The authors describe their resources for raising awareness and encouraging positive water behaviours among young children. The DRY (Drought Risk and You) project brought together a multidisciplinary team to create a research-informed storybook and teachers' notes for 7- to 11-year-olds. This article takes a brief look at the book and reflects on…

To show students how engineering design practices reduce the impacts of a natural hazard, the authors--two science educators and an elementary teacher--taught a three-day 5E lesson that focused on hurricanes. They specifically focused on hurricanes because their students are located near a coastal area and are familiar with the effects of this…

An after-school enrichment activity offered to sixth-grade students gave a group of 10 students an opportunity to explore the effects of the California drought in their community using an engaging scientific device: the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Although this activity was specifically designed for a small after-school enrichment group, it…

While learning about the types of weather events that occur in the local area, students in grades 4-6 were asked to consider how structures can be built to withstand extreme weather conditions. Teams of students designed, constructed, and tested buildings to withstand hurricanes and designed the tests they would use to evaluate their structures.…

"Shake, Rattle, & Roll" is a new program developed by The Actuarial Foundation with Scholastic, provides dynamic real-world math content designed to build student skills while showing students the relevance of math to understanding their world and planning for their future. Math skills are increasingly important for students. According to the U.S.…

For four months, St. Paul's Episcopal School in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana remained closed after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the entire city in August 2005. The storm left St. Paul's campus under nine feet of water for two weeks, destroying many buildings and the entire first floor of the campus. As the only remaining art…

The purpose of these modules is to provide an introduction to the world of probability and statistics to accelerated mathematics students at the high school level. The modules also introduce students to real world math concepts and problems that property and casualty actuaries come across in their work. They are designed to be used by teachers and…

A tornado is a rotating, funnel-shaped column of air, which extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. The winds of a tornado can reach up to 480 km per hour. This is about five times faster than a car driving on a highway. Tornadoes can be almost invisible until they pick up dust and debris. This article describes an activity that stimulates…

Scientists have associated the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon with extreme climate events such as flooding in California, droughts in Australia, fires in Indonesia, and increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean. The popular media is constantly attributing individual storms to the ENSO phenomenon. The reality is that a…

Reports the experiences of a continuing education group of geographers crossing the Indian Ocean by ship. Describes the bizarre weather conditions encountered and the lack of meteorological coverage of the area. Explains how knowledge of basic physical geography helped to avert a disaster when weather reports did not match the conditions being…

September 11, 2001, was a critical teachable moment that provided the author of this article and his team with an avenue to middle level curriculum that was relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. Hurricane Katrina opened a similar window of opportunity for middle level educators to focus the minds of young adolescents on important…

This curriculum unit requires students to use science, geography, and language arts skills in studying the weather. Students are asked to report on weather anomalies and are provided with background information, detailed instructions, online resources, and reflection questions. The teacher's guide describes the unit's purpose, correlation to…

Outlines the vulnerability of the West Indies to various natural hazards, especially hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Reviews the geologic and meteorologic causes and consequences of the hazards. Suggests methods of incorporating hazards information in geography classes. Includes maps and a hurricane tracking chart. (DK)

Asserts that how people respond to risk is determined by how they perceive risk. Four-hundred and seven secondary school students answered questions concerning different dimensions of natural hazards (most likely to occur, loss of life, and others). Although the students possessed a high level of awareness much of their information was inaccurate.…

Background information using Hurricane Gilbert (1988) is provided. Ideas for 27 activities including a mapping activity are discussed. The 5 themes of geography are listed and a glossary is given. (CW)