April7

The resources below have been selected to support a unit of work on volcanoes and natural events for Stage 3 (grade 5-6) students in a Distance Education context.
1. Disaster Resilience Education for Schools website
Commonwealth of Australia. (2011). Disaster Reslience Education for Schools [website]. Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://schools.aemi.edu.au/
Found through: search of SCIS Connections website for reviews using search terms ‘natural disaster’
The Disaster Resilience Education for Schools website is an excellent starting point for student research into natural events. It contains links to information on eleven types of natural events and within each link is technical information, Australian examples of the type of event where applicable, and external links for more information.
Key strengths of this resource are its organisation, intuitive navigation, age-appropriate language and reliability as a source. Weaknesses include additional information and games on the website that may distract students from the task at hand, and unknown information update intervals, limiting its longevity.
SCIS Connections (http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/conn_page.html) contains reviews that are incredibly useful as a selection aid, particularly for the Distance Education setting, as many Australian websites and digital resources are reviewed, as well as physical books, so finding relevant local content is likely. Drawbacks of this selection aid are the inability to refine a search, other than through modifying search terms.
2. Geoscience Australia website (subsection on Hazards)
Geoscience Australia. (2014). Hazards [website]. Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://www.ga.gov.au/hazards.html
Found through: SCIS database search using search terms ‘natural disaster Australia’
The ‘Hazards’ section of the Geoscience Australia website provides regularly updated information on different types of natural events, including information about what causes each type of event to occur and how risks are managed by the Australian government.
Key strengths of the Geoscience Australia website are its reliability as a source and frequency of update. Some terminology and explanations will prove challenging for some students, which is a weakness of this website as a resource for primary students. Also, navigation is not intuitive, as some hyperlinks lead to different parts of the website that do not use the sidebar navigation pane that appears on the home page.
A major strength of using SCIS (Education Services Australia, n.d.) as a selection aid is that the data about the resource is readily available for inclusion in the library catalogue. The search function is also easy to use and often listings include several key words to make resources easy to find through search. One weakness is that the database is limited by what others have identified as being of educational value. Many resources are also outdated, unavailable or out of print.
3. “Australia’s Volcanoes” by Russell Ferrett
Ferrett, R. (2005). Australia’s Volcanoes. Sydney: Reed New Holland.
Found through: Trove search using the search terms ‘Australia volcano’
Australia’s Volcanoes is a book written about Australia’s volcanic past. It provides some well-written background information about the different kinds of volcanoes, explains terminology in a clear way and gives an overview of what a traveller can look for when visiting particular sites of interest around Australia.
This text has been included in this list for its excellent, clearly-explained technical information about volcanoes, which is one of its key strengths. This text would also appeal to Distance Education students travelling around Australia, as they would be able to visit some of the sites mentioned in the text. One of the text’s key drawbacks is that it is out of print.
One of the advantages of using Trove (National Library of Australia, n.d.) as a selection aid is that it provides a list of libraries around the country that hold a copy of the text in their collection. Trove is an excellent resource in itself for travelling Distance Education students, as they can find resources they need no matter where they are around the country. The weakness of Trove as a selection aid is the inclusion in the database of books no longer in print and the lack of reviews to help assess the value of selecting a particular resource.
4. “Fire” by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
French, J. & Whatley, B. (2014). Fire. Lindfield, NSW: A Scholastic Press book from Scholastic Australia.
Found through: Scholastic Book Club catalogue
Fire is a picture book written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley. It explores the impact of devastating bushfires on the environment and people. French’s poetic language coupled with Whatley’s stunning artwork will help students to consider the feeling of helplessness that survivors experience during bushfires, and the everyday heroes who help fight the fires and bring communities together after the bushfire is over.
This resource has been included in this list as an example of the way fiction texts can contribute to a student’s understanding of the impacts of natural events. The teacher librarian might recommend such a text to students who choose a bushfire as their event, to help them explore the effect bushfires have on people. Fire’s strengths are its literary merit, visual appeal, currency and local focus. Its major weakness is its scope – this resource would work well as a supplement, but not on its own.
One of the strengths of using Scholastic Book Club catalogues as a selection aid is price – often their company size allows them to offer discounts. Scholastic also includes a lot of Australian content in their catalogues and can alert teacher librarians to newly available titles. Weaknesses include publisher bias, the inclusion of a number of American titles that are not suitable for Australian contexts and the inability to search archived catalogues.
5. BTN Website
ABC (2014). Behind The News [website]. Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://www.abc.net.au/btn/
Found through: subject list, Connected Outcome Groups (COGs) units of work – Stage 3 Global and Social Issues
Behind The News (BTN) presents news of relevance to young people in an engaging manner, using ‘student-friendly’ language. As natural events of magnitude occur, BTN often broadcasts a segment to give an overview and discuss some of the science behind the event.
The BTN website contains archived segments (all programs from 2005-present) that can be searched by students. One of the strengths of this resource is that it is designed to be used by children, so navigation is simple. Also, the information is generally free from overt bias. One drawback is that videos are not able to be downloaded.
The COGs unit ‘Global and Social Issues’ (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2009a) looks, in part, at natural disasters, and the BTN website was included in the text list (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2009b) for this unit. The benefit of using this list as a selection aid is that the resources included have generally been ‘classroom-tested’. The major drawback is that the COGs units are based around the old NSW syllabus and often suggest resources that are out of print.
6. The Science Behind Natural Disasters – Nicholas Brasch (Macmillan)
Brasch, N. (2010) The Science Behind Natural Disasters. South Yarra, Victoria: Macmillan Education.
