Learning Log – Disasters

B.A. 2

Learning Log

Theme: Disasters
Key Learning:

Before this input I was aware of types of disasters and how they impacted the environment and life but had never previously considered the definition. A disaster is a sudden event that seriously impacts the functioning of a community and causes human, material, economic and environmental loss. The capacity to cope of the affected area will be exceeded.

Human actions are impacting upon the frequency of disasters, such as  global warming and land use. Land use is affecting this drastically as deforestation and construction change the ability of the land to sustain itself.

There are risks associated with natural disasters and the impact is dependent on the population of an area. Impact = area of the world + preparedness of the area. How an area of the world is impacted by politics. This is the political willingness to help, the priority of where funding is directed, the preparation vs knee jerk reactions and corruption. On a local level there may be forecasting systems and community supports.

Government must prepare communities by assessing the hazards, consider physical structures and successfully communicate procedures. Following a disaster they must respond quickly with search and rescue, sanitation, food and healthcare. They could also work with communities and international partners for disaster response, rebuild infrastructure and communities and work to rehome displaced populations.

Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice:

 I feel that learning about disasters and their place in the curriculum has been beneficial in allowing me to explore sustainable developments place within the curriculum. I have considered the Curriculum for Excellence (2004) Experiences and Outcomes and can see that teaching Disasters and how they impact upon people and their environment would help to meet a number of the outlined targets.

It is important for children to learn about disasters within the curriculum as it:

  •  They develop scientific values and respect for living things and the environment.
  • They will develop a self awareness through reflecting on the impact, significance and cultural importance of science and it’s applications to society.
  • They develop informed social, moral and ethical views of scientific, economic and environmental issues.
  • They will be able to read and understand essential points from sources of information including media reports.

Understanding this will allow me to successfully implement this topic within my teaching practice. 

This input has impacted my views as although I was aware of how disasters happened and how the affect the places where they happen I was naive to the fact that it happens repeatedly to the same places and that they are unable to cope due to the mass loss, as the rebuild their community it takes years and it may never recover.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

 Before this input I had a basic understanding of natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding) but I wasn’t sure of typhoons and wild fire. I feel that I have to further develop my knowledge of all natural disasters and I will do so by looking at the presentations that were created by my peers for the microteaching. I am also really interested in this aspect of the module so I feel to investigate it further would be really interesting.

 I would like to further develop my knowledge by considering the ways in which certain areas of the world prepare themselves for disasters and how accurate the forecasting is. 

I feel that I would also have to further my knowledge of the scientific reasoning behind disasters and how disasters will impact upon the natural world.

References

Scottish Government (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Experiences and Outcomes [online] Available: file:///C:/Users/Heather/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/5QTXV3VH/all_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539562.pdf [Accessed: 31 October 2016]