It seems as though natural disasters are occurring non-stop as of late. Between flooding in Mississippi, tornadoes from Minnesota to Alabama, terrible snow storms in the Northeast, the Grimsvotn volcano erupting in Iceland, as well as volcanoes in Hawaii and Ecuador, and hurricane season approaching, our students are witnessing a spring season that is more naturally active than I can remember. They need to understand that this is the essence of nature, but they also need to understand why these events occur, however. Through careful analysis of real world events and the data that go along with them, our students can become much more active participants and intellectuals in the science realm, equipping themselves to understand the world around them and remaining calm when natural disasters occur, knowing that nature works in cycles and we will reach a better stretch soon.
If I were a teacher of Earth Sciences, I would focus on these natural disaster events, making science content learned in class authentic to students. Modern day families seem to be more wide spread across the nation, meaning that events that occur far from our school in Corning, NY could easily be relevant to students who have family in the South, for example. This could potentially bring interesting viewpoints into the classroom like, "my uncle was in that hurricane..." or "my relatives had to move out of there house because of the flooding in Mississippi" and so on. These experiences could be shared with other classes as well, showing students that we need to be aware of events that occur around the globe, particularly those that occur within our nation.
Additionally, I would collaborate with a social sciences teacher in my school to incorporate a cross-curricular natural disasters unit whereby students learn the science behind these events through data collection and an inquiry-based approach, and dive into learning about community organizations and relief efforts in the social sciences class. We could even incorporate a problem-based learning experience that requires students to orchestrate a plan for hurricane/tornado/flood/snow storm, etc relief, including the science behind the event and coming up with "eye witness" accounts as if they were a part of it. This could be a great experience and a wonderful chance to pull in multiple curricula.
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a great idea with regards to making natural disasters a more authentic learning experience. I was reading an article on CBS News with regards to the experience of the children in Joplin at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/25/eveningnews/main20066260.shtml
I thought that the quote from the child who lost his video games was interesting; on the one hand, it is obvious that even as a direct victim he doesn't grasp the situation fully, but I think that other kids his age could relate to his statement. Amy
Reference:
Bowers, C. (2011). Tornado teaches Joplin children lessons in life. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/25/eveningnews/main20066260.shtml
Jordan-
ReplyDeleteI chat with my students about our wacky weather even though I teach life science because they need to know that the weather we have been experiencing lately is crazy. They know nothing but this wacky weather. I let them know how it has changed during my life time. I found a really good site that will show you weather history from all 50 states dating back decades. It's http://www.wunderground.com/ What I found from looking at the weather history portion of this site is that in the last decade highs and lows have been broken all over. I was expecting the highs, but not the lows. Don't know why there have been so many low's broken......
mj