Roundtable Discussion of Educators and Experts Validates the Achievements of NUCLEANDO, and Charts a Path Forward

Developed by representatives of nine countries within the framework of LANENT, NUCLEANDO’s package of interactive teaching tools has been used in over 200 classrooms in the region, reaching more than 6,000 students in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay.

Education experts participated in the virtual discussion to describe the reactions of students and teachers to the virtual reality exercises, interactive presentations and smartphone apps that comprise the NUCLEANDO suite. The panel discussion was organized to take stock of the results of the initiative so far, and to hear directly from teachers who have used NUCLEANDO and incorporated its contents into their classroom curricula.

“For the first time in Uruguay, nuclear technology has been included in a professional development course for teachers. As a result, 35 high school teachers of chemistry, physics, biological sciences and astronomy participated in an IAEA-organized training course to learn about NUCLEANDO,” said Gabriela Varela Coordinator of the Uruguayan Education Training Council.

“The course not only strengthened and upgraded teachers’ knowledge and increased their motivation  to improve classroom practices, but it also helped to form new links between the educational system and the centres where research or applications with nuclear technology are carried out,” said Varela. 

Latest updates

The latest edition of NUCLEANDO—updated during the global pandemic to further facilitate remote learning—has brought almost all elements of the education material online. Students can watch videos to learn about the basic principles of nuclear science, take virtual tours of existing nuclear reactors, and can engage with interactive publications through embedded QR-coded prompts and videos.

“More than 40 interactive products are now available to teachers through the NUCLEANDO Virtual Repository, including questionnaires, games and interactive videos related to nuclear technology,” explained Pilar Sanchez, Director of Training and Industrial Support of the Spanish Nuclear Forum (FORO NUCLEAR), which has provided active support to the initiative.

In many cases, teachers and educators who used NUCLEANDO resources made additional efforts to collaborate amongst themselves and tailor the contents in order to meet unique, local needs.

Ovidio Vázquez Morales, a Primary School Teacher in Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico added: “NUCLEANDO allows you to create your own material in a way that it is targeted to the local reality of your students. I personally elaborated training material on the Sterile Insect Technique, since fruit flies are a real challenge for the communities where I teach. So it’s necessary for teachers to gain factual knowledge about processes which are effective in controlling this plague.”

In 2021, NUCLEANDO’s suite of tools and resources will expanded to include new, interactive content and will be introduced to teachers in seven additional countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

[1] RLA0057, ‘Enhancing Nuclear Education, Training, Outreach and Knowledge Management’