle line:84% And so they thought, we'll go down into the subway, 00:12:34.030 --> 00:12:35.620 align:middle line:90% get as low as we can go. 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:38.320 align:middle line:84% Other students looked at the relative amount of radiation 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.800 align:middle line:84% in different building materials, like wood, clay, marble, 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:45.970 align:middle line:84% granite, and they went to the most granite-dense locations 00:12:45.970 --> 00:12:48.610 align:middle line:84% they could find, or the ones with the most marble. 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:50.488 align:middle line:84% And those are the students that won. 00:12:50.488 --> 00:12:52.030 align:middle line:84% There were places in Boston that have 00:12:52.030 --> 00:12:55.252 align:middle line:84% six times the normal radiation background, 00:12:55.252 --> 00:12:57.460 align:middle line:84% simply because they're made out of marble or granite. 00:12:57.460 --> 00:12:59.168 align:middle line:84% These include things like the state house 00:12:59.168 --> 00:13:01.150 align:middle line:84% and some fancy fountains around town. 00:13:01.150 --> 00:13:02.660 align:middle line:84% Did not know about the fountains, 00:13:02.660 --> 00:13:05.650 align:middle line:84% but they just thought, let's find giant chunks of stone, 00:13:05.650 --> 00:13:06.670 align:middle line:90% and they were right. 00:13:06.670 --> 00:13:11.440 align:middle line:90% 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.420 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: The hands-on experiences 00:13:13.420 --> 00:13:15.880 align:middle line:84% that Mike creates for students of his course 00:13:15.880 --> 00:13:17.770 align:middle line:90% are pretty unique. 00:13:17.770 --> 00:13:19.810 align:middle line:84% He told me that when he took this course 00:13:19.810 --> 00:13:22.300 align:middle line:84% as an undergraduate student at MIT, 00:13:22.300 --> 00:13:24.730 align:middle line:90% it wasn't typically hands-on. 00:13:24.730 --> 00:13:26.830 align:middle line:84% So I wanted to know what it's like to teach 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:29.410 align:middle line:84% in a way that's so different from his own personal 00:13:29.410 --> 00:13:30.650 align:middle line:90% experience. 00:13:30.650 --> 00:13:34.300 align:middle line:84% What does it take to create such fascinating labs and lessons 00:13:34.300 --> 00:13:37.750 align:middle line:84% without a clear model from one's own educational background? 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:39.280 align:middle line:90% MIKE SHORT: It's natural. 00:13:39.280 --> 00:13:42.280 align:middle line:84% I teach the way that I learn, because I thought back 00:13:42.280 --> 00:13:45.100 align:middle line:84% on all my experiences and I thought, from which courses 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:47.860 align:middle line:90% did I really remember a lot? 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:50.290 align:middle line:84% And these were things like hands-on blacksmithing 00:13:50.290 --> 00:13:52.540 align:middle line:90% or laboratory courses. 00:13:52.540 --> 00:13:55.210 align:middle line:84% We did have a lab class where we counted a lot of radiation, 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:57.470 align:middle line:84% and I remember those labs very well. 00:13:57.470 --> 00:14:00.920 align:middle line:84% And I think back to my neutronics problem sets. 00:14:00.920 --> 00:14:02.890 align:middle line:84% I remember the theory OK, but I don't 00:14:02.890 --> 00:14:06.280 align:middle line:84% remember very many visual instances of that class. 00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:07.610 align:middle line:90% It just kind of happened. 00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:09.360 align:middle line:84% The knowledge is maybe in there somewhere. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:09.970 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:14:09.970 --> 00:14:11.650 align:middle line:84% But I know where I was when I did 00:14:11.650 --> 00:14:13.670 align:middle line:90% most of the hands-on exercises. 00:14:13.670 --> 00:14:16.570 align:middle line:84% And in the end, you can make anything hands-on, even 00:14:16.570 --> 00:14:18.620 align:middle line:90% neutronics that I mentioned. 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:21.310 align:middle line:84% So I at some point went skulking around 00:14:21.310 --> 00:14:23.710 align:middle line:84% places I oughtn't, like around in the reactor 00:14:23.710 --> 00:14:28.060 align:middle line:84% once I got access, and found an eight-foot pile of graphite 00:14:28.060 --> 00:14:29.840 align:middle line:84% that was behind a bunch of equipment. