User:Nlouwrens/turnips sandbox/tsunami project activities

Turnip tsunami project: proposed learning tasks

Here are my suggestions so far: AC 14/8/10 Mark, I thought about your suggestion of estimating times - but I'd really like the help of our expert teacher with that please :)

I am inserting hour estimates now - using a top down approach but have just been called to a meeting. Back shortly 1:30pm 18/8/10 TN

As of 4pm 18/8/10 have done an initial breakdown. Have assumed each phase is approx 8 hours and then separated the 8 hours out across the activities that have been identified. Depending on how far we take some of the activities in Phase 3, this could go up to 10 hours with the first two coming down - TN

What a tsunami is

8 hours total for this phase - TN 18/8/10

physical process, types and precursors

1. what does one look like? (1 hour, or possibly 2 hours if we go for the sink TN)
   - video, photos, voiced over with interviews pref with kids near same age as our target group. (yes AT, I could do an interview with my 11 year old step daughter? TN)
   - the sink experiment. go the sink! (yes AT)
   
2. how/why they occur (1 hour? TN)
   - short animation. if we can find one, so much the better. else, build as simple as possible. try and find a print resource we can recommend as an alternative too. (yes AT, there was an article in Tuesday's Chch Press that I could try and rescue TN)
   - short multi-choice quiz - what can cause a tsunami?  (yes AT, how easy is it to do a MC quiz in WE? I could do it in Javasript reasonably easily TN *is there potential for our wiki expert to embed javascript apps? otherwise we can link through to another site for it as with the videos, but embedding will be better if possible MS*)
3. international standard signs (2-3 hours particularly as they are doing their own TN)
   - animated flash cards? or just reading about them in hard copy or online? (yes AT, there are not many)
   - draw your own, too! Make some for your area (unless there is access to an engineering workshop this might be a bit tricky - AT. Students draw them, photograph or scan them and upload them somewhere? TN *there could be a class mode activity for this one where the teacher arranges desks, posters, etc to create a scenario/setting - or we provide landscape pictures that can be projected onto the whiteboard if they're lazy - and students create and place their paper signs where they think signage would be appropriate... this is only relevant if the different signs mean different things though, which I'm not sure of MS*)
   
4. warning signs (2-3 hours depending on the exact activity
   - Video review. Re-use earlier video or animation from 1. or 2., pointing out the precursors. (yes, particularly if we can build on the original animation -AT *for sure, even if we use someone else's animation, there could be potential to do this by creating a new clip that zooms in or out and has overlaid text, etc, as long as that's legal MS*)
   - or some kind of ‘spot the signs’ activity? washed away game?
   - short multi-choice quiz? (yes, particularly if we can complete this online - AT. No probs - could do in Javascript if not in WE already - doing a few MC quizzies would create some economies of scale as could build a template first TN)
   
   

What effects a tsunami can have

8 hours total for this phase - TN 18/8/10

physical environmental effects during and after

1. Looking at past tsunami events (2-3 hours TN)
   - review short animation from phase 1 and brainstorm ideas about physical effects (continued dangers? pollution? erosion?) (yes to brainstorm - AT *if we've already used the phase 1 animation twice I think it would be better to extend it for this one rather than reviewing it a second time... i.e. just a few seconds of the end of the original animation that follows into a sequel or uses a different camera angle/editing, etc so that it's not boring for the average teenager MS*) [If we're not going to develop our own animations for this course - which is totally fine i hasten to add! - let's consider not putting an animation here, instead brainstorm, with or without actual video clips of tsunami aftermath? news clips?]
   - before and after photos with commentary and discussion (yes, could be part of the brainstorm - AT *Agree MS*) [Let's get students to find before and after pix themselves, using google images search and online photo repositories like Flickr. We could suggest a few specific photo streams for the low tech track AC]
   - present findings in form of (drawn) before and after pictures, verbal presentation, chart, or other response. (yes, can use open source presentation software - AT *We could encourage the use of Prezi here - www.prezi.com - because they would later be able to add to this presentation with the phase 3 info... if the "before and after photos with commentary" above utilizes prezi earlier then this preps students for it without giving an "example" of the presentation they're actually going to create which they could be tempted to copy MS*) [Does this presentation add to their presentation from phase 1 about warning signs, science of tsunami? could a presentation combining these elements be a potential summative assessment for phases 1 & 2? Either as part of the main design of the course, or given as an alternative in the teaching guide? We could also consider a presentation that works as a summative assessment for the whole course, if it incorporates survival planning as well. AC]
   

