Nuclear Reactions

Thank you for your interest in participating in Parks as Classrooms. Unfortunately, we are not currently accepting applications.

Please check our website in mid-August for updated information on our application process for the 2025-2026 school year. For questions, please email [e-mail]

 

 

Overview

Grades 11-12

ONLY BEING OFFERED IN THE SPRING

 

Ranger Socorro and Nike Veteran Al Kellogg pose in front of a Nike Hercules Missile.

NPS Lara Volski

What does safety look like?

Nuclear Reactions: Atomic Diplomacy at the Marin Headlands provides a dynamic supplement to your unit on the Cold War-era. Students are introduced to the Nike missile site that operated in the Marin Headlands during the 1950s until 1974. The missile site, located near a major urban area, offers students the opportunity to consider the national significance and impact of the Cold War from a local perspective: its definition of security, the technology it spawned, the role of diplomacy, and public perceptions of the era. Students also conduct research into primary and secondary sources that continue the story of nuclear technology in our political and economic world of today.

The Nuclear Reactions program uses the Understanding by Design framework, incorporates Common Core Standards and Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies. The program is framed by the Essential Question – "What does safety look like?"

Program’s Framework and Curriculum Links:

Click here for the Nuclear Reactions Understanding by Design grid.
Click here for the Nuclear Reactions Curriculum

Click here for additional materials about Nike missiles and Cold War history.

Program Structure

The Nuclear Reactions program is structured in the following three-touch model:

• Classroom preparation – lessons delivered by the teacher with resources provided by the park addressing the implications of the Cold War using articles and historic photographs.
• Field session – the Nike site experience in which students conduct an inquiry investigation.
• Classroom assessment – opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned through essays and debate.

 

Three Nike missiles point up in the Marin Headlands

NPS

How to Apply

Please check our website in mid-August for updated information on our application process for the 2025-2026 school year. For questions, please email [e-mail].

 

Additional Resources

Nike Missile Site Introductory Video

 

Duration:

11 minutes, 22 seconds

The threats that were faced during the Cold War, the decisions that were made during that time period, was it right? Was it wrong? Was it worth it?

 

The requested video is no longer available.

 

The requested video is no longer available.

 

The requested video is no longer available.

 

The requested video is no longer available.

 

The requested video is no longer available.