Learning Log
Theme: Disasters
Key Learning: A disaster is a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life. A disaster is only classed as a disaster when human society is impacted, this can be in terms of social disruption, material damage and loss of life. Humans are affecting the frequency of disasters, such as global warming, urbanisation and land use. Land use such as deforestation, road cutting and construction changes the ability of the land to sustain itself. There are risks associated with natural disasters and the risk increases with higher populated areas. Impact = area of the world + preparedness of the area. How an area is impacted is down to politics. This means the political willingness to help, directing priority funding, the preparation vs. ‘knee jerk’ reactions and also corruption. At local level, there may be forecasting systems and community supports may be built. At national level, government must prepare communities by assessing the risks, successfully communicate procedures and take action. After a disaster has struck, they must respond quickly with search and rescue, sanitation, food and healthcare. Lastly, at international level, working with international partners, governments must make us of resources, expertise and funding, to prepare communities 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 has been beneficial in terms of gaining a better understanding of sustainable developments place within the curriculum. After having taken part in the micro-teaching task and considering different approaches to teaching this topic across all school levels and also considering the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes, I have a better idea of how I would teach this topic whilst meeting the necessary outlined targets.
This input has had an impact on my views, as I had not considered how long it takes to rebuild after experiencing such loss and destruction and the fact that it may never fully recover.
Areas of interest to explore further/develop: Prior to this input, I had a basic understanding of natural disasters (earthquakes and tsunamis) but I was not sure of typhoons, flooding and wild fire. I feel that I have to further develop my knowledge of all of the natural disasters and I will do so by looking at the presentations that were created by my peers for the micro-teaching for further information on all types of natural disasters.
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: 4 November 2016]
