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| Titel |
Language of the Earth: Exploring Natural Hazards through a Literary Anthology |
| VerfasserIn |
B. D. Malamud, F. H. T. Rhodes |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250031405
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| Zusammenfassung |
| This paper explores natural hazards teaching and communications through the use of a
literary anthology of writings about the earth aimed at non-experts. Teaching natural hazards
in high-school and university introductory Earth Science and Geography courses revolves
mostly around lectures, examinations, and laboratory demonstrations/activities. Often the
results of such a course are that a student ‘memorizes’ the answers, and is penalized when
they miss a given fact [e.g., “You lost one point because you were off by 50 km/hr on the
wind speed of an F5 tornado.”] Although facts and general methodologies are certainly
important when teaching natural hazards, it is a strong motivation to a student’s
assimilation of, and enthusiasm for, this knowledge, if supplemented by writings about the
Earth. In this paper, we discuss a literary anthology which we developed [Language
of the Earth, Rhodes, Stone, Malamud, Wiley-Blackwell, 2008] which includes
many descriptions about natural hazards. Using first- and second-hand accounts of
landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and volcanic eruptions, through the writings of
McPhee, Gaskill, Voltaire, Austin, Cloos, and many others, hazards become ‘alive’,
and more than ‘just’ a compilation of facts and processes. Using short excerpts
such as these, or other similar anthologies, of remarkably written accounts and
discussions about natural hazards results in ‘dry’ facts becoming more than just facts.
These often highly personal viewpoints of our catostrophic world, provide a useful
supplement to a student’s understanding of the turbulent world in which we live. |
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