Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies ... - Unicef

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East Asia and the Pacific
A girl inside her school in the city of
Cagayan de Oro in Northern Mindanao
Region of the Philippines. The school
was damaged by floods.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-0006/Maitem
During the first phase of MDRD-EDU, 2,600 students were
taught in pilot schools with a further 2,600 students being
taught during the second phase (DepEd, undated).
In the Philippines, DRR mainstreaming in the school curriculum
has run alongside and complementary to the integration of
other governmental initiatives on global warming and food
security into the school curriculum (Ibid).
Pedagogy
As mentioned above, the TWG developed teaching and learning
support materials and lesson exemplars. The booklet of lesson
exemplars is a guide for teachers in their lessons. Chapters
are organized according to different hazard types, each chapter
including key information, activity instructions and discussion
questions.
There are other teaching aids to complement Natural Science
and Social Studies subjects. Existing materials developed by
government agents and NGOs were reviewed and some have
been adapted as teaching aids.
There are more general DRR materials. For instance, Tales
of Disasters (DepEd, 2009c) is for children (with no mention
of target grade levels and subject areas). This guide contains
a complete lesson plan breakdown with a range of amusing
activities that can be used with two films (Tales of Disasters
and Peace Building Two Gardens) shown to a group. For an
amusing and imaginative way of teaching and learning,
using puppets is suggested (Ibid).
Save the Children developed the primary level workbooks
under the title My Little Book on Disaster Preparedness
(Save the Children and DepEd, 2007a, b, c, d, and e). They aim
to help children understand how to stay safe before, during
and after disasters. This series of workbooks covers locally
relevant hazards such as fire, typhoon, earthquakes, floods,
mudslides, and tsunamis. The mixture of learning methods
includes: drawings, poems, quizzes, songs, riddles, role play,
pantomime (Ibid.).
Throughout the two phases of the MDRD-EDU project, teaching
effectiveness was evaluated, and observation forms to evaluate
teachers were developed by DepEd (DepEd, undated).
Student Assessment
There are some examples of DRR student learning assessment
tools in the Lesson Exemplars booklet on Science (DepE,
2009a). At the end of most of the chapters (each focusing
on one specific hazard), there is a section entitled ‘evaluation’.
For example, the chapter on global warming and climate
change asks students ‘to explain how the following greenhouse
gases enter the atmosphere because of human activities: 1.
carbon dioxide; 2. methane; 3.nitrous oxide; 4.flourinated gases’
(Ibid, 5). The chapter on landslides asks students to ‘write your
Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies from Thirty Countries