Many are fortunate never to have experienced the abrupt and devastating change a natural disaster can deliver, whether it be an earthquake, a tornado, or a wildfire. But one does experience similar hurt, pain, and loss in the waves of change that affect one's personal life. In a New York Times article on March 24, 2011, Martin Fackler describes…

The U.S. military has long understood the value of immersive simulations in education. Before the Navy entrusts a ship to a crew, crew members must first practice and demonstrate their competency in a fully immersive, simulated environment. Why not teach students in the same way? K-12 educators in Pennsylvania, USA, recently did just that when…

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for children or adolescents to be exposed to traumatic events. Experiences such as sexual or physical abuse, severe accidents, cancer or other life threatening illness, natural or man-made disasters, or the sudden death of a relative or peer can all result in maladaptive responses. As all children are in…

Learning for disaster reconstruction carried out by teachers and children in schools faces the fundamental contradiction of how tragic memories leaving deep scars can be told and shared, and the attempts to deal with this problem. In this paper, in order to approach the issue of whether an educational practice which overcomes this contradiction is…

In 2005, a record breaking 26 named tropical storms including 13 hurricanes ravaged the Gulf Coast of the United States. In response to the devastation of hundreds of schools, the Laura Bush Foundation swiftly created The Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative to help school libraries become fully functional and to offer the needed print…

The texts and classroom activities in this paper are a sample of those used within a unit on "The Battle for Survival". The unit brings classic Australian literary texts together with reportage on contemporary news events, and demonstrates an integrated approaches to the Literacy, Language and Literature strands of the AC:E. The unit…

Haitians and their descendants all over the world are grieving and mourning the terrible disaster and loss of lives that befell their homeland. For a brief moment this winter, the whole world focused on Haiti. Educators at all levels--elementary, middle school, high school, and college--can take this opportunity to teach about Haiti: its past,…

Only a few of Haiti's colleges have resumed classes since the earthquake effectively shut down higher education in the impoverished country. Most of the country's 159 colleges are concentrated in the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. Those that have reopened are housed in temporary quarters. The destruction of Haitian higher education was so…

Japan has the highest proportion of older adults in the world. Aging is not only an immediate personal issue but also a salient factor in crucial public policies, such as pensions, health, and long-term care. The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster of March 2011 has highlighted current and emerging issues of a…

Today, the threat that has caught the attention of many Americans is Mother Nature herself. 2010 and 2011 may go down as two of the most destructive years in the recent history: The Haiti earthquake; the Icelandic volcanoes; the Japan earthquake and tsunami; flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers; wildfires raging in Texas. And, a…

In this amended excerpt from "Hope Against Hope", educational reform in post-Katrina New Orleans is considered from a journalistic perspective in presenting the story of Geraldlynn Stewart as she and her family navigate the new school system. In providing voices of lived experiences of Stewart as well as other individuals within this new…

This paper recounts the author's story as she returned to Haiti in February to join a building project near Port-Au-Prince and to document efforts by U.S. higher education institutions to help the country rebound from the devastating 2010 earthquake. The author describes how consortiums have been formed in order to support the development of the…

After traumatic events, such as a natural disaster, children who are directly or indirectly affected by the event often have a number of intense emotional reactions. It is important for educators to understand common emotional and psychological responses to disastrous events and to try to help. This article describes a physical activity program…

For a few harrowing weeks in January, the eyes of the world were on Haiti, struggling with the impact of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. In the spotlight's glare, people saw the devastation wrought by the natural disaster. Viewers with a critical eye or access to alternative media also saw a U.S. military presence more focused on security than food…

This article discusses the international interdependence Hexagon Project for Haiti which invites students, ages five through eighteen, to create an image within a hexagonal template and respond to big questions surrounding a global culture of interdependence. The hexagon is a visual metaphor for interdependence, with its potential to infinitely…