Natural disasters are sudden events caused by environmental factors that injure people and damage property, examples of them could be: floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis… Natural disasters can occur in any place of the world, however, there are some places with a higher level of a possibility than others, this depends on several factors. Despite this, it is believed that human behaviour has an impact on this issue too, some causes are urbanisation, global warming and land use (deforestation, construction). “But even among climatic events, natural causes are not entirely divorced from the social. The world has recently experienced dramatic warming, which scientists increasingly attribute to airborne emissions of carbon, and around the world, Katrina is widely seen as evidence of socially induced climatic change.”  (Smith. N, 2006, p. 1). The government has an important role in this issue, it must prepare communities and urban areas, respond quickly and work with communities and international partners. They have the aim of reducing as maximum as possible the affected people and injuries as the cause of the natural disasters. “International relief increase with the severity of the disaster and when the income of the affected people is lower. But relief is also driven by factors other than need. Donors also give more to countries that lie closer and with which they share a common language and colonial ties.” (David Strömberg, 2007, p. 221)

In relation to this, in the first week, the class consisted of different activities about natural disasters in order to represent them, know different rocks, make interesting experiments… first of all, we made our own volcano using different materials such as baking soda, vinegar and a washing up liquid.

It was really interesting to know how the process is for me because as a child I didn’t learn this content in this fun way, it was exciting to know how different materials carry out effects that can represent things so important like the volcano eruption. At the same time, all of my peers were really interested in it, because they were excited to see the reactions that could occur in the experiments. Personally, I feel that it is crucial to teach children this types of contents in this dynamic way because they can observe and check by themselves what they use to see in the news.

Then, we did some cutouts, which they showed the different parts of the volcanos. After that, we knew different rocks and checked the hardness they have while we were hitting them with a hammer. This is a proper way to learn different types of rocks because children can touch the different textures and know more about them than just looking them in a book. My peers and me, we could check the strength that we had to use to break them or even, in many cases, it was impossible to broke them, it was a fun activity for us.

Finally, we used different things such as clams, snails and dinosaur toys to create a fossil. We just had to put that different shapes within the clay, in this way, the shapes were on the clay and it would be a representation of what a fossil is. It is a cool way to teach children what a fossil is and at the same time, they can create it by themselves in an easy way. It is really interesting because of the reason I have explained before, children can touch and see the different materials. It is an interactive way in which children can learn because it is easier to learn something using different senses (sight, touch and hear) than just hearing the explanation of the teacher or watching any video. This is something that schools should promote and as consequence, the learning will improve. 

In the second week, the class was based on the direct study task of microteaching, in which different groups explained natural disasters in a more specific way. My group and I explained what an earthquake is, how to explain it to children and possible activities for children, what it is the response and the aid provided by countries and finally, we made a quiz to check if our classmates learned something from our presentation. According to other groups, it was really interesting because some of them made a cupboard model to represent the process of a tsunami, and in my view, it was a fun and different way to know more about it.

Another groups, made a quiz in which we learned essential stuff to be safe, such as if an earthquake occurs in our city, the safest place to be is under a table, or what we have to do if a tsunami is coming, is going to the highest place that we have close to us.

I think that this methodology of teaching is really effective because it promotes participation between peers and teacher and makes students curious about the topic. At the same time, it leads to the fact that children ask questions they may have about the content and they can be answered by the teacher or even by the peers, in addition, they can relate what they are learning to another experiences children may have and share with the classmates.  Furthermore, this way of teaching using experiments and more practical experiences, foster the creativity on children and creates curiosity on the contents, and because of this, it creates a more free, flexible and interactive learning. This methodology makes an easier learning process than just the traditional one (just listen to the teacher explanation), therefore, it shows us an improvement of the teaching techniques, because of this, I am going to give an experience example of this issue making reference to the change of education provided from past years to current ones.

