Students, especially boys, love to see something destroyed. Not knowing the consequences behind such destructions make the experience more enjoyable. So, when they get a chance to learn about tsunamis, asteroids, volcanoes, and earthquakes they are jumping out of their seats with excitement.
Taking the students down to the computer lab to research is not always a fun, quiet, and calming experience. Yet, when we researched natural disasters, not a distraction graced the classroom in over an hour. Every student was engaged in the videos, interactive games, and kidrex safe search engines.
To make this empowering, I wanted the students to become the experts. In groups of 4, students studied their own natural disaster and had to prove to their group it was the deadliest of all. The notes, and evidence they found were amazing. They enjoyed discussing these and soon realized the scary effects these "cool" destruction's could have on the world.
The mood grew more somber as they became aware of the consequences of each disaster. In one hour, students took something the saw and loved and saw it in a different light. It was a very empowering experience I wish all teachers to do with their own classrooms.
5th grade blogger example - 3/19/14
A tsunami is the worst thing that can ever happen. It is caused by a earthquake off shore. The bigger the earthquake the bigger the tsunami. A tsunami is a giant wave that can flood a lot of areas and life. The waves can bring cars, houses, and other items down with it. More than 150,000 people can die from a tsunami. It could take years to repair a very deadly tsunami. People are trying to prevent or prepare for tsunami. They prepare for one by building stations to see if a tsunami is coming with a detector. But they don’t give enough time to let people evacuate.
Great Blog post. The interactive aspect of the class provided learning skills for each student as they continued to explore the effects of natural disasters. As your students were broken down into groups, their became a variey of 21st Century thinking and learning which allowed the class to cover two or three different sections in one day.
ReplyDeleteGreat job
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ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job getting students to understand some of the implications of natural disasters. It might be helpful to make them aware of ways they can get directly involved with helping out victims, such as working with the Red Cross or another local organization. Great post! --Dr. Booth