I am constantly trying to bring more writing into my science classroom. To make natural disasters more real to my students I will have them do a research project where each student will draw at random from a box filled with natural disasters around the world. Each scenario will have the type and location of the disaster along with the name of a fictional student who was affected.
Example: “My name is Kaori (sounds like Corey) and I am from Japan in Koto, Tokyo and I would like you to share my story. Share with your classmates about the tsunami that affected my country in 2011. Also include ways to prevent, warn, and detect tsunami’s. Think of at least two things you can do here to help Kaori and his family there?
I think by giving the students a person to focus on it will make give the assignment meaning. I will come up with 30 scenarios so each students will be different.
