Natural Disasters

Natural disasters often strike in far away places relative to my students in Ohio.  Some of them have never been out of our county making even the Carolinas seem like remote locations.  The power of the technology has had a major effect on the ways in which I can bring natural disaster information to my students.  When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, we were able to watch video clips in class the next day.  Students feel much more connected when they can see what is going on for themselves.  We followed the earthquake in Haiti a few years ago in the same way, and many of my students became involved with disaster relief through our middle school student council.  They felt much more empowered and connected having seen and discussed what was happening in the scientific sense.  I was proud that my students wanted to raise money for a cause that we had discussed in class.

In class, however, we have not focused much on the disaster relief side of these events.  It would be interesting to find local relief organizations, such as  The Red Cross, that would be willing to work with my students.  We could possibly create a sixth grade thematic unit out of future natural disasters.  Combining the science behind natural disasters with the social aspect and relief efforts in the after-math of such things would have a lasting effect on my students.