Developing Scientifically-literate Citizens

When I think about how I can help to develop more scientifically literate and compassionate citizens through the study of current, and past, natural disasters, I think back to last year's Earthquake and Tsunami crisis in Japan.  My 7th grade students were learning about seismic waves, Earthquakes, Earthquake safety and tsunamis.  They were very interested in the power that the Earth's plates hold as well as how they can power a major wave that can travel faster than a Boeing 747.  After a long discussion of the effects that came about due to a large Earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day of 2006, students were asked to research tsunami safety as well as ways that science is helping people to stay safe from tsunamis.  They were asked to research Tsunami warning systems and write an essay about it, clearly stating how science and technology are involved and how effective these systems are.  After students had handed in their essays and we discussed these warning systems, chaos struck Japan.  My students were shocked. They knew exactly what happened within the crust, and how the tsunami was created.  I remember the day after we got the news of the Earthquake/Tsunami incident, my students said to me, "Mrs. Medenica, you should never assign us essays about natural disasters." They were very much freaked out by the incident, but were also able to sympathize with the people of Japan because they understood the science behind it.  They could question why the warning systems did not work, or the levy's.  They took action immediately by creating a sleepover marathon in the school gymnasium and raised money to send to help those victims in Japan.  There were multiple campaigns happening around Belgrade which we were able to donate the money through.  Connecting students to community organizations to learn about relief efforts is a little more difficult here than in the U.S. Most efforts are to help against hunger, homelessness, poverty, etc...  However, there were multiple online communities which students can go to in order to learn about relief efforts in certain areas.

This is just one incident from my past teaching experience that I can share about the importance of teaching such material.  The beautiful part about the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program where I teach is that we have a Criteria called One World and this is very specific to science, society, and the world as a whole and how they interact together.  For each unit that we study, we always try to link these three things together.  At the moment, this year's 7th graders are studying waves and I plan to teach them about ocean waves, hurricanes, tsunamis, and Earthquakes and how science is involved in the prediction of these forms of natural disasters, as well as how to stay safe in the case of an Earthquake here in Belgrade.

Another thing that I do with my 6, 7, and 8th grade students is current events.  Each week, they select a news article that relates to what we are studying in class. They read it, summarize it, and review it. Then, they post it to their science blogs.  This gets students active in reading about what is happening around them and around the world.  They also are encouraged to read other classmates blogs and to respond to the articles they had written a review on.