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:30.610 align:middle line:90% It wasn't hidden. 00:14:30.610 --> 00:14:32.598 align:middle line:90% It was just covered with junk. 00:14:32.598 --> 00:14:33.640 align:middle line:90% And I asked, what's that? 00:14:33.640 --> 00:14:35.950 align:middle line:84% They just said, oh, that's our subcritical graphite reactor 00:14:35.950 --> 00:14:36.460 align:middle line:90% pile. 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:38.290 align:middle line:84% We're going to get rid of that next year. 00:14:38.290 --> 00:14:41.260 align:middle line:84% So I sounded the alarm and said, you cannot get rid of this 00:14:41.260 --> 00:14:42.460 align:middle line:90% graphite pile. 00:14:42.460 --> 00:14:44.710 align:middle line:84% And then our neutronics professors Ben Forget and Kord 00:14:44.710 --> 00:14:45.580 align:middle line:90% Smith said, yeah, you're right. 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:46.330 align:middle line:90% We can't. 00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.787 align:middle line:84% So they spent a whole winter restoring it 00:14:48.787 --> 00:14:49.870 align:middle line:90% with a couple of students. 00:14:49.870 --> 00:14:52.000 align:middle line:84% And now, it's one of the central labs in my class 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:53.330 align:middle line:90% and in their class. 00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.690 align:middle line:84% So we've taken the most theory-heavy, dry, and boring 00:14:55.690 --> 00:14:58.390 align:middle line:84% class and turned it experimental because you can. 00:14:58.390 --> 00:15:01.000 align:middle line:84% You're always studying the natural world, right? 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.940 align:middle line:84% All we study at MIT is the natural world and things 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:07.210 align:middle line:84% we make out of it, so everything is reducible to practice. 00:15:07.210 --> 00:15:11.686 align:middle line:84% Everything can be real, if you put in the effort. 00:15:11.686 --> 00:15:14.470 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Part of what's so special about this class is 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:16.450 align:middle line:84% the dedication that Mike and his colleagues 00:15:16.450 --> 00:15:19.300 align:middle line:84% have to constantly improving it through real-time student 00:15:19.300 --> 00:15:20.360 align:middle line:90% feedback. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:22.480 align:middle line:84% And I don't mean fixing pieces to implement 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:23.950 align:middle line:90% for the next semester. 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:26.080 align:middle line:84% I'm talking about next-day transformations 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:27.760 align:middle line:90% of class procedures. 00:15:27.760 --> 00:15:32.555 align:middle line:84% To accomplish this, Mike created the aptly titled Rants Page. 00:15:32.555 --> 00:15:35.800 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: The Rant Page is an anonymous, simple, PHP comment 00:15:35.800 --> 00:15:39.220 align:middle line:84% form that I wrote, where I want students to tell me things 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:41.140 align:middle line:90% that they want changed. 00:15:41.140 --> 00:15:44.950 align:middle line:84% Because I try my best to collect in-person feedback 00:15:44.950 --> 00:15:47.993 align:middle line:84% from the students both one-on-one and in class. 00:15:47.993 --> 00:15:49.660 align:middle line:84% But some students don't feel comfortable 00:15:49.660 --> 00:15:52.400 align:middle line:84% telling a professor, I don't like what you're doing. 00:15:52.400 --> 00:15:55.660 align:middle line:84% So I give them a place to do so completely anonymously. 00:15:55.660 --> 00:15:57.520 align:middle line:84% It ended up being 20 lines of code. 00:15:57.520 --> 00:15:58.850 align:middle line:90% It wasn't hard. 00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:02.440 align:middle line:84% And what I started getting was real-time feedback about, 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:03.880 align:middle line:90% I can't read your writing. 00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:06.130 align:middle line:90% So then I know to slow it down. 00:16:06.130 --> 00:16:08.860 align:middle line:84% Or, I really wish you wouldn't slow the class down 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.380 align:middle line:84% for this one student's incessant questions, 00:16:11.380 --> 00:16:13.690 align:middle line:84% so I know to limit each student to a few questions 00:16:13.690 --> 00:16:15.580 align:middle line:90% if it gets to be too much. 