Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education

Konstantinos T. Kotsis

doi:10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

Full Text (PDF)

Konstantinos T. Kotsis ¹ ^*

More Detail

¹ Lab of Physics Education and Training, Department of Primary Education, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986, is a key example of how science, society, and the environment are all connected. This study looks into how useful it would be to include the Chernobyl disaster in science classes. The research finds ways to include difficult ideas like radioactivity, ecological effect, and moral decision-making in school curricula by doing a qualitative content analysis of relevant literature and educational frameworks. The study suggests a teaching style that uses a variety of subjects and hands-on activities to improve students’ scientific literacy, critical thinking, and moral consciousness. The main findings show that using real-world catastrophes like Chernobyl helps students get more involved, understand concepts better, and get ready to be engaged citizens in a world that is full of technology. The study also talks about the teaching problems that come up, such as emotional sensitivity and safety concerns, and gives suggestions on how to do so responsibly. Overall, this study helps change the curriculum by encouraging the use of historical scientific events in science classes.

Keywords

Chernobyl fallout
science education
critical thinking
multidisciplinary approach

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher, Volume 5, Issue 4, 2025, Article No: em088

https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

Publication date: 01 Oct 2025

Online publication date: 03 Sep 2025

Article Views: 74

Article Downloads: 20

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Alexakhin, R. M., Sanzharova, N. I., Fesenko, S. V., Spiridonov, S. I., & Panov, A. V. (2007). Chernobyl radionuclide distribution, migration, and environmental and agricultural impacts. Health Physics, 93(5), 418-426. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.HP.0000285093.63814.b7
Alexandropoulos, Ν. G., Alexandropoulou, Τ., Anagnostopoulos, D., Evangelou, Ε., Kotsis, Κ. Τ., & Theodoridou, Ι. (1986). Chernobyl fallout on Ioannina–Greece. Nature, 322(6082), 779-780. https://doi.org/10.1038/322779a0
Almond, D., Edlund, L., & Palme, M. (2009). Chernobyl’s subclinical legacy: Prenatal exposure to radioactive fallout and school outcomes in Sweden. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(4), 1729-1772. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.4.1729
Barescut, J., Lariviere, D., Stocki, T., Alexakhin, R. M., & Geras’kin, S. A. (2011). 25 years after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: Radioecological lessons. Radioprotection, 46(6), S595–S600. https://doi.org/10.1051/radiopro/20116516s
Buesseler, K. O., Livingston, H. D., Honjo, S., Hay, B. J., Manganini, S. J., Degens, E., Ittekkot, V., Izdar, E., & Konuk, T. (1987). Chernobyl radionuclides in a Black Sea sediment trap. Nature, 329(6142), 825-828. https://doi.org/10.1038/329825a0
Büssing, A. (2021). The spiritual needs questionnaire in research and clinical application: A summary of findings. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(5), 3732-3748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01421-4
Camarda, A., Mercier, M., Burkhardt, J., Morisseau, T., Vinchon, F., El Hayek, S., Mourey, F., Feybesse, C., Sundquist, D., & Lubart, T. (2023). Creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration: Assessment, certification, and promotion of 21^st century skills for the future of work and education. Journal of Intelligence, 11(3), Article 54. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11030054
Carrera, D., Bhattacharjee, G., & Soden, R. (2023). “ We’re not decorators”: Fostering interdisciplinary exchange in STEM-artist cllaborations. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 1398-1410). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3563657.3595973
Cross, R., Zatsepin, V., & Gavrilenko, I. (2000). Preparing future citizens for post ‘Chernobyl’ Ukraine: A national calamity brings about reform of science education. Melbourne Studies in Education, 41(2), 179-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508480009556370
Felix, S. M., Lønnum, M., Lykknes, A., & Staberg, R. L. (2025). Teachers’ understanding of and practices in critical thinking in the context of education for sustainable development: A systematic review. Education Sciences, 15(7), Article 824. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15070824
Gallagher, K. (2023). Overcoming misconceptions about probability a review of David J. hand’s the improbability principle. The Mathematics Enthusiast, 20(1), 217-224. https://doi.org/10.54870/1551-3440.1607
Gattavecchia, E., Ghini, S., & Tonelli, D. (1989). Fallout from Chernobyl in Bologna and its environs: Radioactivity in airborne, rain water and soil. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 133(2), 407-419. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02060513
Halada, G. P. (2017). Learning from engineering disasters: A multidisciplinary online course. In Proceedings of the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. ASEE. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--28612
Horowitz, L., & Remes, P. (2025). Science education in an age of unnatural disasters. Science Education, 109(2), 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-025-00652-1
