Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part A: How is the climate changing?
35 minutes	Part B: Investigating the data: climate change and natural disasters
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: How is the climate changing?

Step 1.

Commence the lessons by introducing today’s topic and gather students’ attention before watching the video: Big Weather (and how to survive it) (iview.abc.net.au/show/big-weather-and-how-to-survive-it).
Before you play the video ask students to create or write any information in the See, Think, Wonder tables.

What did you see?
What did you think?
What did you wonder?

Step 2.

Ask your students if anyone was interested in what the experts had to say and why their contributions are valuable as opposed to accepting what everyone and anyone has to say. Present the below quotes and choose a few quotes to dissect. Ensure you discuss why the change in weather has impacted the severity of fires, directing the conversation towards weather, seasons and hazards.

Graham Hawke - Bureau of Meteorology: “Catastrophic power of severe weather should never be underestimated.”
Andrew Crisp - Emergency management Victoria Commissioner: “There are things we can’t control, we can’t control the weather. It is summer, it’s hot, there’s going to be fires. That is our history.”
Steve Warrington - Vic CFA Chief Officer: “Where is that lightning bolt going to strike to start the fire?”
Darren Klemm - WA Fire and Emergency Commissioner: “What we are seeing is longer seasons from a bushfire point of view, they start earlier and finish later.”
Stuart Ellis - Australia Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council: “People talk about climate change as an event in the future, well it’s happening now.”
Shane Fitzsimmons - New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner: “We have seen this profound drought that is impacting right across NSW, we’ve got highly flammable fuel so fires are starting really easily and they’re spreading very very quickly.”

You could analyse the people named in the quotes section and assess each for why they're reliable and compare them to quotes made by unreliable sources.

Step 3.

Split students into groups and present each group with the below questions. Ask them to discuss the questions and record their response to each question:

What causes the change in weather?
Why do drought, heat and low rainfall exacerbate the likelihood of a bushfire?
How does climate change contribute to the increase in hazards such as bushfires?

Part B: Investigating the data: climate change and natural hazards

Step 1.

Let your students know that you would like them to conduct some research and although some of them may already have knowledge about climate change, this activity may give them the opportunity to help their peers and further cement their knowledge of how climate change may exacerbate the likelihood and severity of fires mentioned in the interview.

Step 2.

Divide the students into pairs. Ensure you have organised students with mixed abilities. Assign each group a number (1-4) to research the corresponding hazard:

bushfires
volcanic eruptions
earthquakes
heatwaves.

Step 3.

Instruct groups to visit the AIDR website: Natural hazards and climate change (knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/natural-hazards-and-climate-change/) which contains a very short summary of how climate change is influencing the frequency and severity of these disasters. Below each summary, there is a link that students will access and continue their research in groups.

Step 4.

As a class, navigate your way through the website and show students how to access the information, factsheet and what key information you are looking for. Explain to each group they will analyse the following resources to answer the questions:

Can you and your group members explain the hazard?
What other factors contribute to a natural hazard? Ensure you refer to the maps presented in the fact sheet and explain how weather patterns combine with hazards to create disasters.
What is the frequency of the natural disaster type globally in the last 10 years?
Can you and your group explain how global warming and/or climate change impact the severity and frequency of the given hazard?
What do climate projections tell us about the frequency of natural hazards occurring in the future? What are the short and long term effects if we do not manage the hazard?
Are there plans in place that people are implementing to reduce and mitigate the hazard?

Step 5.

Give students some time to research and answer the questions. Then, as a class, pool their answers on the board and discuss their responses.

Reflection

Invite students to undertake a “Circles of Action” reflection. In their small groups, ask students to discuss and respond to the following questions. Collate their responses on the whiteboard using a diagram representing multiple scopes - from small to big, and multiple spheres - personal, local and global.

What can I do to reduce the effects of man-made climate change to protect the Australian landscape and people?

In my inner circle (of friends, family, the people I know)?
In my community (my school, my neighbourhood)?
In the world (beyond my immediate environment)?

Differentiated learning

Extension

Ask students to investigate other organisations, people, and governments that have been working towards reducing climate change to ensure Australia’s landscape and future generations reduce the effects of natural hazards and disasters so that the class can investigate these in the weeks to come.

Provisions for learning support

In all and most parts of the lesson, students undertake group work to help consolidate their understanding of climate change and hazards. Ensure you create groups of mixed capabilities so that students can learn from the teacher and their peers.

In case you do not have access to a laptop, you may like to print the fact sheets and highlight the valuable information for specific groups that you think could require support.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Resilient Australia - Climate Change And Natural Hazards

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