Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Promoting Preparedness for Disasters in Youth
3. Disaster Preparedness Education: What Do We Know Thus Far?
4. Moving to a Systems Focus
4.1. A Systems Educational Approach
4.2. The How and What of a Systemic Approach to Education: Process and Content
- (1)
- To understand the science related to hazards and risk—knowledge has been linked to promoting reduced fear and increased approach coping (e.g., home-based risk reduction activities);
- (2)
- To build systemic problem-solving capacities for managing hazards and risk;
- (3)
- To build motivational and emotional competencies necessary to solve problems related to risk, including seeing hazards, risk, and uncertainty as individual and community-based challenges versus threats.
4.2.1. A Systemic Educational Approach: Understanding Science, Developing Capacity
- Earth and its place in the universe;
- Earth systems;
- Earth in relation to human activities.
- Step 1: Understanding the four earth systems in terms of the “spheres” (atmo, bio, hydro, litho);
- Step 2: Add an event (e.g., natural hazard);
- Step 3: Tools to develop understanding of connections within and across systems;
- ○
- Guiding questions (what changes? how does it change? why does it change?);
- ○
- Connection keywords that help students think like “scientists thinking about and discovering earth-system connections”;
- ▪
- Causes, effects;
- ▪
- Increases, decreases;
- ▪
- Changes, impacts.
- (1)
- What changes are related to being on risk versus resilient pathways?
- (2)
- How and why does change happen to be on one path versus the other?
- (3)
- Connection keywords:
- Causes, effects;
- Increases, decreases;
- Changes, impacts;
- Parts, parts-whole.
- Economic development;
- ○
- Resource level;
- ○
- Resource equity;
- ○
- Resource diversity.
- Social capital;
- ○
- Social support and networks;
- ○
- Social participation;
- ○
- Bondedness and commitment to the community.
- Information and communication;
- ○
- Trusted sources of information that are linked together;
- ○
- Responsible media;
- ○
- Good information infrastructure.
- Community competence;
- ○
- Collective sense of control and efficacy;
- ○
- Sense of empowerment;
- ○
- Collective and cooperative decision-making and actions.
4.2.2. Starting Simple and Building over Time: Stages, Modes of Learning, Problem-Solving Tools
4.2.3. The Role of Motivation in Systemic Education and Risk Management
5. Summary
- (1)
- That science, research, and increased understanding are basic tools to help deal with problems linked to risk and uncertainty in life;
- (2)
- Linking various factors with each other including:
- (a)
- Physical with human systems in relation to disasters and other risks;
- (b)
- The child with the home, the home with the community, the community within a region, the region within a country and so forth;
- (c)
- Preparedness activities with more effective response and recovery;
- (d)
- Physical preparedness and response with psychosocial preparedness and response; linking risk mitigation with living within a world of others;
- (e)
- The idea of learning and behavioural change with emotional factors (e.g., motivation, confidence, sense of one’s efficacy); linking knowledge and skills (e.g., increased physical preparedness) with increased confidence and sense of control that can assist quality decision-making under duress;
- (f)
- Preparedness for hazards with the larger theme of developing the knowledge, skills, motivation and self-efficacy to underpin a growing holistic ability to think through and solve problems in life linked to risk and uncertainty;
- (3)
- That managing risk and uncertainty can have both local solutions (e.g., a sense of personal responsibility; preparedness at home) and wider systemic solutions (e.g., increased community development, linkages, and collective helping; land use planning; policy development and practices that understand opportunities, opportunity costs, tipping points, relationships between various physical and human systems).
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Ronan, K.R.; Towers, B. Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters. Systems 2014, 2, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems2010001
Ronan KR, Towers B. Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters. Systems. 2014; 2(1):1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems2010001
Chicago/Turabian StyleRonan, Kevin R., and Briony Towers. 2014. "Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters" Systems 2, no. 1: 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems2010001
APA StyleRonan, K. R., & Towers, B. (2014). Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters. Systems, 2(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems2010001