TEACHING SCIENCE THROUGH EMERGENCY EDUCATIONSolmaz Mohadjer and Zach Adam www.twb.org

SAFETY

INQUIRYSCIENCE

Why do some buildings collapse while others survive

an earthquake? What is a seismic load?

Will my house collapse during an earthquake?

TABLETOP EXERCISESA Tabletop Exercise simulates a complex, realistic situation with multiple possible responses before the students have obtained all of the knowledge of the lesson concepts. In this way, students have the opportunity to train for a situation where they do not have all of the information necessary to make an informed decision, as often happens during an emergency.

Tabletop exercises have three distinct phases: the introduction, the exercise itself, and the post-exercise discussion.

The introduction consists of providing a basic outline of the scenario, preparing the appropriate classroom environment, and informing the students of the primary objectives of the exercise. During the exercise, students are asked to respond to and evaluate courses of action as an emergency scenario unfolds. The post-exercise discussion is conducted immediately after the exercise has ended. Students are encouraged to discuss their responses to the scenario, and to be responsible for determining and explaining why any particular suggestion might be considered safe or unsafe.

ABSTRACTTeachers Without Borders (TWB) is exploring a science education approach that combines inquiry-based science lesson plans with emergency education scenarios known as “Tabletop Exercises.” The proposed framework is designed to introduce science concepts in a format that emphasizes personal or regional relevance, decision-making, and community survival skill development. In a recent pilot project, students and teachers in earthquake-prone cities surrounding the Himalayas (Dushanbe, Tajikistan and Dujiangyan, China) received earthquake education training that incorporates Earth sciences, emergency preparedness, community planning, and bookmaking in an integrated curriculum. Preliminary data describing the success of the approach in Dushanbe and the challenges of using assessment methods commensurate with project objectives are discussed.

A PILOT PROJECT: DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN

Participants and ImplementationForty-three middle school students in grades 8 and 9 from two public schools (one class for each school) in the capital city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, participated in a pilot lesson plan implementation in the winter of 2008. Participation was voluntary, and all lessons were held after regular school hours every day, five days a week for two weeks. Both genders were equally represented. No school teachers participated in the implementation of the lesson plans.

Preliminary Assessment DataPre-assessment consisted of one-on-one interviews with all participating students. Interview questions were selected to assess students’ pre-existing knowledge and misconceptions. The interview data revealed that all students had experienced at least one earthquake where over half of the reported earthquake experiences took place at school, while the remainder were at home. The concept of ‘earthquake preparation’ was completely unfamiliar to all students. No student could scientifically explain the causes of earthquakes.

Post-assessment consisted of guided focus group discussions. Most students were able to accurately connect the scientific concepts that explain earthquakes. Students discussed how to mitigate hazards and shared their suggestions with appropriate school authorities.

ChallengesPre- and post-assessment techniques must be made compatible to rigorously evaluate lesson plan effectiveness. TWB shall focus on teacher professional development in Tajikistan to help make earthquake education a sustainable effort (this approach is currently being tested in Sichuan, China). Teachers, administrators, local scientists and emergency responders must collaborate to ensure effective earthquake information reaches the school community. Students and teachers must be included when planning and implementing hazards mitigation in schools.

CONCEPTBuild relevance for the teachers and students by connecting:

Scientific data that supports safe mitigation practices and hazards awareness Regional hazards conveyed through inquiry teaching

Inquiry formalized through the scientific method

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE

Earth’s Interior &Plate Tectonics

Plate Boundaries

Properties of Earth’s Materials

Plate Motions and Faulting

Earthquakes

Seismic Energy

Liquefaction

Landslides

Structural Hazards

Non-Structural Hazards

Earthquake Drill & Planning

SAMPLE LESSON: LANDSLIDE HAZARDS

Tabletop Exercise: “Three Friends in a Valley”Three girls in the scenario observe strange behaviors of the ground around their homes and schools. Students are asked to interpret whether or not these behaviors may indicate that the ground is unstable and prone to landslides, and to justify their reasoning. Days later in the scenario, the three girls experience earthquake-triggered landslides. Students are then asked to critically evaluate the actions of the girls in the story, and to imagine what they would do differently if faced with the situation.

Tabletop Experiment: “The Homemade Landslide”

Hazards MitigationAfter the students have explored the physical mechanisms that cause landslides to occur, they devise and experiment with landslide remediation and mitigation strategies using the experimental setup using simple materials such as string, wire, cloth, nets, and toothpicks.

Students build, operate, and observe a landslide experiment using a cookie pan, sand, soil, gravel, and flat rocks. Students study triggering phenomena such as earthquakes (by shaking the inclined cookie pan) and heavy rain or snow (by adding water). Students will identify setup variables, discus how changing each variable affects the experiment outcome (making predictions), test the variables, and collect, record, interpret, and evaluate their results.