Japanese tsunami in 2011

• What comes to your mind when you hear or read the word tsunami?
• How would you feel if you witnessed a tsunami?

In this project, we will get informed about the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011.

We live in the Mediterranean area which suffers earthquakes quite often. Our school organizes an Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Day, when there will be special activities. Every class has undertaken the responsibility to work on a specific subject and present their findings to the school community on that day as well as upload their work on the school website.

Our task through this project for that special day is to explore the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 in order to get informed about the recent Japanese tsunami disaster as well as its effects and impacts.

In groups of four members use the steps outlined in the process stage in order to explore the cause, effects, and impacts of the Japanese tsunami disaster in March 2011. You will visit various websites, you will watch videos, you will answer a set of questions, you will keep notes, and you will save pictures. Then, you will imagine you are survivors of this particular disaster and write four personal survival stories based on the information you have collected. These personal survival stories must be written from the point of view of four different survivors of the disaster having experienced the disaster from a different perspective and will be presented at the event Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Day organized at our school as well as uploaded on the school website.

Your personal survival story should be about 200 words and include a related photograph/image. You have to type your survival story.

Continue to the Process Component to begin your Webquest.

If you need a dictionary for unknown words, you can visit the links titled Online dictionary listed below.

Step 1: Group work – Collecting information and facts

Having formed groups of four, visit some of the recommended websites listed below in the document titled Recommended sources and answer, as a group, the questions you are given about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster of 2011 in the document titled Guiding questions listed below.

Step 2: Group work – Filling in a story map of an authentic survival story

Use the link to Authentic survival stories, read the first story titled Queen of the sea, identify the elements of the survival story, and fill in the story map as a group in the document titled Story map listed below.

Step 3: Assigning roles and writing the personal survival stories

Each member of your group will have to use your answers to the questions in the document titled Guiding questions, the notes you took, and the pictures you have chosen and saved to write your personal survival story to be presented at the event Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Day organized at our school as well as uploaded on the school website. Your goal is to imagine you have survived the disaster as

    a) a scientist at the earthquake and tsunami information centre of Japan’s Meteorological   

        Agency,

    b) a teacher at work on that day,

    c) an employee at Fukushima nuclear power plant,

    d) a member of a rescue team who searched for survivors,

and discuss what happened, how you reacted, your feelings and thoughts from the point of view of the particular survivors.

At this point you have to decide which role each one of you is going to take and from whose point of view you are going to write the personal survival story.

Having finished collecting information and facts and having assigned roles, organize your material and start writing your first draft. Your personal survival story should be about 200 words and include a related photograph/image. You have to type your survival story.

When you write your personal survival story, you do not need to include all of the information you gathered from your research. Infer what the particular people might have experienced, how they might have felt, how they might have reacted, and what they might have thought.

Hint 1: You can focus on the ideas provided in the document titled Graphic organizers listed below. It will help you organize your personal survival story.

Hint 2: Use the link with How to write a survival story tips listed below. It will help you make your personal survival stories more interesting.

Hint 3: Focus on the document titled Writing a survival story listed below to be helped with your survival story in terms of form, content, and structure.

Don’t to forget to cite the sources from which you drew the information for your task according to the References document listed below.

Step 4: Reviewing your work

Once you have produced your first draft, you can check your progress by filling in the Self-check: my personal survival story document listed below and do any necessary revisions to your draft.

Step 5: Peer feedback - Revising

1. Although each member of your group will be responsible for one of the personal survival stories, in the end the whole group should read all four personal survival stories and suggest changes in terms of form, content, and structure based on the Editing checklist document listed below.

2. Make any necessary changes based on your classmates' comments and write the final version of your personal survival story.

Step 6: Submit your work as a group to your teacher.

Your project will be evaluated using the criteria for the personal survival stories and your collaboration as a group based on the Assessment of collaboration (individual), on the Group self-assessment, and on the Personal survival story assessment rubrics. You can find the rubrics below, print them and fill them in.

• What do you think of the whole experience?
• Did you learn useful things regarding your life safety?
• Do you think the school community will be interested in listening to or reading your personal survival stories at the Earthquake and tsunami awareness day?
• What do you think of the experience of working on a Webquest?