Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Survivor stories

15 minutes

Find Out: Same same but different

25 minutes

Take Action: Our cyclone resilient home blueprint

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand and compare the impact of major cyclones on communities in Darwin and the Whitsunday coast
identify features that make homes more resilient to cyclonic weather.

Success criteria

Students can:

describe how people responded in past cyclone events
design a house and explain why particular features were included in their house design to improve its resilience to cyclones.

Tune In: Survivor stories

Step 1

Begin by setting the scene and reading the following text to the class:

‘Cyclone Tracy hit the city of Darwin/Gulumoerrgin on Christmas Eve in 1974. It made landfall late in the evening and was one of Australia’s most devastating natural disasters. Shortly, we’ll step into the shoes of people who lived through it to imagine what it felt like and what happened in the aftermath, the very next morning.

Show students this interactive map of Darwin/Gulumoerrgin before and after Cyclone Tracy. Zoom in and explore all 3 iterations of the map.

Divide the class into 2 groups to create 2 circles: an inside circle and an outside circle. Explain that the inside circle is going to be reading the Christmas Eve evening account, and the outside circle will be reading the survivor accounts of Christmas Day. Distribute the Survivor Story Cards to each circle. Once each student has a story card, the inside circle moves anticlockwise to find their matching survivor story in the outside circle.

Step 2

Students can remain where they are or find another space in the room. Starting with the Christmas Eve survivor, invite students to read their accounts to each other. Before they start, explain the visible thinking routine: See, Feel, Think, Wonder as outlined below.

What did your survivor see happening?
What do you think the survivor was feeling?
What do you think happened next?
What does this account leave you wondering about?

Step 3

Students share their responses with the class and complete the chart on their worksheet.

Find Out: Same same but different

Step 1

Read through the data on the Student Worksheet from the table with the class. Explain that it highlights facts and figures comparing 2 major cyclonic events 43 years apart: Cyclone Tracy (1974) and Cyclone Debbie (2017).

	Cyclone Tracy (1974)	Cyclone Debbie (2017)
Location	struck Darwin/Gulumoerrgin, Northern Territory	struck Queensland coast (Ayr, Bowen, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, Mackay)
Category	Category 4, compact but intense	Category 4, large and slow-moving
Population affected	around 45,000 people in Darwin/Gulumoerrgin	around 70,000+ people across multiple towns
Deaths and injuries	66 deaths, 145 seriously injured	10 deaths, 1 recorded injury
Impact on housing	5000 homes destroyed, leaving 30,000 people homeless	2300 homes damaged, 1000 uninhabitable homes largely intact; newer buildings withstood winds, though flooding caused interior damage
Economic Cost	estimated $837 million (1974) (~$5–6 billion today)	estimated $3.5 billion insured losses
Duration and Type of Impact	fast-moving, mostly wind destruction over several hours winds reaching 217 km/h (before the anemometer was destroyed) 280mm of rain across 24 hrs (est. based on damaged rain gauge)	slow-moving, causing prolonged flooding and wind damage over several days winds reaching 263km/h some locations received 1000mm of rain across 2 days
Preparation	Numerous cyclone warnings went out in the days before and were ignored due to similar warnings being false alarms in the weeks before.	64 tropical cyclone warnings were issued 56 severe weather warnings were issued 350 flood warnings were issued 20,000 residents evacuated prior to cyclone making landfall.
Community Recovery	Recovery operations started 18 hours after the cyclone had passed 35,000 residents evacuated post cyclone, 60% never returned a 5-year plan enacted to rebuild (which was completed in 3 years)improvements to national building standards, including requirements for roofs to be tied to foundations, and buildings to be clad to protect from flying debris	100 people were rescued from floodwaters roads cleared in 24 hours to allow emergency services access to the area towns returned to normal in 11 months communities focused on repairing damage, restoring tourism and agriculture

In their survivor story pairs/groups, instruct students to discuss and share the similarities and differences between the 2 cyclone events and complete the Venn Diagram on their Student Worksheet. Their completed worksheet may look like this:

Step 2

Ask students to discuss what they believe was the biggest difference between the 2 cyclones and why they came to that conclusion. Invite students to record their responses on their worksheet. Encourage students to think about how communities have learned from the past to become stronger and better prepared for a cyclone.

If your students haven’t raised it, highlight the difference in building and home destruction between the 2 events. Despite the cyclones being of the same severity, the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy was not as widespread as that caused by Cyclone Debbie.

Step 3

Brainstorm on the board the typical features of homes that need to be considered when thinking about cyclone resilience:

Roofs: Emphasise strong roof tie-downs (explaining how they connect the roof to the walls, like strong anchors), and sturdy, aerodynamic roof shapes (like hip roofs) that resist wind lift (different to a flat roof).
Walls: Discuss the importance of reinforced walls (made from strong materials like concrete or brick, or timber frames with extra bracing).
Windows and doors: Highlight the need for impact-resistant windows (small windows, shutters, or strengthened glass) and strong, secured doors.
Foundations: Explain deep foundations that anchor the house firmly to the ground, preventing it from being lifted or washed away.
Materials: Mention strong, durable materials like concrete, steel, and treated timber.

Step 4

Share the Feature or Flaw Presentation with the class, explaining that students must decide which house feature is cyclone-resistant and which feature is cyclone-vulnerable by moving to either side of the room. Once students have decided the answers, call on volunteers to explain why they chose this category and point to descriptions of features they have just learned about.

Take Action: Our cyclone-resilient home blueprint

Step 1

Tell students that they are part of an organisation tasked with designing new homes for families living in a cyclone-prone region of Australia. Their design must focus on cyclone resilience.

Provide A3 paper for each pair to design a cyclone-resilient home. First, invite students to brainstorm and agree on their home design, based on the features discussed earlier in the lesson: roof, walls, windows, foundations and materials. Encourage them to be creative, but also realistic.

Step 2

Instruct pairs to work together to complete a labelled blueprint that clearly identifies 5 specific features that will help their home withstand a cyclone. They need to prepare a 1-minute pitch to explain their choices to the class. During the pitches, students can challenge them on a feature of their design. For example:

‘How will this design withstand major flooding following the cyclone?’
‘Which feature is your strongest and why?’

Direct the class to vote on whether the pair can continue to the construction stage.

Allow students time to follow the design thinking process and iterate their design, making improvements based on feedback.

Time permitting, students can bring their blueprint to life by:

building a digital model in Minecraft
creating a model using Lego or other building bricks
using various craft materials to construct a 3D model.

Learning extension: If your students are building models, how could they test their designs to see how they stand up to a cyclone? Ask students to think about the conditions a home would be subjected to during a cyclone and how they could design tests for these different elements.

Reflection

Invite students to record their reflections on their Student Worksheet.

What was 1 idea you initially had about building a strong house that you changed or improved upon after learning about cyclone-resilient features?

Designing for Cyclone Resilience

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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