I think that sometimes students do not realize the affects of natural disasters. Earthquakes are happening all over the world, even in the United States. The destruction cannot be comprehended. I had the students design models of any type of structure, it could be a house, a building, a bridge, etc. Many students used paper to represent many of their structures while others used wood or plastic. All of their models had to fit inside of a shoe box.
Once the students had designed their structure we had a "natural disaster" to hit our town. Many of the structures where destroyed in a matter of minutes. The shoe boxes were crushed and could not be repaired. The structures that had the least amount of damage where made of plastic. We used this analysis to talk about how building in Japan and other developed countries who have earthquakes frequently must invest in earthquake resistant materials when building. We also compared our bridge with material that is used in California that allows the bridge to move with the earth and this allows the structure to survive a natural disaster.
Overall, the students did a good job of understanding that you cannot prevent a natural disaster like an earthquake but that you must be willing to use materials that are able to withstand the disaster.