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:17.110 align:middle line:84% And I would address them in class 00:16:17.110 --> 00:16:19.630 align:middle line:84% to say, it's safe to address this, because it's anonymous. 00:16:19.630 --> 00:16:21.710 align:middle line:84% I have literally no way of knowing. 00:16:21.710 --> 00:16:24.010 align:middle line:84% But if one person wrote it, probably a lot of you 00:16:24.010 --> 00:16:25.300 align:middle line:90% are thinking it. 00:16:25.300 --> 00:16:27.190 align:middle line:84% And the students responded positively to say, 00:16:27.190 --> 00:16:28.898 align:middle line:84% wow, it was really nice to know that we'd 00:16:28.898 --> 00:16:30.947 align:middle line:84% make a suggestion at 2:00 in the morning, 00:16:30.947 --> 00:16:33.280 align:middle line:84% and then by 10:00 in the morning, it would be addressed. 00:16:33.280 --> 00:16:34.570 align:middle line:84% The class would change in real time, 00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:37.240 align:middle line:84% and they knew they had the power to shape their own learning. 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:40.060 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:43.350 align:middle line:90% 00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:45.490 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: With all the buzz around this course, 00:16:45.490 --> 00:16:48.180 align:middle line:84% we had a ton of great questions come in from educators 00:16:48.180 --> 00:16:49.720 align:middle line:90% and students alike. 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:51.390 align:middle line:84% So we picked out some of our favorites 00:16:51.390 --> 00:16:53.770 align:middle line:90% and posed them to Mike. 00:16:53.770 --> 00:16:59.542 align:middle line:84% Number one, what math do I need to understand this field? 00:16:59.542 --> 00:17:01.000 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: That's a good question. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.000 align:middle line:84% It depends on how deeply you want to understand the field. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.500 align:middle line:84% If you want to pass my class, if you 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:07.839 align:middle line:84% want a get an A in my class, you don't really 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:10.599 align:middle line:84% need much math beyond single-variable calculus. 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:13.250 align:middle line:84% And even then, it's not very much. 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:14.680 align:middle line:90% I think we use-- 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:17.470 align:middle line:84% we have one or two lectures with integrals and a few lectures 00:17:17.470 --> 00:17:20.470 align:middle line:84% with differential equations, but linear first order things 00:17:20.470 --> 00:17:22.927 align:middle line:90% that you solve in calculus one. 00:17:22.927 --> 00:17:26.140 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Number two, when you were a student, 00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:28.750 align:middle line:84% how did you deal with courses that 00:17:28.750 --> 00:17:33.032 align:middle line:84% didn't seem interesting to you, but that you had to study? 00:17:33.032 --> 00:17:34.490 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: That's a good question. 00:17:34.490 --> 00:17:35.990 align:middle line:90% I have a few answers to that. 00:17:35.990 --> 00:17:38.800 align:middle line:84% So for courses that didn't seem interesting 00:17:38.800 --> 00:17:41.740 align:middle line:84% that I had to study, if I knew why I had to study it, 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:46.430 align:middle line:84% there was at least a practical reason to do well. 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:48.760 align:middle line:84% For example, for me, it was neutronics. 00:17:48.760 --> 00:17:50.380 align:middle line:84% Neutron transport is one of the things 00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:52.870 align:middle line:84% that makes nuclear engineers what they are. 00:17:52.870 --> 00:17:57.820 align:middle line:84% I found it to be dry and not very real-world, 00:17:57.820 --> 00:18:00.730 align:middle line:84% because I knew I was never going to be a reactor designer. 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:03.940 align:middle line:84% But I felt I would need to understand neutron transport 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:06.640 align:middle line:84% and power levels in order to be an effective nuclear material 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:07.510 align:middle line:90% scientist. 