Project Four - Topic/Format

For the showcase presentation I think our best option would be to create a video presentation of some sort. I think that the power point option would just create more unnecessary work for us, as several people would have to present at the showcase. Once the film is finished, though, it can stand on its own and we would be able to play it in multiple rooms at the showcase if we need to. One option would be to make a photostory3 presentation. I don't know how many of you in the class have used photostory3 but it is a very simple software and can yield some nice looking presentations. If we decided to go with that option we could use voice-overs and/or text for the content of our presentation, we wouldn't have to generate any original footage and we would be able to burn DVDs for the showcase.

As far as the topic goes, I think we definitely need to narrow it down to something manageable. I like the idea of just focusing the history of nuclear power in Japan. I think another solid option is the idea of focusing on the risks of nuclear power by examining the accidents at Chernobyl, Three-Mile Island and the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. I think that we could use this as a launching pad to write about how nuclear technology and the relevant safety precautions have evolved as a result of these accidents. I think we could formulate some kind of pro/con thesis about whether or not nuclear power is safer because of what we learned from these accidents or something along those lines.

As for the way we address this project, splitting into teams might be helpful but I don't think we have to get too preoccupied with that because we are such a small class and most likely we'll all participate in more than one aspect of the project. I agree that we'll probably need to have people focusing on certain tasks. We'll probably need a few people focusing on research, as this is such meaty topic, and maybe a few people dedicated primarily to polishing our research into the finished text and some people to format the information into the final presentation. If we start getting our heads around a particular thesis and position for our argument I think some quality research on this topic is definitely attainable.