Disasters and Survival Thematic Units, Rich Topics and Themed Learning - Pupils, teachers, inquiry, questions and projects

Disasters, Fires, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Accidents, Crash, Plane

Includes spiders, survival, disasters and more of the icky and scary side of life. A topic to get lots of discussion going on.

Disaster Mindmaps
Disasters Mindmap (Inspiration version) See PDF version in the "Disaster Visuals" column opposite. Titanic Disaster Chain of Events Inspiration Mindmap, Titanic Disaster Chain of Events PDF (See Disaster Visuals)

Disaster Bookmarks
Links covering and range of information, integrated unit plans and other sub-topics within this theme.
See our Disaster links, Survival & Scary online links.

Disasters Unit Plan (newer- Google Doc) Disasters Unit Plan (older) Disasters Google Forms Rubric

Disaster Thesaurus catastrophe, calamity, cataclysm, tragedy, act of God, holocaust, accident, misfortune, mishap, misadventure, mischance, setback, reversal, stroke of bad luck, blow, failure, fiasco, catastrophe, crisis, debacle, megaflop, dud, bomb, washout, turkey, dead loss
Other Words survival, fears, chain of events, human factors, environmental factors, recovery, early-warning, blame, guilt, frustration,safety, design, structures, war, earthquake, volcanoe, eruption, crash, flood, bush fire, forest fire, fire storm, explosions, avalanche, influenza, disease, terrorism, tornado, hurricane, cyclone,

Disaster Questions How much of the disaster was man-made? If I was a investigator what would be my top five recommendations on how to avoid this disaster or mitigate it? How do people, governments, and civil defense respond to disasters? How do different ages respond to disasters? How can you prepare for a disaster? How can you cope after a disaster? What types of disasters are there? Have the effects of disasters changed over time? Are you safer in a disaster today or not? What country/countries are safer in a disaster? What is the worst disaster? how do disasters affect the environment or animals and plants? What are the effects on businesses? Is war a disaster? What is the difference between human mistakes and deliberate decisions that cause a disaster? Can we find all of deBono's 6hats in a disaster?

Danger, Survival & Scary Gallery
Send us some pictures, poems or stories to put online

Disasters Inquiry Topic Banner here
Danger, Survival & Scary Banner
PDF 4 page file. Found here at our bannersandawards.com site (Requires free registration to download here). Choose the Social Studies (sciences) section

Community Connections
Any business involved in any of the areas above. Civil Defense, Local Councils, Engineers, Councilors,

Disasters History
What have we learned from history? How have disasters changed over time? Are there disasters today that did not occur in the past (vice versa)?

Disasters English/ Language Ideas & Connections
Put together Powerpoint presentations, digital camera pictures and Video with other display items from your unit.. voile.. a show!

Disaster Science & Technology Ideas
Spiders - scary or not?
Investigate the biological responses that people have to disaster. How does adrenaline help us?
Look at how we use technology in a disaster to . Look at some disasters and ask what are all the types of technology industries involved? Build some models that will help understand movement of building in an earthquake. Alternatively, investigate bridges, build some and have a competition to see what weights they will bear. Here is our whole unit based on looking at "systems" using bridges and life-cycles as the contexts.

Disaster The Arts
Examine with drama and dance the feelings around disasters. Look at art through the eyes of the deBono Hats red, black and yellow.... how has the artist incorporated some of these hats in their art? Can you create your own disaster painting, expressing your feelings in the art of a disaster (will it be abstract?).

Disaster Maths
Measurement: Practical graphing, measuring, weighing, volume will all be covered in such a unit.
Statistical analysis of information.

Disaster Social Sciences
Check out disasters.. What technology and attitudes did they use to keep alive? Disasters Powerpoint visual Rubric. (also this word Doc handout)

Disaster Health & P.E.
Study the Nervous system that tells the story of how we respond to danger. Check out the special role of adrenalin.

Disaster Thinking Skills/ Multiple Intelligences
You can also get pupils to either work in areas that suit their "multiple intelligence" or "learning style" by selecting the appropriate activity. Remember, though that it is important for pupils to be exposed to a number of learning styles/intelligences.