About

Radioactive waste is the by-product of nuclear technology used in medicine, scientific research, power stations, and weapons. High-level radioactive waste is extremely hazardous to health if humans or animals come into contact with it, therefore it must be handled carefully and kept far away from people. The waste must be contained so as not to come into contact with water, or wind, or it might spread that way. High-level radioactive waste must be stored for thousands of years before it is neutralised through radioactive decay and is no longer hazardous.
 

Your task

Design a radioactive waste warning system, that is, a permanent way to warn people about the presence of high-level radioactive waste, and how hazardous it is to touch or to be nearby that waste. Imagine that high-level radioactive waste is being stored at a facility deep underground far from any human settlement, and you are tasked to design a permanent way of warning people today and in future that the place and the material stored within is hazardous to living things. Note that people in the distant future (five hundred years or more) may not know any more what is stored there, and they will certainly not speak nor read your language. Your design solution can involve anything: signs, structures, experiences, and so forth. Work on this project in a small team with a group of your classmates.
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The design thinking stages

Follow the five design thinking stages to ensure that you think of everything and do everything necessary in order to succeed in your design project. First, you must UNDERSTAND the design topic and the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DECIDE what is important to your design solution and what is not so important. Then you CREATE to come up with ideas and improve them. Then you BUILD your chosen design idea in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Finally, you TEST your built design idea to get the opinions of users. Use the methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you follow the design thinking stages.
 

Note for teachers

​​​​​​​Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the BUILD Stage for Level III to safely supervise this design project.​​​​​