K20 LEARN | Call Me... Maybe?

Summary

In this lesson, students will evaluate and argue the benefits and drawbacks of the use of different types of radiation for technological advances. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to evaluate published works' validity on technology associated with human health. This is a multimodality lesson, which means it includes face-to-face, online, and hybrid versions of the lesson. The attachments also include a downloadable Common Cartridge file, which can be imported into a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas or eKadence. The cartridge includes interactive student activities and the teacher's notes.

Essential Question(s)

How dangerous are electromagnetic waves to humans? Should we be concerned with the new technological advances of today?

Snapshot

Engage

Students create a claim and argue opposing viewpoints.

Explore

Students read an article on gamma rays and create a superhero based on the advantages and disadvantages of a particular ray.

Explain

Students read an article about the electromagnetic spectrum and identify key components of electromagnetic radiation (EMR).

Extend

Students explore the job of a Director of Medical Imaging in relation to electromagnetic radiation.

Evaluate

Students assess their level of understanding and determine the validity of published work on electromagnetic radiation in association with human health.

Instructional Formats

The term "Multimodality" refers to the ability of a lesson to be offered in more than one modality (i.e. face-to-face, online, blended). This lesson has been designed to be offered in multiple formats, while still meeting the same standards and learning objectives. Though fundamentally the same lesson, you will notice that the different modalities may require the lesson to be approached differently. Select the modality that you are interested in to be taken to the section of the course designed for that form of instruction.

Face-to-Face

Materials

Lesson Slides (attached)
C.E.R. (attached; one per student)
Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes (attached; one per student)
Electromagnetic Radiation Notes (attached; print two-sided; one per student)
Laptop or tablet (one per student)

Online

Materials

Common Cartridge (attached)
Choose Your Superhero (attached; one per class)
Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes Instructions (attached; one per student)
Electromagnetic Radiation Notes (attached; one per student)

Hybrid

Materials

Common cartridge (attached)
Lesson Slides (attached)
Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes Instructions (attached; one per student)
Electromagnetic Radiation Notes (attached; print two-sided; one per student)

Hybrid

Preparation

Zoom:

Before using any video recording system, please be aware that some tools require users to have parental permission in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable privacy regulations. Zoom is one of these platforms

If a student is under age, they must have verifiable parental or guardian consent or be directly supervised by a teacher or school administrator when using this tool. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that students under 18 use recording systems in a safe, ethical, and age-appropriate manner and in alignment with school and district policies.

Teachers should consult their district’s guidelines and technology use policies before introducing video recording tools in the classroom to ensure compliance with local regulations and data privacy requirements.

By continuing to use any video recording system, users confirm they meet the minimum age requirement or have obtained the appropriate consent and supervision.

Online

Preparation

Adding Content to LMS

Download the Common Cartridge, Call Me…Maybe and import it into your Learning Management System (LMS).

Zoom:

Before using any video recording system, please be aware that some tools require users to have parental permission in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable privacy regulations. Zoom is one of these platforms

If a student is under age, they must have verifiable parental or guardian consent or be directly supervised by a teacher or school administrator when using this tool. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that students under 18 use recording systems in a safe, ethical, and age-appropriate manner and in alignment with school and district policies.

Teachers should consult their district’s guidelines and technology use policies before introducing video recording tools in the classroom to ensure compliance with local regulations and data privacy requirements.

By continuing to use any video recording system, users confirm they meet the minimum age requirement or have obtained the appropriate consent and supervision.

Hybrid

Engage (Online)

20 Minute(s)

Have students review the essential questions:

How dangerous are electromagnetic waves to humans?
Should we be concerned with the new technological advances of today?

Next, invite students to participate in a discussion board (in an LMS or elsewhere) with the C.E.R.T.I.Fy Your Thinking strategy. Have students write their claim, provide three points of evidence, and give comprehensive reasoning to the following prompt:

"Do you believe the radiation emitted by cell phones can cause harm to the human body? "

After students post their initial claim, evidence, and reasoning, have them respond to two peers whose viewpoints differ from their own. Then, ask students to return to their original post, review the feedback they received, and revise their reasoning to explain whether they still agree with their claim and why.

Online

Engage

20 Minute(s)

Have students review the essential questions:

How dangerous are electromagnetic waves to humans?
Should we be concerned with the new technological advances of today?

