In this chapter, you learned about several types of natural disasters that are related to weather events. Some natural events can cause serious problems for people. You also learned that some areas are more likely (or less likely) to experience one of these events than other places.
>
In this Evaluate activity, Learning from the Past, Thinking about the Future, you will use what you have learned to inform others. You will think about one type of natural disaster and explain to others how studying past events can provide information about natural events in the future. Materials
-
Refer back to the table you created in your technology notebook during the Engage activity (Steps 2–5). In that table, you wrote your thoughts about how different natural events would affect people and their communities. You also thought about which events would be more likely to happen in your area. Based on what you know now, do you want to revise that table? If so, make changes using a different-colored pen or pencil. Hint
-
Choose one type of natural disaster or severe weather event. Create a poster that will inform others about that type of event. Include the following information:
- Describe the type of damage that can be caused by this weather event.
- Explain what causes this type of weather event (or what makes it more serious).
- Describe the patterns that weather forecasters look for in order to predict the possibility of this type of event.
- Describe where this type of weather event is more likely to occur.
- Identify the technologies that can help scientists predict, keep track of, or study this type of event. Hint
-
When you are finished, hang up the poster for your classmates to view.
-
Examine the posters done by your classmates. If you have questions or comments about another student’s poster, write your question and your initials on a sticky note. Place that note next to the poster. Hint
-
Read the questions and comments that other students made about your poster. Decide which comments or questions you should use to improve your poster. Make changes to your poster as time allows. Hint
Activity Overview
In the Evaluate activity, Learning from the Past, Thinking about the Future, students summarize what they have learned about weather and natural events. They will choose one type of natural event and convey their understanding to others. They also will focus on how understanding events from the past can provide valuable information about natural events in the future.
Before You Teach
Materials
For each student:
- chart paper or poster board (see Advance Preparation)
- art supplies (markers, scissors, tape, glue)
- sticky notes (The 3 × 3 in size work well.)
- pens or pencils of different colors
Advance Preparation
In this activity, students will prepare posters to convey what they have learned about natural events. You can decide whether they will work on their posters individually, with a partner, or in their teams of three students. Your decision about this will influence the amount of materials you need and your assessment of students’ work.
As an alternative strategy to making posters, students could prepare a slide presentation if the appropriate computer software is available.
As You Teach
Outcomes and Indicators of Success
By the end of this activity, students will be able to explain several things about a natural event, including its cause, its impact on people, its patterns, the use of technology to learn about it, and the risks of its occurrence in different places.
They will express their understanding in their own words through the creation of a poster.
Strategies
Getting Started
You might begin this lesson by having a class discussion about what students have learned in this chapter. The chapter organizer may be helpful in guiding the discussion. Allow time for students to ask questions if they are still unclear about certain concepts.
Process and Procedure
Students begin this activity by referring back to the table they filled in in the Engage activity. In that table, they considered different natural events and the impacts that they might have on people. They also thought about which of the natural events would be more likely to occur in their area.
Students choose one type of natural disaster or severe weather event to focus on in this activity. Their task is to prepare a poster that provides different types of information about that event.
Ask students to hang their posters around the room for others to look at. If you wish, you could ask them to post all the posters about a specific type of natural event in the same part of the classroom so that it is easy to compare how different students approached the project.
Allow time for students to move around the room and view other students’ posters. As they move around the room, ask them to write any questions they have about a poster on a sticky note. They should put their initials on the sticky note before attaching it to the poster. (They do not need to comment about every poster, but encourage them to leave questions or comments on two or three posters.)
Students can use the feedback from the sticky notes to make revisions to their posters. Ask them to use a different-colored pen or pencil to identify the changes that they are making. It may be helpful for you to review the sticky note comments provided for each poster.
Encourage students to plan their posters by making notes or even doing a mock-up of the poster in their technology notebooks before they begin preparing the actual poster. If they are working individually on this project, encourage them to discuss their ideas (and share their mock-ups) with a partner before preparing the poster. This will enable them to receive some feedback before they are too far along.