Ishmuradova, A. M., Svintsova, M. N., Kondakchian, N. A., Zaitseva, N. A., Sokolova, N. L., & Khairullina, E. R. (2023). A bibliometric overview of science communication research in STEM education. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 13(4), Article e202341. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/13415
Jamil, M., Hafeez, F. A., & Muhammad, N. (2024). Critical thinking development for 21^st century: Analysis of physics curriculum. Journal of Social & Organizational Matters, 3(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.56976/jsom.v3i1.45
Johnston, B. R., Colson, E., Falk, D., John, G. S., Bodley, J. H., McCay, B. J., Wali, A., Nordstrom, C., & Slyomovics, S. (2012). On happiness. American Anthropologist, 114(1), 6-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01393.x
Kilag, O. K., Lisao, C., Lastimoso, J., Villa, F. L., & Miñoza, C. A. (2023). Bildung-oriented science education: A critical review of different visions of scientific literacy. Excellencia: International Multi-disciplinary Journal of Education, 1(4), 115-127.
Krajcik, J. S., & Czerniak, C. M. (2018). Teaching science in elementary and middle school: A project-based learning approach. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315205014
Kujawska, J., Pawłowska, M., & Wasag, H. (2018). Possibility of forming artificial soil based on drilling waste and sewage sludge. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 150, Article 012008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/150/1/012008
Kuroda, P., Jiang, F. & Salaymeh, S. (1989). Radioactive iodine and plutonium fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl event. Radiochimica Acta, 47(4), 195-198. https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.1989.47.4.195
Lowell, V. L., & Moore, R. L. (2020). Developing practical knowledge and skills of online instructional design students through authentic learning and real-world activities. TechTrends, 64(4), 581-590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00518-z
Mascanzoni, D. (1995). Monitoring of large scale contamination of the environment: The learning of Chernobyl. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 194, 253-257. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02038421
National Research Council, Policy and Global Affairs. (2007). US-Russian collaboration in combating radiological terrorism. National Academies Press.
Ng, D. (2022). Embracing interdisciplinary connections in academia. Nature Microbiology, 7(4), Article 470. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01084-1
Patel, M. V. (2023). Dealing with complications: First address the emotional response. Seminars in Interventional Radiology, 40(3), 253-253. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0043-1769767
Paull, J (2006). Chernobyl–20 years of an eco-catastrophe. University of Tasmania. https://hdl.handle.net/102.100.100/492885
Perkins, J. H., Kopytko, N., & Saul, K. M. (2019). Energy field trips: Chernobyl and the catastrophe with nuclear power. Case Studies in the Environment, 3(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2018.001891
Richmond, C. R., Hoffman, F. O., Blaylock, B. G., Eckerman, K. F., Lesslie, P. A., Miller, C. W., Ng, Y. C., & Till, J. E. (1988). The potential use of Chernobyl fallout data to test and evaluate the predictions of environmental radiological assessment models. United States, Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information. https://doi.org/10.2172/6981476
Robbins, J. (1997). Lessons from Chernobyl: The event, the aftermath fallout: Radioactive, political, social. Thyroid, 7(2), 189-192. https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.1997.7.189
Wang, C. (2022). Incorporating real world examples in a random aignal analysis course. In Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (pp. 1-5). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962566
Wolfer, J. (2017). From Chernobyl to the classroom: A case study connecting historic events to class projects. In M. Auer, D. Guralnick, & J. Uhomoibhi (Eds.), Interactive collaborative learning. ICL 2016. Advances in intelligent systems and computing, vol 545 (pp. 520-525). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50340-0_46

How to cite this article

APA

Kotsis, K. T. (2025). Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education. Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher, 5(4), em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

Vancouver

Kotsis KT. Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education. Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher. 2025;5(4):em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

AMA

Kotsis KT. Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education. Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher. 2025;5(4), em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

Chicago

Kotsis, Konstantinos T.. "Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education". Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher 2025 5 no. 4 (2025): em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

Harvard

Kotsis, K. T. (2025). Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education. Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher, 5(4), em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860

MLA

Kotsis, Konstantinos T. "Incorporating Chernobyl fallout into science education". Journal of Mathematics and Science Teacher, vol. 5, no. 4, 2025, em088. https://doi.org/10.29333/mathsciteacher/16860