Next, invite students to participate in a discussion board (in an LMS or elsewhere) with the C.E.R.T.I.Fy Your Thinking strategy. Have students write their claim, provide three points of evidence, and give comprehensive reasoning to the following prompt:

"Do you believe the radiation emitted by cell phones can cause harm to the human body? "

After students post their initial claim, evidence, and reasoning, have them respond to two peers whose viewpoints differ from their own. Then, ask students to return to their original post, review the feedback they received, and revise their reasoning to explain whether they still agree with their claim and why.

Face-to-Face

Engage

30 Minute(s)

Use the attached Lesson Slides to follow along with the lesson. Display with slide 3 and read the essential questions aloud:

How dangerous are electromagnetic waves to humans?
Should we be concerned with the new technological advances of today?

Then, move to slide 4 and read the learning objectives:

Move to slide 5 and invite students to participate in the C.E.R.T.I.fy Your Thinking strategy. Pass out copies of the C.E.R. handout to each student. Inform students that they will create a claim to the following prompt: Do you believe the radiation emitted by cell phones can cause harm to the human body? After they have made their claim, direct them to research 3 points of evidence to support their claim and cite where they got their evidence.

Once they have made their claim and collected their evidence, display slide 6 and split the room into two sections, and have students move to the side of "does cause harm" or "does not cause harm." Next, have them debate over the topic. The process for facilitating a debate is listed below. After the debate, have students return to their seats to come up with their comprehensive reasoning.

Face-to-Face

Explore

40 Minute(s)

Move to slide 7–8, Inform students that they will be creating comic superheroes based on the seven types of electromagnetic waves. Pass out the Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes and Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout. Place students into groups of seven and have them divide the seven rays among the group. Each group member should:

Create a superhero associated with the ray that you choose.
Define what is that ray’s superpower and how much energy the superpower produces.
Determine if this superpower can be harmful or helpful to living organisms (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria) and how?
Review all of the group's drawings and record each ray’s definition, advantages, and disadvantages on side A of the Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout.
After completion of their notes, have students organize their group’s superheroes from least harmful (longer wavelength) to most harmful (shorter wavelength).

The seven rays students should illustrate are:

Non-ionizing: Radio, microwave, infrared, visible light,

Ionizing: UV, X-ray, Gamma

Online

Explore

30 Minute(s)

Invite students to create superheroes based on the seven types of electromagnetic waves. Share your prepared Choose Your Superhero sign-up sheet with students, and have each student sign up for a superhero of their choice.

Communicate the following procedure to students. This information may be embedded in an LMS or may be shared in a virtual classroom such as Google Classroom. It is also included in the attached Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes Instructions handout.

Overview:
Now that we have discussed the pros and cons of cell phones and the energy they emit, let’s dive into other rays that produce energy around us. Today, we will be creating superheroes based on the seven types of electromagnetic waves. These rays can be non-ionizing, where they are not likely to cause significant damage to human cells, or ionizing, where they do cause significant damage. Your job is to choose an ionizing or non-ionizing ray and determine that ray’s level of destruction by creating a superhero.
Procedure:
Sign up for your superhero using the Choose Your Superhero [Instructor note: add your link here] sign-up document. There can only be three individuals per ray.
Create a superhero associated with your ray.
Define that ray’s superpower and how much energy the superpower produces.
Determine how that superpower can be harmful and helpful to living organisms (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria).
Save, upload, and submit your drawing and write-up to be reviewed for feedback.

The seven rays students can illustrate are:

Non-Ionizing: radio, microwave, infrared, visible light
Ionizing: UV, X-ray, gamma

Each student should submit their drawing and write-up for you to review and give feedback.

Hybrid

Explore (Face to Face)

40 Minute(s)

Move to slide 7–8, Inform students that they will be creating comic superheroes based on the seven types of electromagnetic waves. Pass out the Electromagnetic Radiation Superheroes and Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout. Place students into groups of seven and have them divide the seven rays among the group. If the class cannot be evenly divided into groups of seven, create an additional group and allow students to choose their rays, or have extra students join another group and select a new superhero from the remaining rays. Each group member should:

Create a superhero associated with the ray that you choose.
Define what is that ray’s superpower and how much energy the superpower produces.
Determine if this superpower can be harmful or helpful to living organisms (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria) and how?
Review all of the group's drawings and record each ray’s definition, advantages, and disadvantages on side A of the Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout.
After completion of their notes, have students organize their group’s superheroes from least harmful (longer wavelength) to most harmful (shorter wavelength).

The seven rays students should illustrate are:

Non-ionizing: Radio, microwave, infrared, visible light

Ionizing: UV, X-ray, Gamma

Hybrid

Explain (Online)

50 Minute(s)

After students’ drawings and write-ups have been approved, invite students to do a storytelling of their illustration using Screencastify. Screencastify is a Chrome browser extension that provides options to record the screen, video, and audio.