00:18:07.510 --> 00:18:08.873 align:middle line:90% Luckily, I was right. 00:18:08.873 --> 00:18:11.290 align:middle line:84% For the classes which I just had to take because they were 00:18:11.290 --> 00:18:15.220 align:middle line:84% requirements, and I had no reason to want to take them, 00:18:15.220 --> 00:18:16.750 align:middle line:90% I got a little sneaky. 00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:20.110 align:middle line:84% I ended up double majoring with material science 00:18:20.110 --> 00:18:23.350 align:middle line:84% and wrote a petition to get out of this one medical imaging 00:18:23.350 --> 00:18:25.600 align:middle line:84% class and replace it with 12 others 00:18:25.600 --> 00:18:27.318 align:middle line:90% in order to make a second major. 00:18:27.318 --> 00:18:28.610 align:middle line:90% And that petition was approved. 00:18:28.610 --> 00:18:32.320 align:middle line:84% So I actually did get to simply drop a departmental requirement 00:18:32.320 --> 00:18:35.822 align:middle line:84% by articulating why I wanted to study something else. 00:18:35.822 --> 00:18:37.780 align:middle line:84% Not all students realize that they can do this, 00:18:37.780 --> 00:18:39.370 align:middle line:90% but they can do this. 00:18:39.370 --> 00:18:42.130 align:middle line:84% With a very good intellectual justification, 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:44.540 align:middle line:90% rules can be bent or broken. 00:18:44.540 --> 00:18:47.150 align:middle line:90% SARAH HANSEN: OK, number three. 00:18:47.150 --> 00:18:50.770 align:middle line:84% Why can't we just send nuclear waste to space? 00:18:50.770 --> 00:18:53.290 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: We could just send nuclear waste to space 00:18:53.290 --> 00:18:55.180 align:middle line:90% and get it out of our hair. 00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:56.660 align:middle line:90% It would be expensive. 00:18:56.660 --> 00:18:59.440 align:middle line:84% It costs a lot of money per gram to get something 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:00.850 align:middle line:90% off the planet. 00:19:00.850 --> 00:19:03.130 align:middle line:84% Someone has to agree to pay for it. 00:19:03.130 --> 00:19:06.040 align:middle line:84% And what worries me most is, what if one of those missions 00:19:06.040 --> 00:19:07.310 align:middle line:90% goes wrong? 00:19:07.310 --> 00:19:09.790 align:middle line:84% What if you're launching a rocket full of the world's 00:19:09.790 --> 00:19:12.190 align:middle line:84% worst nuclear waste, and something 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:15.700 align:middle line:84% goes wrong at the launch, and then it comes back down, along 00:19:15.700 --> 00:19:16.900 align:middle line:90% with the rocket explosion? 00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:19.780 align:middle line:84% Then you have contaminated the planet. 00:19:19.780 --> 00:19:23.230 align:middle line:84% So I personally believe in containing nuclear waste where 00:19:23.230 --> 00:19:26.170 align:middle line:84% we can see it rather than blasting it off 00:19:26.170 --> 00:19:28.720 align:middle line:84% into space and contaminating space, 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.643 align:middle line:84% unless we know where it's going, and that nothing will go wrong. 00:19:32.643 --> 00:19:34.060 align:middle line:84% Because a lot of folks are worried 00:19:34.060 --> 00:19:35.810 align:middle line:84% about the dangers of radiation, how 00:19:35.810 --> 00:19:37.750 align:middle line:84% we're going to deal with nuclear waste. 00:19:37.750 --> 00:19:40.540 align:middle line:84% And I don't fear nuclear waste, but I've 00:19:40.540 --> 00:19:42.550 align:middle line:84% got a healthy respect for it in that whatever 00:19:42.550 --> 00:19:46.060 align:middle line:84% we do with it has to have the lowest probability of getting 00:19:46.060 --> 00:19:47.980 align:middle line:90% out and contaminating anything. 00:19:47.980 --> 00:19:50.350 align:middle line:84% I think it's a necessary thing to make in order 00:19:50.350 --> 00:19:52.250 align:middle line:90% to make nuclear power. 00:19:52.250 --> 00:19:56.292 align:middle line:84% So if we want to make almost unlimited carbon-free power, 00:19:56.292 --> 00:19:58.000 align:middle line:84% we're going to make waste in the process. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:59.292 align:middle line:90% You can't fight thermodynamics. 00:19:59.292 --> 00:20:01.833 align:middle line:84% You're always going to have some waste of energy or something 00:20:01.833 --> 00:20:02.450 align:middle line:90% else. 00:20:02.450 --> 00:20:03.460 align:middle line:84% But then what you do with it has to be 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:04.940 align:middle line:90% very carefully considered. 