Hurricane Katrina
Author
Bartley Richardson
Subjects
Algebra I (Math), English, Science, Social Studies (American History)
Grade Level
9th
Duration
10 70-minute class blocks (approximately two weeks)
Rationale (How this relates to engineering)
Engineers are often faced with decisions that impact the speed and cost of a project.
They must weight their choices carefully in order to make the choices that benefit the
greatest amount of people while staying inside their given budget. Students are placed
in the roll of civil engineers in charge of overseeing the rebuilding of New Orleans after
the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. They must make these types of decisions
and justify their choices in both written and oral form.
Activity Summary
General Description
This lesson was designed as an introductory interdisciplinary lesson for incoming
freshmen students. Stemming from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in late
2005, students use knowledge from all of their core classes to research hurricanes
(specifically Katrina), learn about hurricane categorization, research and decide on an
overall reconstruction plan, and present their plan to the class in the form of a visual aid
(poster) and oral presentation. The project requires time given to its completion from
multiple classes.
Teaching Philosophy
This project is lengthy, so students were encouraged to work in pairs or small groups (no
more than three in a group). Aside from the initial presentation and worksheets that
helped to guide the students, the teacher remained hands-off unless approached by
students with questions. The idea of this lesson was to teach them that they need to
justify their choices with real-world data. The instructor stressed the point that their
justifications for their choices are more important than finding the “right answer” to every
question. The lesson was also designed to get students working on a similar activity in
all of their core classes. This was done to form a closer team dynamic as well as
reinforcing the need to carry concepts from one class over to the other classes (such as
from science to math and vice versa).
Objectives
Students will be able to
1. identify the various tropical storm and hurricane classifications,
2. use a computer to perform directed research on a list of topics,
3. critically determine which aspects of a reconstruction project are more important
than others),
4. use data given in tabular form to create a simple histogram, and
5. work in small groups to prepare a visual aid (poster) and present their
reconstruction plan to the class in the form of an oral presentation.
Standards
Mathematics
 Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
o Grade 9 – Translate information from one representation (words, table,
graph, or equation) to another representation of a relation or function.
English
 Writing Applications
o Grade 9 – Use documented textual evidence to justify interpretations of
literature or to support a research topic.
 Writing Conventions
o Grade 9 – Use correct spelling conventions, punctuation and
capitalization.
o Grade 9 – Demonstrate understanding of the grammatical conventions of
the English language.
 Communication: Oral and Visual
o Grade 9 – Give informational presentations that present ideas in a logical
sequence, include relevant facts and details from multiple sources and
use a consistent organizational structure.
 Research
o Grade 9 – Organize information from various resources and select
appropriate sources to support central ideas, concepts and themes.
Social Studies
 Geography
o Grade 9 – Analyze the cultural, physical, economic and political
characteristics that define regions and describe reasons that regions
change over time.
 Economics
o Grade 9 – Explain how the US government provides public services and
promotes economic growth and stability.
Background Knowledge
Students should have some basic knowledge of graphing (lines) and should be exposed
to reading histograms. They also should have some background (historical) information
about New Orleans.
Materials Required
 Hurricane Katrina worksheets
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Computer with projector (for introduction presentation)
Poster board
Sticky letters
Construction paper
Glue and/or tape
Scissors
Markers and/or colored pencils
Access to computers (for research)
Activities
Below is a brief outline of the activities involved with this lesson. Some of these were
performed outside of the mathematics classroom I was participating in, and those
activities are labeled as such. Refer to the worksheets for more information on a
particular activity. When referring to “instructional periods”, note that this is one
instructional period per section. For example, if you have four sections of the same
class, that same instruction will need to be repeated in all four sections.
Introduction to Hurricanes (Math Classroom)
This is the first activity that the students will do. It is best to consider it as a warm-up to
the science behind hurricanes and tropical storms. After the PowerPoint presentation,
students are given the first set of worksheets to complete. Since the presentation takes
class time, allow 2 class periods to complete the introduction.
Research in the Computer Lab (Math Classroom)
After the introduction, students receive the next set of worksheets and are given time in
the computer lab to research Katrina. Guided questions are provided on the
worksheets, but students should be encouraged to add any other information that they
feel will help them in their rebuilding plan. A minimum of two days in the computer lab
should be reserved, but I would suggest going with three days so there is enough time
for everyone to finish.
History of New Orleans (Social Studies Classroom)
The history teacher presented students with a brief history of New Orleans (lifted from
various websites). This only requires one day of instruction.
Introduction to Public Speaking (English Classroom)
Since these are 9th grade students, a majority of them have never done an oral
presentation before. The English teacher spent three instructional periods discussing
how to give an oral presentation, how to create a visual aid, and how to take effective
notes.
Rebuilding Costs (Math Classroom)
Students are given the next set of worksheets and are asked to determine the cost of
rebuilding New Orleans. Data from their research will be incorporated into their plan,
and they are asked to create a simple histogram. Three to four instructional periods are
required for this activity.
Creating the Visual Aid (Math Classroom)
After they complete their rebuilding plan, students work with their group to create one
visual aid. Students could finish this activity in two days, but the first day is typically lost
(due to over-planning by the students), so three days should be reserved for creating the
poster.
Final Presentation (Math and English Classrooms combined)
The culminating experience for this lesson is an oral presentation by the groups.
Students are given the scoring rubric far in advance so they know exactly what is
expected of them. Groups are encourage to use all of the time allotted to them (can be
set by teachers), and all presentations should be able to be given on one day (only one
instructional period per class).
Assessment of Student Learning
All handouts from the Hurricane Katrina activity will be collected and scored. Students
will be scored on the quality of their visual aid and their oral presentation. Three
teachers will be scoring the students, and those scores will be compiled and weighted
accordingly.
Assessment of the Activity
A student feedback form is provided with the activity. Students complete the form at the
end of the lab and give it back to the teacher. The results are compiled and used to
determine the effectiveness of the activity. In addition, the teacher will be watching the
students while they complete the activity in order to gauge their interest.
Reflection
The hardest part about this lesson is scheduling and coordinating all of the classes.
Some of the instruction can be presented out of order (the history and English
components), but the rest must be done in the prescribed sequence. In addition, it was
difficult to find space in the curriculum to fit-in a 10 day activity.
The major problem encountered with this activity was student attendance. Since it is a
long lesson, student absences drastically affect others in the c\lass. If a student is
absent and has all of that group’s research, the group is “out of luck” unless they want to
repeat all the work from the previous day. If possible, student work should be kept in the
classroom and not sent home with the students. This would eliminate one of the
problems caused by student absences. The other issue that arises when students are
absent is group membership. By the end of the activity, so many students had been
absent that the groups were totally different than when we started. In fact, groups would
change on a daily basis. This makes the activity much more difficult, and it makes
scoring students individually almost impossible.
However, with all things considered, I believe the activity went very well. Students were
engaged, and it was good to see them care about something and/or someone outside of
their “own world” for at least a while. This activity could be modified for any natural or
man-made disaster. The overarching principles remain the same (determining the cost
of rebuilding, creating a visual aid, and giving an oral presentation), but the details will
obviously need changing.