Each student’s screencast needs to be 1–2 minutes long. Each student should define their ray and discuss what represents the advantages and disadvantages of the ray in their drawing. Students should post their finished screencast to the discussion board.

Once all students have posted their screencasts to the discussion board, distribute the following link to students: Electromagnetic Radiation Notes. (This link provides a separate copy to each student.) Once students have made personal copies of the handout, ask students to do a Gallery Walk and collect data from their classmates’ screencasts, recording notes in the table on the top half of the handout.

Next, direct students to the CK-12 20.3 Electromagnetic Spectrum article to read. As students read, instruct them to complete the questions on their Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout. When they finish, ask them to save and submit their notes.

Online

Explain

50 Minute(s)

After students’ drawings and write-ups have been approved, invite students to do a storytelling of their illustration using Screencastify. Screencastify is a Chrome browser extension that provides options to record the screen, video, and audio.

Each student’s screencast needs to be 1–2 minutes long. Each student should define their ray and discuss what represents the advantages and disadvantages of the ray in their drawing. Students should post their finished screencast into the discussion board.

Once all students have posted their screencasts into the discussion board, distribute the link you created for the Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout to the students. Once students have a copy of the handout, ask students to do a Gallery Walk and collect data from their classmates’ screencasts, recording notes in the table on the top half of the handout.

Next, direct students to the CK-12 20.3 Electromagnetic Spectrum article to read. As students read, instruct them to complete the questions on their Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout. When they finish, ask them to save and submit their notes.

Face-to-Face

Extend

20 Minute(s)

Move to slide 10 and Inform students: "Today, we are going to learn about a profession that involves electromagnetic radiation on a daily basis. We are going to meet Mrs. Ashley Benard, a Director of Medical Imaging and Radiology Teacher."

Ask students to consider the advantages and disadvantages they may learn about electromagnetic radiation, the type of technology discussed that they use in their line of work. Additionally, alert students to be prepared to answer two questions posed at the end of the video.

“Do you believe that we have become more dependent on the technology that surrounds us every day?”
“Is it adding value to our lives physically, mentally, and emotionally? If so, how?”

Start the Career-Forcused-Director of Medical Imaging for Community Health Centers, Inc with Ashley Benard interview on the slide.

Face-to-Face

Explain

20 Minute(s)

Move group to group and have students explain how they organized their superheroes from least to most harmful. Use these conversations to address misconceptions and guide students in making any needed corrections to their notes.

Move to slide 9, direct students to the CK-12 Foundations article 20.3 Electromagnetic Spectrum using the QR code or short link on the slide. Inform students that they will read the article and complete the questions on side B of their Electromagnetic Radiation Notes handout.

Online

Extend

20 Minute(s)

Communicate the following procedure to students. This information may be embedded in an LMS or may be shared in a virtual classroom such as Google Classroom.

Today, we are going to learn about a profession that involves electromagnetic radiation on a daily basis. We are going to meet Mrs. Ashley Benard, a Director of Medical Imaging and Radiology Teacher.

Provide the Career-Focused - Director of Medical Imaging for Community Health Centers, Inc. with Ashley Benard video to students.

Ask students as they watch the interview to consider the advantages and disadvantages they may learn about electromagnetic radiation and the type of technology that they use in Mrs. Benard’s line of work. Additionally, alert students to be prepared to answer two questions posed at the end of the video.

“Do you believe that we have become more dependent on the technology that surrounds us every day?”
“Is it adding value to our lives physically, mentally, and emotionally? If so, how?”

Have students answer these questions and turn in their responses via your LMS.

Hybrid

Extend (Face to Face)

20 Minute(s)

Move to slide 10 and tell students: "Today, we are going to learn about a profession that involves electromagnetic radiation on a daily basis. We are going to meet Mrs. Ashley Benard, a Director of Medical Imaging and Radiology Teacher."

Ask Ask students to consider the advantages and disadvantages they may learn about electromagnetic radiation, the type of technology discussed that they use in their line of work. Additionally, alert students to be prepared to answer two questions posed at the end of the video.

“Do you believe that we have become more dependent on the technology that surrounds us every day?”
“Is it adding value to our lives physically, mentally, and emotionally? If so, how?”

Start the Career-Forcused-Director of Medical Imaging for Community Health Centers, Inc with Ashley Benard interview on the slide.

Hybrid

Evaluate (Online)

25 Minute(s)

Invite learners to use a quiz page in your LMS (or a similar method) with the Fist to Five strategy to evaluate their own mastery of the objectives.

