Mapping Natural Disasters: Inquiry at its Best

Mapping natural disasters utilizing GIS technology is a unique tool for learning earth science. Aided by this visualization enhancer, students can better associate disasters' locations and magnitudes to the underlying natural forces that generate them. Furthermore, the extent of the damage can be tied to a combination of physical and social parameters and thus can be used to integrate earth science with other disciplines, such as statistics, health and social sciences. All these associations can be applied to real life situations that make the student investigations more authentic, while they help in their understanding the complexity of real-world phenomena. Examples of inquiry-based activities (e.g., volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods) and special projects ranging from middle school to college level are included. Inquiry is integrated to every aspect of the study of natural disasters: Natural disasters form a collection of periodic but unpredictable events, while predicting natural disasters offers a very productive path for student inquiry as they investigate the evolution of monitoring and warning equipment. An additional advantage is that the monitoring and reporting of these events in a timely and comprehensive manner are now accessible from Internet sites.