TEACHING ABOUT HAZARDS IN THE GEOSCIENCE CLASSROOM

Major hazard events and natural disasters provide geoscience educators with powerful opportunities to engage their students with class content. These teachable moments come with the imperative of “striking while the iron is hot," while interest is high. To provide quick and easy access to high-quality learning materials, On the Cutting Edge (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/) has been creating collections of visualizations, topical information, and news reports related to hazard events since the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. The project has also solicited and compiled feedback from faculty on how they are teaching about major hazard events in their classroom. These efforts have led to the development of a Teaching About Hazards in the Geosciences website (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/hazards/index.html) as a one-stop-shop for images, videos, and teaching materials about a variety of hazards.

In addition to teaching activities, course descriptions and a catalog of internet resources, the site will offer ideas and advice for faculty members to address the affective as well as cognitive aspects of teaching and learning about hazards. The website will also be a place for faculty members to share their insights and expertise with others who want to address hazards in their classrooms. Also, since the 2012 workshop series will include Teaching Environmental Geology, this website will have a role in developing new collections on environmental hazards and play host to a set of webinars organized around Meteorological Hazards.