Activity
Prepare for student research on a specific disaster;
either human-induced or natural by creating a
set of cards. On each card write the name of
a disaster: fire, earthquake, flood, disease,
tornado, tsunami, nuclear accident, hurricane,
volcanic eruption, drought, avalanche, oil spill,
landslide, or other (that students may have come
up with in the engage lesson). The teacher may
want to have students draw the card on the day
prior to going to the computer lab. After students
have drawn the card they may then be asked to
identify if it is a human-induced or natural
disaster. This allows the students time to begin
answering their research questions in preparation
for the next day.
Day
1:
- Students
will be assigned a disaster from the list provided in
the previous lesson to research in the computer
lab or library. Students may be randomly handed a card with
the name of a disaster written on it as they enter
the computer lab. Inform students that they will spend the
class period researching their assigned disaster.
As they explore their topic they should answer the corresponding
research questions. The information that they gather
will be used to compile a poster and write a news
story.
RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
NAME
OF DISASTER:___________
TYPE
(natural or human-induced):___________
1.
In what region(s) of the world does this disaster
occur?
2. Describe the damage that may be created:
3. Can this disaster be predicted? If so, how?
4. What is the cause of this disaster?
5. Describe a recent occurrence of this type
of disaster:
6. Explain how people cope with living in a region
that may be threatened by this disaster. How
do they survive?
What help do they receive after a disaster occurs?
(If more than one geographic region may be vulnerable
to
this type of disaster, choose one region).
7. What effects does this disaster have on the
economy of the country/region?
8. Who is most vulnerable to the effects of this
disaster and why? Does population density, poverty,
housing, limited
resources have any have any effect on the severity
of the disaster?
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Day
2:
- Students
will use their research in the classroom to construct
a poster that illustrates their disaster. Students
should
keep in mind the central question: How does where you live
influence your quality of life and the ability to cope
with natural and human-induced disasters?
Poster
Criteria:
1. Posters must have a title that answers the central
question: How does where you live influence your quality
of life
and the ability to cope with natural and human-induced
disasters?
2. Include a world map that identifies the region(s)
where this disaster occurs.
3. Include a drawing or photograph of the disaster.
4. List the following items:
Factors that cause this disaster to occur
Damage caused by the disaster
How people respond to and recover from the disaster
How the residents of the area have adapted to their hazard-prone
environment.
***
Teachers may want to assign the poster as homework to
save class time and materials.
Day
3:
Students will display their posters and teach the class
about their natural disaster. Members of the class
will write down
three main ideas in their notes:
1.
Name of disaster
2. The damage it causes
3. Adaptations people have made in order to survive
after the disaster.
Students
will label the disaster on their map in the region
it usually strikes
or the most recent
occurrence
(for disasters
that may strike anywhere: fire, etc) Closure
Students may be assigned to construct their posters for
homework if the teacher chooses this option.
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Embedded
Assessment
In
class, written responses to the guiding research questions
will allow for initial assessment of the students’ ability
to identify the causes of major diseases and explain
the human and economic response to them. The poster and
class teaching allows for assessment of their ability
to assimilate research and present to the class a disaster-specific
response to the question,” How does where you live
influence your quality of life and the ability to cope
with natural and human-induced disasters?”
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