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How to Teach These Units

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3. Hazards Where We Live

Learners create their own hazard and mitigation cards and play a matching game with them.

Guiding Question

What hazards exist where we live and how do we mitigate them?

Adventure Downloads

Adventure Timing

5 MIN. Get Ready & Team Up

35 MIN. Hazards Where We Live

10 MIN. Reflect

50 MIN. TOTAL

Setup: Prep Time 50 min.

  • Print and cut out Deck B.
  • Think about local hazards.

*See Materials & Preparation in the Educator Guide linked above for full info.

21st Century Skills

  • Critical Thinking

Science Practices

  • Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Learners Will Do

  • Create Hazard cards reflecting hazards in the local area.
  • Create Mitigation cards reflecting strategies the local community uses to address those hazards.

Learners Will Know

  • Scientists and communities have the skills and knowledge to mitigate hazards.

Connecting Across Adventures

  • Adventure 2: Everyday Hazards: Last time, learners acted out everyday hazards, figured out safety tips to address them, and started learning about hazard mitigation.
  • Adventure 3: Hazards Where We Live: Today, learners explore hazards near their community and consider how people mitigate those hazards.
  • Adventure 4: Earth Hazards: Next time, learners will learn about hazards on Earth and explore the methods people have come up with to mitigate some of them.

Level Up! (Optional)

  • Have a whole-group discussion about the hazards and mitigations learners chose and how they appear in the local community. Be aware that learners may have experienced natural disasters; think ahead of time about how to be sensitive to their experiences. (10 min.)

  • Have each group invent a story using the cards they created. Allow learners to share their stories with the whole group. (10 min.)

  • Ask this story prompt: What is a hazard you have experienced and how did you mitigate it? Have learners share with a partner. Tell learners, if anyone asks what they did today, they can say “we shared stories about hazards where we live and ways we mitigate them,” and then ask them the above story prompt. Consider returning to learners’ ideas at the start of the next adventure. (5 min.)

  • Get families or a community member involved to share relevant stories of experiencing and mitigating hazards in your local area. Download customizable flyers and get ideas on the Space Hazards Family and Community Connections webpage. (45 min.)