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Lesson plan: What is a disaster?
From the Dealing with Disasters online
resource
Age group: 11 - 14
Aims:
To explore pupils’ current understanding of disasters.
To develop skills in reasoning and categorisation.
To show that ‘a disaster’ is not always easy to define,
and can mean different things in different contexts.
What to do - part one:
Lead a brainstorm around the concept of a disaster. Remember, in
a brainstorm there are no right or wrong answers. Don’t get
drawn into a discussion at this stage, simply record all the suggestions.
Write the word ‘Disaster’ on a large sheet
of paper. Ask pupils to note down any words or phrases which this
suggests
to them. After a few minutes, divide the class into pairs, and
ask pupils to discuss their ideas. Each pair should write some
of their
ideas on pieces of card or sticky labels.
In turn, each pair should place their cards (using Blutak) around
the central title ‘Disaster’. Ask pupils to group together
words and phrases with similar meanings, or which seem related.
For example, ‘feeling scared’ might go with ‘hungry’,
because they both express how people feel in a certain situation.
Another pair might place ‘no food’ next to ‘car crash’,
because they are both examples of types of disaster.
Work with the pupils to develop firmer categories, and write the
categories on the display, as sub-titles. These might include: ‘types
of disaster’; ‘causes of disasters’; ‘feelings’;
‘consequences’, etc . . . Pupils may want to put some
words and phrases in more than one section. Edit the display as
necessary.
This activity is a useful assessment opportunity.
You will now have created an interactive display, which can be
added to and changed as the pupils’ understanding of the topic
increases. Pupils could collect newspaper headlines, photographs,
and quotations to illustrate the categories.
What to do - part two:
Download and photocopy the statement
sheet: What is a disaster? Divide pupils into
pairs or small groups, and give each group a set of statements.
Ask pupils to rank the ideas in the shape of a diamond as below:
The statement that is most like their idea of ‘a disaster’
should go at the top and the one which is least like their idea
of ‘a disaster’ at the bottom.
Discussion points:
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Did pupils agree on which statement best represented
their idea of a disaster?
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How did they make their decisions? As a class,
or in smaller groups, ask pupils to write down some of the
things which they
think make a disaster. You may like to offer the following
questions as a guide.
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Does a disaster always happen suddenly?
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Does it matter how many people are affected?
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Does a disaster always involve loss of life?
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Does it matter how often it happens?
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Does it matter who it happens to?
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Does it matter who knows about it?
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Does it matter what causes it?
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Does it matter who is talking about it?
What to do - part three:
Return to the brainstorming session you did earlier. Do pupils
want to add anything new to their initial ideas? Do they want to
remove or change anything? Keep the sheet of paper you have used
in this brainstorm session. The ideas which students have generated
can be referred back to if you carry out the causes
web activity.
Further work:
Divide the class into small groups, and ask each group to choose
six words or phrases from the ‘Disaster’ display which
are meaningful to them. Ask them to put together one or two sentences
that use these words and phrases. Each group can make short presentation
to the class, and justify their choices. For example:
A disaster is when something happens suddenly, which is out
of control. People might die, and everyone is scared. In a disaster,
you need help to survive.
Curriculum links:
| England |
Scotland |
Wales |
| Citizenship/PSHE:
-Effects of stereotyping; empathy; consider social and moral
dilemmas.
Geography:
- Appreciate how people's values and attitudes, including
their own, affect …issues, and to clarify and develop
their own values and attitudes to issues.
English:
- Group discussion and interaction - contributions to groups;
taking different views into account; sift, summarise and use
the most important points. |
Environmental Studies; Society:
- Human-physical interaction.
- Developing informed attitudes - interaction of people with
their environment.
English:
- Listening in groups; talking in groups; talking about experiences,
feelings and opinions; reading for information.
PSD:
- Social development. |
Geography:
- Appreciate how people's values and attitudes, including
their own, affect …issues, and to clarify and develop
their own values and attitudes to issues.
English:
- Group discussion and interaction - contributions to groups;
taking different views into account; sift, summarise and use
the most important points
PSE:
- Critically evaluate others' viewpoints; empathise with others'
experiences and feelings; make moral judgements and resolve
moral issues and dilemmas. |
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