Looking at the current discourse on how to teach disaster, one apparent gap is that the scientific aspect of disaster is discussed and taught mostly in isolation from its human aspect. Disaster educators seem to be primarily interested in addressing issues such as social vulnerability, community resilience, personal action-related knowledge and…

Three decades ago, Stephen Kemmis (1990) argued that curricula provide insights into how nations and states interpret themselves and how they want to be interpreted. He also noted that 'debates about curriculum reveal fundamental concerns, uncertainties and tensions which preoccupy nations and states as they struggle to adapt to changing…

The author reflects on his 44-year career as a science instructor, during which he gradually implements new active learning strategies in the classroom and shifts to integrating science and literature in the teaching of learning communities. The author describes three learning communities to show how the disciplines of science and literature can…

In 2013 Becca Wood, Spatial Performance Practitioner, and Molly Mullen, Applied Theatre Practitioner, collaborated to create a short ambulatory performance with audio score for a group of drama educators attending a conference workshop on the possibilities of walking as performance. The performance was created remotely from the intended site:…

Every day in the United States, over half a million social workers provide services to people with health, mental health, and substance abuse problems in a fragmented system that emphasizes disease treatment over prevention. Powerful issues--including health inequities, population aging, globalization, natural disaster, war, and economic…

Through integration of geology, biology, chemistry, and the history of science, the historic Krakatoa eruption offers a unique portal for student inquiry in the classroom. Students are inherently fascinated by natural disasters, and modern comparisons to the Krakatoa cataclysm are as close as the day's news. This article uses the historic Krakatoa…

The overall goal of the Swiss Virtual Campus project Dealing with Natural Hazards and Risk (NAHRIS) is to create a common educational course program that compiles the most recent knowledge in the field of natural hazards and risk management. Several higher education institutes from all parts of Switzerland were involved in the realization of this…

This comprehensive analysis addresses the United States' alarming lack of preparedness to respond effectively to a massive disaster as evidenced by Hurricane Katrina. First, a timeline of problematic response events during and after Hurricane Katrina orients readers to some of the specific problems encountered at different levels of government.…

The study of natural hazards, such as floods, hurricanes, and seismic disturbances, is most frequently relegated in American schools to middle school earth sciences courses or high school requirements in physical or environmental science. In those classes, the emphasis is on geophysical, "process-oriented" events or on what causes them…