|
The natural world is full of the unexpected -- phenonomen
that can be amazing and beautiful or wild and dangerous. These
dramatic situations can make for fascinating stories and images
and writing about them can help your students understand the
complexities of nature and its impact on the world we live in.
- Extreme weather: When was the last time your community or
province was hit by a tornado, a hurricane, a major blizzard,
a flood or an avalanche? Visit the library and check out old
newspapers for accounts of the incident. What impact did it have
on the people and the land? Has the landscape been changed forever
by this weather phenomonen? What do the experts say about the
extreme weather? Is there a pattern or was this a complete surprise?
Interview people in your community about what it was like to
live through the last big weather event.
- Rumbling earth: Imagine living in a place where the earth
can shift and tremble without warning, where your home could
be demolished and your life put at risk in a matter of seconds.
That's the reality for people who live in earthquake zones around
the world -- places like Southern California, southeastern Hawaii,
Turkey, Taiwan, Iceland and the India-China border. But it's
also a possibility that people in other parts of the world must
consider -- even here in Canada, where places have been hit with
small earthquakes. Find out the story behind an earthquake. What
causes the earth to move in such dramatic ways? Pick a region
in the world and find out about its earthquake history. What
are the scientists saying about the potential for future quakes
in that area? How have the quakes shaped the land and its people?
Try to find a e-mail pen pal in the region to get some first-person
accounts of life in the earthquake zone.
- Unearthing the past: What does the land we live on today
tell us about the past? That's what archaeologists are trying
to find out when they dig and sift through the soil. Archeology
is the study of the artifacts that were left behind by previous
generations of people. By studying these ancient and more recent
items, scientists can piece together clues and figure out who
inhabited the land and how they used it. Meanwhile, scientists
have also discovered clues to our country's pre-history that
were left behind by nature -- in the form of fossils and dinosaur
bones. What has been dug up in your part of Canada? Your students
could visit a site and bring back their own eye-witness account
of the site, complete with interviews with the people who made
these discoveries.
|
