Small core, big energy: ORNL-led Nuclear Day engages students in STEM

When Kingston Elementary School called on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Michael Whedbee to help organize a program on nuclear science, Whedbee's reaction was immediate.

Whedbee, Technical Project Manager for the Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment at ORNL, quickly recruited five ORNL colleagues to lead nuclear-themed programs and activities for about 125 fifth-graders at the school - including Whedbee's nephew.

Whedbee and fellow Enrichment Science and Engineering Division staffers Matt Bement, Brett Blanchard, Richard Howard, Matt Stephany and Crystal Swafford started in the school gym, where Whedbee gave a short "What is Nuclear?" presentation. Then the students, divided into smaller groups, rotated through five rooms, each with a specific subject area and related activities: Sustained Nuclear Chain Reaction, Radiation, Uranium, Enrichment, and Nuclear Power Reactors.

In the Enrichment room, Whedbee used golf balls and Wiffle golf balls to show how scientists use mass to separate objects, then used a salad spinner to show how centrifugal force can separate items of different mass.

In the Radiation room, Stephany correlated radiation to the sun and highlighted its positive uses, including medical imaging and microwaves.

But the Sustained Nuclear Chain Reaction room, with Bement and Blanchard, introduced an unexpected variable: mistaken identity.

Blanchard bears a passing resemblance to Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer known for popular science videos on YouTube. As children eagerly gathered wat his feet, asking him if he was the famous YouTuber, he decided to have a little fun. Blanchard had Bement introduce him as Rober, then told the awed students that he was actually a "Mark Rober impersonator."

With two bags of balloons on hand, Blanchard and Bement were ready to do the same kind of STEM science that Rober uses to enthrall kids. They dubbed the students "uranium atoms" and gave each child two balloons - "neutrons" - to hold. A student touched by a balloon then released their own two balloons, triggering a chain reaction throughout the room as each student was tagged and released balloons. Blanchard and Bement were able to illustrate how having the children closer together or further apart affected the speed of the chain reaction.

"It was an exercise explaining fission, splitting the uranium atom and releasing neutrons, and how density played into keeping the nuclear reaction going," Blanchard said. "We got into a good groove with it, and we had a blast!"

After students rotated through all the rooms, "we all returned to the gym to sum up what was learned," Whedbee said. Each student received an ORNL-branded drawstring backpack.

"This outreach event emphasizes how important it is for ORNL staff to engage with their communities," Howard said. "While our work is critical, ORNL also recognizes that 'a vibrant community is essential for our mission and workforce.' Participating in opportunities like this helps educate local and even national audiences about how they can better understand and contribute to a vibrant future that includes nuclear power, isotopes, advanced materials and more."

Stephany called the event "a fantastic experience."

"The kids were super-engaged and came with a ton of questions, which was very encouraging for the future of our industry," he said.

Blanchard thinks he might have seen the future of ORNL in several students. He particularly remembered a shy-looking girl who, when Bement asked if anyone knew what a chain reaction was, gave a detailed two-minute explanation.

"Her brain was working 100 miles an hour," Blanchard said.

Another student came in with paper and two perfectly sharpened No. 2 pencils. He asked questions and took tiny, meticulous notes in every classroom.

"This child was fully engaged," Blanchard said. "He had 'engineer' written all over him. At the end of the day, he had key notes and takeaways.

"We joked that we should go ahead and get his resume."

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE's Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science. - Kristi Bumpus