“My chemistry teacher was an excellent pedagogue: for example, she began the lesson on electrolysis with a simple demonstration or laboratory, conducted with a student assistant. Provided with a solution of cupric chloride (CuCl2), two carbon electrodes, and a battery, a little later we all smelled the “swimming pool” aroma near one of the electrodes and saw the red powdery smear on the other electrode. “What happens here?” was her opening question. As an enhanced chemistry class, we were allowed to redo experiments as well as change concentrations, as long as we discussed and got approval from the chemistry teacher. Discussion among us and with the teacher, who was not volunteering answers. The teacher seemed to show the most pleasure when we students argued with each other. Then she would use the same questioning strategies to make us think and solve the puzzle. Thinking about the honors chemistry classes attended by my sons many decades later, I concluded that none of them looked like my high school experience. Their teachers would come to class, present a long lecture on a subject, which was rarely followed by a confirming laboratory in which students knew the “correct results” before performing the prescribed experiment. The teacher was not interested in students’ experiences, and any attempt to slow down the pace was not welcome, as they “had to cover lots of material.” Summarizing his high school experience, my oldest son, Danny, wrote a note on his bedroom door stating, “At school, I listen to people I don’t like, talking about things I do not understand.” (Moscovici, 2013, pp. 88-89)

In relation with the skills developed in this topic, I could say that critical thinker and analytical are essential, because the content and the way of teaching it promotes that I have to stop to think and to make a reflection about what can happen in an experiment or what can I do if a natural disaster happens in my city. It is not just learning what an earthquake or a tsunami is, but I have to think in a more practical way. The collaborative is another important one because as I said before, this learning promotes the participation between peers and teacher, in which it exists a discussion about reflections and ideas that we may have. At the same time, motivation is the key to this topic because the learning process through experiments and discussion avoid peers and me getting bored. Finally, creativity and imagination are crucial because this topic makes me think and reflect on it, it promotes critical thinking about why any natural disaster may occur and how I can act on it.

According to the Primary teaching skills, I would point out some of them:

2.1.2 Communicate effectively, using a variety of media, to stimulate pupils and achieve the objectives of lessons.

2.1.3 Employ a range of teaching strategies and justify their approach.

2.1.4 Set expectations and a pace of work which makes appropriate demands on all pupils

I have selected that skills because, in this topic, I have realized that it is really important for children to discuss and share ideas and curiosities in order to enrich their learning rather than a learning based on just one point of view or resource. For me, it is really nice to know different opinions and at the same time, know people and their experiences. In the case of my peers, it was really interesting for them to know my opinion because Spanish education is different from the Scottish one, so it was exciting to learn something new. For teachers, it is essential to create an interaction between peers to guarantee the learning and at the same time, it is possible to improve communication skills. On the other hand, teachers use to learn from children views and experiences, so this skill not only benefits to children. In addition, as I have said before, different teaching strategies are crucial to improve the learning of the children, for them is vital to have a fun learning process because they will be learning stuff without struggling too much. My peers also had fun while they were showing us their own experiments, so it is really worth. Finally, a pace of work in class must be created to let children know that every opinion and idea is valued and they shouldn’t be afraid about if their ideas are proper or not. Every input is important to create a common learning and help each other. That skills can be used in other areas because we can relate subjects such as Music or Maths to our daily experiences to learn more about them. For example, we could solve operations using things that are present in our daily routine or discuss and share ideas about things we could use to make different sounds. It is really easy to promote communication skills in any area and at the same time, it guarantees a better learning process.

References:

Moscovici, H. (2013) Learn Science, Learn Math, Learn to Teach Science and Math, Homo Sapiens! In: Penny, J. G. and Katherine, C. M. (eds.) Cultural Perspectives in Science Education: Research Dialogs. [Online] pp. 88-89. Available: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-94-6209-155-9.pdf [Accessed: 06-11-2018]

David Strömberg (2007). Natural Disasters, Economic Development, and Humanitarian Aid.  Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 21 (3), pp.199-222. Available: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.21.3.199 [Accessed: 01 November 2018]

Smith, N. (2006) There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster. SSRC. [Online] Available: http://blogs.ubc.ca/naturalhazards/files/2016/03/Smith-There%E2%80%99s-No-Such-Thing-as-a-Natural-Disaster.pdf