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:07.100 align:middle line:84% And it sounds simple to blast it into space, 00:20:07.100 --> 00:20:09.100 align:middle line:84% but then you have to think, what could go wrong, 00:20:09.100 --> 00:20:11.590 align:middle line:84% and who could I hurt if it goes wrong? 00:20:11.590 --> 00:20:13.780 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Number four, what do 00:20:13.780 --> 00:20:16.240 align:middle line:84% you think about the cultural and political idea 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.980 align:middle line:90% against nuclear power? 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:21.370 align:middle line:84% MIKE SHORT: To me, the current cultural and political idea 00:20:21.370 --> 00:20:24.220 align:middle line:84% against nuclear power is not grounded in fact. 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:25.762 align:middle line:90% It's grounded in emotion. 00:20:25.762 --> 00:20:27.220 align:middle line:84% And I've talked with a lot of folks 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:30.010 align:middle line:84% who either know very little or very much 00:20:30.010 --> 00:20:33.520 align:middle line:84% about the physics and engineering of nuclear power. 00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:35.080 align:middle line:84% But I find more often than not, it's 00:20:35.080 --> 00:20:38.050 align:middle line:84% an issue designed to rally a base. 00:20:38.050 --> 00:20:41.230 align:middle line:84% Strangely, I've never really understood this. 00:20:41.230 --> 00:20:45.445 align:middle line:84% So many environmentalists are against nuclear power. 00:20:45.445 --> 00:20:46.820 align:middle line:84% And I'm an environmentalist, too, 00:20:46.820 --> 00:20:48.820 align:middle line:84% which is why I'm for nuclear power. 00:20:48.820 --> 00:20:51.070 align:middle line:84% So I find the anti-nuclear sentiment 00:20:51.070 --> 00:20:55.570 align:middle line:84% to be so strongly democratic and the pro-nuclear sentiment 00:20:55.570 --> 00:20:58.930 align:middle line:84% to be so strongly Republican, neither of which 00:20:58.930 --> 00:21:02.380 align:middle line:84% is for reasons which I'm willing to accept. 00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:08.230 align:middle line:84% They seem to be more about political tribalism than fact. 00:21:08.230 --> 00:21:11.230 align:middle line:84% And it's interesting now that for the first time since we've 00:21:11.230 --> 00:21:14.023 align:middle line:84% had Chernobyl disasters and such, 00:21:14.023 --> 00:21:15.940 align:middle line:84% more and more environmentalists are coming out 00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:18.880 align:middle line:84% in favor of nuclear power, not because they're 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:21.560 align:middle line:84% in favor of radiation, and waste, and such. 00:21:21.560 --> 00:21:24.970 align:middle line:84% But the goal is to prevent climate change. 00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:28.330 align:middle line:84% I would much sooner take a risk of something 00:21:28.330 --> 00:21:31.240 align:middle line:84% going wrong with nuclear power than definitely lose 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:33.160 align:middle line:90% the battle to climate change. 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:37.630 align:middle line:84% Everything to me comes out to minimizing risk to human life 00:21:37.630 --> 00:21:40.820 align:middle line:90% and maximizing quality of life. 00:21:40.820 --> 00:21:43.420 align:middle line:84% So to me, the risk of nuclear power 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:46.370 align:middle line:84% is that if we can go all carbon-free for energy, 00:21:46.370 --> 00:21:48.670 align:middle line:90% we can reverse climate change. 00:21:48.670 --> 00:21:51.520 align:middle line:84% If we're afraid of using nuclear power for fear 00:21:51.520 --> 00:21:55.150 align:middle line:84% of the waste getting out, or the risk, or the weapons, 00:21:55.150 --> 00:21:58.550 align:middle line:84% then we're automatically losing the war, 00:21:58.550 --> 00:22:01.120 align:middle line:84% and we're going to have an uninhabitable planet anyway. 00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:02.662 align:middle line:84% And we can't get off this planet yet, 00:22:02.662 --> 00:22:04.578 align:middle line:84% and then we'll go make the same mistakes there 00:22:04.578 --> 00:22:05.530 align:middle line:90% as we would here. 00:22:05.530 --> 00:22:07.720 align:middle line:84% For example, I came into this department wanting 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:10.870 align:middle line:84% to study fusion, felt it wasn't ready yet, so I spent 00:22:10.870 --> 00:22:12.700 align:middle line:84% a lot of my time on fission, thinking, 00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:14.740 align:middle line:84% this is going to be the bridge to fusion. 