Earth's Natural Disasters Project

Introduction

This project will be about Earth's Natural Disasters. The students will research specific types of natural disasters and create a powerpoint presentation explaining their selected natural disaster. Upon completion, each student will present their findings to the class. 

 

Task

For this assignment, each student will work individually to research specific types of natural disasters that can impact Earth. Each student will select a type of natural disaster found on the website listed below. The students will research their selected natural disaster and create a 10-12 slide powerpoint presentation explaining what disaster they chose, why they chose it, and giving specific information on that type of disaster. When the students have completed their powerpoint presentation, they will give a 5-10 minute long presentation explaining their work to the class. 

List of Earth's Natural Disasters to choose from:

basicplanet.com

 Asteroid

– Avalanche

– Blizzard

– Thunderstorm

– Earthquake

– Flood

– Gamma-Ray Burst

– Volcano Eruption

– Heat Wave

– Hurricane

– Landslide

– Solar Flare

– Drought

– Tornado

– Tsunami

– Hail

– Wildfire

Process

For this assignment, the students will first create a 10-12 slide powerpoint presentation:

The slides should include

1. Introduction slide explaining what natural disaster they chose

2. At least 8-9 slides of information coming from research they complete on the natural disaster of their choice. Also needs to include pictures. 

3. Reference slide with at least 3-5 references the students used to gather the information for their slideshow

 

The powerpoint should answer questions such as:

What natural disaster did you choose? Why?

What is this natural disaster?

When and where does it occur?

How often does it occur?

How many people does it affect each year?

What is the worst of these natural disasters to occur? When and where did it occur? How many people were affected by this specific event?

Etc. 

After completing their powerpoint presentation, the students will then present their work to the class by giving a 5-10 minute presentation where they will explain the research they performed on their topic.

 

Evaluation
Criteria Proficient Acceptable Needs Improvement
Content Accuracy All content within the slides is accurate and contains no factual errors. Most of the content found within the slides is accurate. Contains a few minor errors. There are many inaccuracies found within the content of the slides.  
Quality of Powerpoint Powerpoint is attractive and appealing to viewers. Contains all of the required information. Presentation is somewhat appealing to viewers. Contains most but not all of the required information. Presentation is not attractive or appealing to viewers. Lacks much of the required information. 
Oral Presentation Student is well prepared. Presents information clearly and displays a complete understanding of their topic. Student is fairly prepared. Presents the information fairly clear with reasonable understanding of the topic. Student does not seem prepared. The information presented is not clearly displayed.

 

Conclusion

The students will be given multiple weeks to complete this project. At the end of that time period we will have our presentation day where the students will present their powerpoint's to the class. This will count as a major test grade so the students should take this assignment very seriously. This project will be used to help students gain a better understanding of the Earth and its many processes that occur as well as a better understanding of the specific natural disasters that they see take place around them. 

Credits