social impact during and after

1. Explore social impact from the Samoa tsunami (3-4 hours TN)
   - review starting video from phase 1
   - choose and listen to/watch more interviews (in groups) with discussion afterwards - how did those people feel? what difference has this disaster made to their lives? (yes, need some high impact stuff here - AT *My perspective here is we can include different modes of data here - some students will feel more impact from death/injury/damage statistics than personal anecdotes so this sort of info can be included here as well -note: just noticed the next bulletpoint, so... yeah, what she said MS*)
   - charts/statistics too?
   - brainstorm bullet-point facts of events related to a tsunami (real or made up)
   - respond: draw a poster (Glogster??) that re-tells a story explained in one of the Samoan tsunami survivor interviews)
   OR
   - respond: individuals or small groups use the bullet-points as the basis for a journal entry/very short story from perspective of a survivor. (yes, - AT)
   [OR
   respond: make a short video about a person or family adjusting to the effects of a tsunami. AC]
2. Relief aid (1 hour? - TN)- is it relevant here to do a case study of how an aid organisation works? (A lot of them are a just turning up uninvited at these things and are not really ‘aiding’ at all. Totally - I’m just finishing editing an interesting thesis on this (how private logistics companies can help solve this problem *M) Just a quick account in some group activity?.Donated goods are still arriving in Samoa! (yes to 'quick' account in a group activity - could involve researching Red Cross of Oxfam or something - AT) *I wonder if the perspective on this could be on the function of the aid organisation in terms of what resources and materials are needed and how they are distrbuted, etc... that way, rather than a general case study of an organisation, the students are focused on learning info that's relevant to the disaster relief generally, with the specific agency just given as an example of ONE organisation that aims to supply the need... in other words, instead of learning specifically about Oxfam and how Oxfam operates & its background, etc they would learn about what supplies people need in the aftermath of a tsunami, what issues arise in terms of meeting the demand, repairing infrastructure, etc... their assessment task for this could be a SWOT analysis that acknowledges both short and long term needs according to info we find and present from aid or logistics organisations MS*)

long term consequences (5 year)

(I think this is covered in social impact stuff - AT. If this is part of the social impact stuff, we could get them to look at the affects of another tsunami to increase the hours slightly - TN)

- I wonder if we can source a little biopic youtuby type thing interviewing someone in this circumstance?

- again an empathic/imaginative response task?

What you can do about it

8 hours total for this phase - TN 18/8/10

   precautions/preventing/minimising physical impacts

1. Play the UN Stop Disasters game or the kids could make a game themselves (making a game could be 4-5 hours easily TN *yeah, fully, and that's with very clear steps that the class sticks to MS*)
2. Minimise the impact: (1-2 hours TN)
   - review the short animation from phase 1 (the Stop Disasters game is about minimising impact - AT)
   - brainstorm - what physical changes can help make an environment less vulnerable? (yes, good post 'game' review would be good here - AT Agree MS)
   
3. Plan for an emergency (could easily be 4-5 hours or more depending on how far we want to take some of these things - TN)
   - design a survival kit (group activity with teams choosing items from limited lists to create a survival kit - justifying them if extension needed - and then comparing these with other teams and finally with a control set put together based on official recommendations... reflection then on why the differences, etc) (yes, this is awesome! - AT)
   - create a go bag based on survival kit design (yes - AT)
   - discover an escape route - on a map of your community, mark tsunami impact area, designated welfare centres, safe place, escape route (yes, could also be amalgamated with the next suggestion re: evac plan and disaster response teams - AT)
   - create an evac plan - students form disaster response teams that are called in (by a secret govt agency of ninjas or something) to assess local environments and infrastructure and then advise the locals of a suitable evac plan for their school (could scale this to an isolated building or a whole community) *Yeah, I think these activities all work together as Alex pointed out... it would be great if this whole phase operated as a continuous activity whereby the different stages laid out here comprise different aspects of the same game or kit or plan that the student creates MS*.