After a horrifying few days watching Japan struggle with the aftermath of their huge earthquake and resulting tsunami, dangers of a nuclear power plant, and so much more… I’ve been left wondering how exactly this can be a learning moment for our kids. I don’t want them to be scared, but we have watched bits and pieces of the news together and online videos where we can pause and talk about what is going on. But I still think it’s somewhat too unreal for them to fully understand.
Fellow Canadian homeschool blogger, Alexandra, shared a great link from the New York Times that includes a lot of educational tools to expand the learning opportunity that is unfolding before our eyes.
The content on this site includes information on the actual news footage, photographs, and an interactive map – where you can see exactly where the damage effected. There is a ton of information on this site about the disaster. There’s lesson plans and educational resources on natural disasters – earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, etc.
One really interesting game that they list is called Stop Disasters! – it’s a disaster simulator that teaches about prevention and safe development to allow for minimal damage and low death tolls. In this site too, is a huge list of teaching resources on a variety of natural disasters.
Learning from similar past experiences is a great way to use tools created already to build on current events.
If you and your children are interested in learning how to help in this or any other disaster, you can find lots of information on the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website – where they recommend donating money is a lot more beneficial than goods or products.
If you are into lapbooking and would like to learn more about Japan and their culture, visit Lapbook Lessons where you can download things to put together in a Japan Lapbook.
Tomorrow – information about Emergency Preparedness.
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