Thinking visibly about nuclear energy in IB Global Politics

Today's class served as an introduction to the politics surrounding nuclear energy, part of our larger inquiry into the geopolitical challenges of nuclear proliferation. Using the Council on Foreign Relations Nuclear Energy Guide as a starting point, we explored the proposition that every country has the right to develop nuclear energy technology using the 3-2-1 Bridge Visible Thinking routine. Students were asked to develop three ideas, two questions, and one analogy related to the prompt. Students then shared and discussed their ideas, which led to even further questions and commentary, all before viewing the introductory video content. After viewing they video and briefly exploring the countries that use nuclear power today, students were then asked to construct three new ideas, two new questions, and one new analogy in light of their new understanding. The goal of the 3-2-1 Bridge routine is to connect a student's ideas on a topic before and after an event; a debate, reading, video, or other experience. In exploring some of the randomly sampled pairs of student responses (I chose these based on how easily I could match the handwriting, not necessarily on the strength of the intellectual connections present in the student's work) you can see the ways in which each student's thinking and understanding evolved over this briefest of time periods.