The CIF topic for the 2007 - 2008 school year is "Nuclear Renaissance: Benefits vs. Risks" Students will address the benchmarks for this topic from the following perspectives: scientific, environmental, political/geopolitical, economic, and social/cultural.

Student participants will create products for each of the three Benchmarks and make those products available on the CIF web site. These products may be in any format that can be posted to the web.

The CIF benchmarks for 2007 - 2008 are listed below. Click on each benchmark link to view the full set of objectives and the suggested activities. You can also obtain a Word or PDF version by clicking on that link at the end of each benchmark description.

Benchmark One:

• In Benchmark I, in your investigations you will examine the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding and comparison of conventional energy and nuclear energy.
• At the end of Benchmark I you will have created two original projects with internal citations and bibliographies both of which demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the objectives of this Benchmark. Your projects will be your own work. When you refer to the work of others, you must have complete citations, and the work must also be in your bibliography. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited. You must have a bibliography of the resources you have cited.
• You will need the knowledge you obtain in Benchmark I to investigate Benchmarks II and III.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_I.pdf or Benchmark_I.doc)

Benchmark Two:

• In Benchmark I, you examined the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to gain a comprehensive understanding and comparison of conventional energy, and nuclear energy in different countries in the world. You began to define issues related to nuclear proliferation, and nuclear terrorism.
• In Benchmark II, in your investigations you will apply what you have already learned, and you will examine the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to gain a comprehensive understanding of national and international controls of nuclear energy, the spread (proliferation) of nuclear energy in the world today, and some of the issues involved with the use and spread of nuclear energy.
• At the end of Benchmark II you will have created three original projects with internal citations and bibliographies both of which demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the objectives of this Benchmark. Your projects will be your own work. When you refer to the work of others, you must have complete citations, and the work must also be in your bibliography. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited. You must have a bibliography of the resources you have cited.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_II.pdf or Benchmark_II.doc)

Benchmark Three:

• In Benchmarks I and II you learned about conventional and nuclear energy, their use in different countries, and the processes by which they are produced. You learned about the domestic and international controls that are intended to keep nuclear energy safe and secure. You also learned about some of the issues surrounding nuclear energy, both civilian and military, the risks and benefits of nuclear energy, waste storage problems, proliferation, and terrorism.
• In Benchmark III, in your investigations you will synthesize and evaluate the information you have gained. You will create your own interpretations about world events and concerns. From your research you will make judgments and support those judgments with the knowledge you have gained.
• Your task is to clearly demonstrate, in a carefully constructed project, an understanding of one of the challenges related to nuclear energy. Your project will address this challenge through one of the CIF domains of your choice. The project must be your own work with clear and correct citations from any work borrowed from others. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited within your text and in a bibliography.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_III.pdf or Benchmark_III.doc)

http://www.criticalissuesforum.org/bmks08.html
updated 03 January 2008