DLI 5th Grade Guide

disasters on landscapes and communities.

4.​ Emergency Preparedness Plan: Have students design an emergency preparedness plan for their community. They can include steps for what individuals and families should do before, during, and after a natural disaster. 5.​ Discussion: Facilitate a discussion about how humans can mitigate the effects of natural disasters through engineering, planning, and environmental conservation. Here are additional follow-up activities to enhance the inquiry into natural disasters: 1.​ Interactive Timeline: Students can create a timeline of significant natural disasters throughout history. They can research different types of disasters, their causes, and their impacts on communities and the environment. 2.​ Mapping Exercise: Using maps, students can identify areas prone to specific natural disasters (e.g., flood zones, earthquake fault lines). They can discuss why these areas are vulnerable and what features of the geosphere contribute to this risk. 3.​ Debate: Organize a debate on the effectiveness of different disaster preparedness strategies (e.g., building codes, community drills, early warning systems). Students can research and present their arguments, helping them understand multiple perspectives. 4.​ Guest Speaker: Invite a local emergency management official or a scientist to talk about natural disasters and their impacts. Students can prepare questions in advance to facilitate an engaging discussion. 5.​ Creative Storytelling: Have students write a fictional story or create a comic strip about a community experiencing a natural disaster. They should include details about how the community reacts and what systems are impacted. 6.​ Science Fair Project: Encourage students to conduct a science fair project exploring a specific natural disaster, such as building a model that simulates the effects of an earthquake or designing an experiment to test the effectiveness of different flood barriers. 7.​ Environmental Impact Assessment: Students can research and present on the environmental impacts of specific natural disasters,