“Disasters: Are they an inevitable natural process or human-induced?”

Hi! I’m Cendall Slattery. I am currently in my third year of studying B Arts/B Education (Middle School), majoring in both English and Digital Media Studies.

Outline

My integrated learning plan, aimed at students in Year 9, is titled “Disasters: Are they an inevitable natural process or human-induced?” The unit aims to distinguish the difference between hazards and disasters and looks at the scope and nature of disasters that have occurred in various worldwide destinations. Students will also be encouraged to look at how daily activities and the perception of risk in such cities have placed people in danger and recommend strategies for better preparing the community in the event of a disaster.

Rationale

Traditionally when students are investigating world disasters, they are asked to consider them based on facts and figures (ie. death toll, money lost etc) without considering the range of factors that are often present in creating such figures. Therefore, to ensure student were encouraged to develop skills in higher-order thinking, participate in substantive conversation and develop deep and problematic knowledge of the subject, Kath Murdoch’s inquiry learning approach has been employed. The unit was designed using a Backwards by Design approach (Wiggins and McTighe), incorporating the elements of the Quality Teaching Framework.

There are four parts to this unit plan, each published as a separate Google Document in the list below.

Stage 1- This document outlines what is worthy of understanding in the integrated learning plan ie. overarching questions, links to SACSA, resources, enduring understandings, essential questions, knowledge and skills that students will know and be able to do.

Stage 2a- This document outlines the evidence of what will be gathered to determine students’ understanding.

Stage 2b- This document details the culminating assessment task for students including explicit quality criteria set out in an assessment rubric. A discussion of my self-assessment of the quality of the assessment task based on the Quality Teaching Framework is included in my blog.

Stage 3- This document described the sequence of learning activities that will enable students to achieve the desired results. Links to the ISTE Nets for students and the Statements of Learning in ICT are included.

Stage 4a- This document details one lesson of the integrated learning plan that uses a Learning Object.

Stage 4b- This document details one lesson of the integrated learning plan that uses a Web 2.0 tool.

Last Modified 11/17/08 8:20 AM