Process Paper
We live in the state of Utah and wanted a topic that related to our state. When we were in 4th grade we studied Utah history and learned about a fun website called historytogo.utah.gov.. We went there to scan for different ideas. It had all kinds of fun information about Utah. We both decided we liked the topic about radiation fallout over Utah from the Nevada Test Site. We were drawn to this topic because we have many friends and people in our family that have had leukemia or thyroid problems and have lived in Utah their whole lives. We can’t help but wonder if there is a connection.
We began our research by finding different books we could read about the subject. Our parents also took us to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, so we could see many primary sources. We talked to many friends and family members about their firsthand experience about living during that time and their medical problems. We even connected with other Downwinder’s online and attended a Downwinder’s memorial on January 27th. We also spent hours on the internet finding just the right primary source pictures to add to our website.
We chose to do a group project because we have watched our brother do History Day projects in the past and knew how much work he put in for an individual project and we wanted to work together and share the work. We wanted to do a website for two reasons: first, it was easy to divide up the work. One of us could work on one page while the other one worked on a different page. Two, we love technology. Both of our parents have jobs that relate to computers and one of us wants to grow up and have a job designing video games, so creating a website seemed like a natural fit since we both spend hours on the computer everyday anyway.
We thought our project “Taking Responsibility for the Forgotten Guinea Pigs: The Downwinder’s Story,” was perfect for this year’s National History Day theme: “Rights and Responsibilities in History” because at the core of the Downwinder’s story is the controversy about whether or not the United States government had the right to conduct their nuclear testing program without properly informing citizens who could be harmed by the tests. If they did have the right to conduct their test without properly informing citizens of the danger, then did the government then have the responsibility to pay for the damages that resulted? Many Utah citizens had to fight to for their rights to be recognized after they were unknowingly used as human guinea pigs collecting radiation fallout. It was a legal battle that took decades before the government finally came clean and admitted their responsibility and did something to finally take responsibility for their knowingly negligent actions.
(476 words)
We live in the state of Utah and wanted a topic that related to our state. When we were in 4th grade we studied Utah history and learned about a fun website called historytogo.utah.gov.. We went there to scan for different ideas. It had all kinds of fun information about Utah. We both decided we liked the topic about radiation fallout over Utah from the Nevada Test Site. We were drawn to this topic because we have many friends and people in our family that have had leukemia or thyroid problems and have lived in Utah their whole lives. We can’t help but wonder if there is a connection.
We began our research by finding different books we could read about the subject. Our parents also took us to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, so we could see many primary sources. We talked to many friends and family members about their firsthand experience about living during that time and their medical problems. We even connected with other Downwinder’s online and attended a Downwinder’s memorial on January 27th. We also spent hours on the internet finding just the right primary source pictures to add to our website.
We chose to do a group project because we have watched our brother do History Day projects in the past and knew how much work he put in for an individual project and we wanted to work together and share the work. We wanted to do a website for two reasons: first, it was easy to divide up the work. One of us could work on one page while the other one worked on a different page. Two, we love technology. Both of our parents have jobs that relate to computers and one of us wants to grow up and have a job designing video games, so creating a website seemed like a natural fit since we both spend hours on the computer everyday anyway.
We thought our project “Taking Responsibility for the Forgotten Guinea Pigs: The Downwinder’s Story,” was perfect for this year’s National History Day theme: “Rights and Responsibilities in History” because at the core of the Downwinder’s story is the controversy about whether or not the United States government had the right to conduct their nuclear testing program without properly informing citizens who could be harmed by the tests. If they did have the right to conduct their test without properly informing citizens of the danger, then did the government then have the responsibility to pay for the damages that resulted? Many Utah citizens had to fight to for their rights to be recognized after they were unknowingly used as human guinea pigs collecting radiation fallout. It was a legal battle that took decades before the government finally came clean and admitted their responsibility and did something to finally take responsibility for their knowingly negligent actions.
(476 words)