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:17.860 align:middle line:84% Because fusion promises more carbon-free power 00:22:17.860 --> 00:22:20.700 align:middle line:84% with far less radioactive waste, but not none. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:22.605 align:middle line:84% And I'm willing to accept the some, so as not 00:22:22.605 --> 00:22:24.730 align:middle line:84% to lose the climate change battle, which is already 00:22:24.730 --> 00:22:26.350 align:middle line:90% on our doorstep. 00:22:26.350 --> 00:22:28.240 align:middle line:84% I do worry that many environmentalists 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.650 align:middle line:84% lose sight of the real goal, which is protecting the planet. 00:22:32.650 --> 00:22:36.250 align:middle line:84% And to me, protecting the planet doesn't mean, do no harm. 00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:38.800 align:middle line:84% It means, do as little harm as possible while preserving 00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:41.368 align:middle line:90% our quality of life. 00:22:41.368 --> 00:22:45.670 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: Number five, while learning, occasionally, you 00:22:45.670 --> 00:22:48.360 align:middle line:84% will have these moments where all of the sudden, the dots 00:22:48.360 --> 00:22:51.390 align:middle line:84% suddenly connect, and a previously challenging topic 00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:54.120 align:middle line:84% becomes seemingly perfectly clear to you. 00:22:54.120 --> 00:22:57.906 align:middle line:84% Could you share with us one of your brain blasts? 00:22:57.906 --> 00:22:58.870 align:middle line:90% MIKE SHORT: Let's see. 00:22:58.870 --> 00:23:01.630 align:middle line:84% For me, it's the same one that most students get 00:23:01.630 --> 00:23:04.660 align:middle line:84% at about the one-month mark in my class, 00:23:04.660 --> 00:23:10.090 align:middle line:84% and that's energy is matter, that E equals mc squared. 00:23:10.090 --> 00:23:12.130 align:middle line:84% You see it on shirts all over MIT. 00:23:12.130 --> 00:23:16.150 align:middle line:84% It's probably the one equation that everyone in America knows, 00:23:16.150 --> 00:23:18.910 align:middle line:84% but not a lot of people really understand 00:23:18.910 --> 00:23:22.240 align:middle line:84% that the conversion of matter into energy 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:26.080 align:middle line:84% through ionizing radiation is the movement of energy 00:23:26.080 --> 00:23:27.130 align:middle line:90% from one form to another. 00:23:27.130 --> 00:23:29.060 align:middle line:90% Matter is a form of energy. 00:23:29.060 --> 00:23:30.850 align:middle line:84% And once that clicked, everything 00:23:30.850 --> 00:23:32.500 align:middle line:84% seemed to make sense-- radioactive 00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:35.020 align:middle line:84% decay, nuclear reactions, all these things. 00:23:35.020 --> 00:23:38.500 align:middle line:84% I remember that aha moment in this class 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:42.610 align:middle line:84% that I teach as a second-year student back in 2002. 00:23:42.610 --> 00:23:44.230 align:middle line:84% And it's those kind of moments that 00:23:44.230 --> 00:23:46.350 align:middle line:84% made me want to stay in it, because I feel like, wow, I 00:23:46.350 --> 00:23:47.475 align:middle line:90% really know this field now. 00:23:47.475 --> 00:23:50.266 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:23:50.266 --> 00:23:56.775 align:middle line:90% 00:23:56.775 --> 00:23:58.900 align:middle line:84% SARAH HANSEN: If you're interested in learning more 00:23:58.900 --> 00:24:02.410 align:middle line:84% about ionizing radiation, we've got all of Mike's course 00:24:02.410 --> 00:24:04.120 align:middle line:90% materials on our site. 00:24:04.120 --> 00:24:08.500 align:middle line:90% You can find us at ocw.mit.edu. 00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:10.900 align:middle line:84% You can also read more of his instructor insights 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:15.040 align:middle line:84% on his OCW course page made especially for educators. 00:24:15.040 --> 00:24:17.810 align:middle line:84% You can find all sorts of different instructor insights 00:24:17.810 --> 00:24:24.520 align:middle line:84% on our educator portal at ocw.mit.edu/educator. 00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:29.880 align:middle line:84% Until next time, I'm Sarah Hansen from MIT OpenCourseWare. 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:37.000 align:middle line:90%