The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons
Printed Curriculum [$20]
Downloadable Curriculum [$16]
Classroom Set [$9.75ea] (10 min)
Second edition. May 2008.
Overview
Today, the world faces many complex challenges. Climate change, terrorism, and international pandemics crowd the headlines of the newspapers. For many, understanding the challenges facing the world is overwhelming. Perhaps no issue can seem more overwhelming than nuclear weapons. We can see the results of terrorism, environmental issues, and disease, yet for most of us nuclear weapons remain out of sight and out of mind. For many, the abstract theories and jargon that surround nuclear weapons combined with the nearly unimaginable consequences make thinking about the challenges of nuclear weapons difficult.
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons gives students the tools they need to wrestle with the questions that surround the future of nuclear weapons.
Readings
Part I introduces students to the history of nuclear weapons and the concept of deterrence.
Part II examines some of the arguments for and against nuclear weapons and then looks at three challenges: (1) the leftover arsenals of the Cold War, (2) proliferation, and (3) the threat of nuclear terrorism.
Framework of Policy Options
At the core of The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons is a framework of choices for U.S. foreign policy concerning nuclear weapons. These choices--or Options--reflect three fundamentally different ways of considering the issues surrounding nuclear weapons. By exploring three clearly defined alternatives, the beliefs underlying them, and the pros and cons of each, students will gain a deeper understanding of the values underlying specific policy recommendations and the trade-offs that accompany each of the choices.
Suggested Five-Day Lesson Plan
The Teacher Resource Book accompanying The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons contains a day-by-day lesson plan and student activities.
- Day One provides students with an understanding of the Soviet threat as it was perceived during the Cold War.
- Day Two maps the nuclear world today.
- Days Three and Four are devoted to a simulation in which students act as advocates of the three options or take on the role of members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
- Day Five engages students in developing their own "Option Four" and wrestling with the moral dilemmas of nuclear weapons.
- Optional Lesson One examines songs of the nuclear era.
- Options Lesson Two provides a guide to exploring films about nuclear weapons.
- Optional Lesson Three is a student dramatization that illustrates the time-pressure of nuclear decision making.
- Optional Lesson Four engages students in a comparison of three types of WMD--biological, chemical, and nuclear.