Found through: Book Depository search using search terms ‘natural disaster Australia’
The ‘Science Behind’ series looks at the scientific principles behind natural events and manmade objects in an engaging way. The Science Behind Natural Disasters is available as both a hardback book (as referenced above) and an ebook, providing flexibility of use and distribution.
The strengths of this resource include engaging layout and suitable reading level, supported by an extensive glossary. The weaknesses include the flow of the information (within each spread, the layout is engaging and user-friendly, but there is no clear flow from spread to spread) and the scope (only a small fragment of information on each type of natural event is covered).
Searching the Book Depository website (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/) was relatively simple and produced many results. Although Book Depository is a retail website, it is not tied to a particular publisher, so the results of a search are relatively bias-free. They also have access to a wide range of resources, including Australian titles. Another strength is price, as Book Depository do not charge a postage fee, unlike competitors such as Amazon. A weakness is postage time – as purchases are sent from the UK or USA, there is usually a wait of 2-4 weeks, so it is unsuitable for urgent orders.
7. Eruption! – Elizabeth Rusch
Rusch, E. (2013). Eruption! Volcanoes and the science of saving lives. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
Found through: Book Depository search using search terms ‘volcano eruption’
Elizabeth Rusch’s text is from a series called ‘Scientists in the Field’ that endeavours to give children a glimpse into the life of real working scientists. Eruption! explores the work of scientists working to accurately predict volcanic eruptions in order to save lives.
The strengths of this resource include its engaging writing style (Rusch employs a narrative style to provide context to the work of the scientists), its depth of content, its durable construction and its availability at a reasonable price. Weaknesses include the difficulty some students may have finding specific information due to the chronological rather than topic-based structure of the text.
Modifying the search terms on the Book Depository website search yielded a whole new set of results, indicating the breadth of texts available, both general and specific, at Book Depository. Given that there are no active volcanoes in Australia (except in Australian Antarctic Territories), resources produced in other countries that do have active volcanoes are more likely to be relevant to the topic.
8. Twig – What is a Volcano video via TES UK
Twig. (2012) What is a volcano? . Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://www.tes.co.uk/resourcedetail.aspx?storycode=6291121
Found through: Twitter search using search terms ‘volcano resource’
This video from Twig, a UK-based company that produces educational videos, succinctly explains the way volcanoes work, some of the potential dangers when a volcano erupts and the way in which volcanoes are essential to life on Earth.
One of the key benefits of this resource is its scope despite its length (3:13) and its cost-effectiveness (free). Following the link through to the Twig website also gives access to quizzes, teacher notes and a transcript, improving access for students with a disability. The video can also be embedded through a provided link. Weaknesses include the inability to download the video and the necessity for the searcher to have or create an account with TES to access the video.
One strength of a Twitter (www.twitter.com) search as a selection aid is that it provided access to several resources that did not come up in searches through other selection aids. The familiarity of the TES branding assisted the selection of this particular resource. A clear weakness of Twitter as a selection aid is the sheer volume of material on the site. Although Twitter is set up for sharing of resources, it is not set up to easily locate resources previously shared.
9. Twig – Predicting Volcanic Eruptions video
Twig. (n.d.) Predicting Volcanic Eruptions . Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://australia.twig-world.com/films/predicting-volcanic-eruptions-1112/
Found through: ‘related video’ link from ‘What is a Volcano?’ video website (automatic recommendation)
This second short video (2:58) from Twig looks at some of the ways scientists are able to predict volcanic eruptions. Viewers have the opportunity to reflect on the way in which our increasing understanding of how volcanoes work helps save lives.
Strengths of this resource include visual appeal, the inclusion of expert interviews and an appropriate level of detail. Weaknesses again include the inability to download the video.
A common feature of resource websites is to provide links to related content. The strength of using such automatic recommendations as a selection aid is that information that relates to the topic, but may not have met the search terms used in a search, can be located. Also, a resource made by the same company or organisation as your initial resource is likely to be of a similar quality. The weakness of using automated recommendations is that results may vary. Following hyperlinks can also lead the searcher ‘off-track’ to related but irrelevant information.
10. Life on Fire: Measurement video
PBS Learning Media. (2013). Life on Fire: Measurement . Retrieved April 5, 2014 from http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a30569a4-62e9-4e25-bced-beaf90640bfe/life-on-fire-measurement/
Found through: Twitter search using search terms ‘volcano resource’
This short video (3:59) shows scientists in Papua New Guinea monitoring and measuring a local volcano. It covers some of the challenges scientists face in monitoring volcanoes, some of the equipment used and the need for a varied approach to monitoring.
Strengths of this resource include flexibility of use and distribution (the video can be streamed or downloaded) and the overall quality of the footage and information. Weaknesses include the need to create a (free) account with PBS to download the video and some issues with video buffering, indicating a large file size that would not be suitable for streaming on slower internet connections.
Using a Twitter search as a selection aid requires a relatively general set of search terms, as human input can vary when resources are shared. This also produces unsuitable results (in this case it was the use of the word ‘volcano’ in a metaphorical sense). Much ‘sifting’ was required by the searcher and no further search modifiers were provided by Twitter to narrow the search.
Additional References
Education Services Australia. (n.d.). Schools catalogue information service [website]. Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/home.html
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2009a). Global and Social Issues COGs unit. Retrieved April 5, 2014 from DEC Intranet
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2009b). Global and Social Issues – Connections with Texts. Retrieved April 5, 2014 from DEC Intranet
Image source: Volcano Etching by Nemo. Public Domain. http://pixabay.com/en/black-white-cartoon-explosion-32829/