Share the following objective statements and have students rate themselves on a scale of 0–5 for each:

I can evaluate and defend claims regarding the impact of cell phones.
I can correctly identify the advantages and disadvantages of different types of radiation.
I understand that longer wavelengths are absorbed as heat.
I understand that different waves have different energies that can impact human health.

Using the quiz format in your LMS (or similar), invite students to read Electro Schematics’s Mobile Cell Phone Radiation article and watch Veritasium’s "Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?" video.

Have students answer the following quiz questions with 1–2 paragraphs apiece:

“Does the radiation emitted by cell phones cause harm to the human body? Why or why not, using evidence from the activities completed for this lesson?”
“Do you still believe the resources you found as evidence to support your claim about cell phone radiation at the beginning of this lesson? Were those sources reliable based on what you have learned? Why or why not?”

Online

Evaluate

25 Minute(s)

Invite learners to use a quiz page in your LMS (or a similar method) with the Fist to Five strategy to evaluate their own mastery of the objectives.

Share the following objective statements and have students rate themselves on a scale of 0–5 for each:

I can evaluate and defend claims regarding the impact of cell phones.
I can correctly identify the advantages and disadvantages of different types of radiation.
I understand that longer wavelengths are absorbed as heat.
I understand that different waves have different energies that can impact human health.

Using the quiz format in your LMS (or similar), invite students to read Electro Schematics’s Mobile Cell Phone Radiation article and watch Veritasium’s "Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?" video.

Have students answer the following quiz questions with 1–2 paragraphs apiece:

Does the radiation emitted by cell phones cause harm to the human body? Why or why not, using evidence from the activities completed for this lesson?
Do you still believe the resources you found as evidence to support your claim about cell phone radiation at the beginning of this lesson? Were those sources reliable based on what you have learned? Why or why not?

Face-to-Face

Evaluate

25 Minute(s)

Go to slide 11. Invite students to complete the Fist to Five strategy to help them self-evaluate their mastery of the objectives. Complete this strategy for slides 12–15.

Next, move to slide 16. Have students recall the claim about cell phones that they made at the beginning of the lesson. Inform learners to keep their claim in mind as they view two opposing viewpoints on the topic. Have learners read the Electro Schematics’ Mobile Cell Phone Radiation article.

Move to slide 17 and invite students to watch Veritasium’s "Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?" video.

Finally, go to slide 18 and have learners write 1–2 paragraphs answering the following questions:

Does the radiation emitted by cell phones cause harm to the human body? Why or why not use evidence from the activities completed for this lesson?
Do you believe the resources you found for your C.E.R. at the beginning were reliable sources based on what you have learned? Why or why not?

Have students share their thoughts.

Resources

C-K12 Foundation. (2012, December 14). Electromagnetic Spectrum. https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-physical-science-for-middle-school/r1/section/20.3/
Free Mobile screen recorder app for Android & IOS. Loom. (n.d.). https://www.loom.com/mobile
K20 Center. (2021, May 10). ICAP - Call Me...Maybe?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kW5Lb89nqU
K20 Center. (n.d.). Fist to Five. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/68
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery Walk. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.-b). Intro to AwwApp. YouTube. https://youtu.be/A_9ZFL5HWdI
K20 Center. (n.d.). Mentimeter. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/645
K20 Center. (n.d.). Google Drawings. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/629
K20 Center. (n.d.). Screencastify. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/670
Mohan Kumar, D. (2014, January 05). Mobile cell phone radiation. https://www.electroschematics.com/mobile-phone-radiation/
One platform to connect. Zoom. (n.d.). https://zoom.us/
Sketch, brainstorm and share your ideas. no sign-up required. Whiteboard for Online Collaboration | Web Whiteboard. (n.d.). https://webwhiteboard.com/
TechSmith. (n.d.). Camtasia online – free web-based Screen Recorder. Camtasia. https://camtasia.techsmith.com/

Veritasium. (2015, February 03). Do cell phones cause brain tumors? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU5XkhUGzBs

Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

Call Me... Maybe?

Electromagnetic Waves

Summary

Essential Question(s)

Snapshot

Instructional Formats

Materials

Materials

Materials

Preparation

Preparation

Engage (Online)

Engage

Engage

Explore

Explore

Explore (Face to Face)

Explain (Online)

Explain

Extend

Explain

Extend

Extend (Face to Face)

Evaluate (Online)

Evaluate

Evaluate

Resources

Publisher

Downloads

Standards

Facilitator Resources

Learner Handouts