teaching - Earth Science Teachers' Association

TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 30 ● Number 1, 2005
Reliving Montserrat 1996 Volcanic
Eruption and Hurricane Disaster
In June and July 2003 pupils from secondary schools in the East Midlands participated in a
simulation based on the Montserrat volcanic eruption and hurricane disaster of 1996. The
E-Mission was run from Wheeling Jesuit University in USA in conjunction with the National Space
Centre in Leicester. As the simulation uses video conferencing, it was hoped that pupils
throughout the UK, including those in remote areas, would be enabled to have better access to
activities provided by the National Space Centre.
DR TINA JARVIS
This E-Mission is based on the actual data of the
1996 Montserrat volcanic eruption. Many of the
people who were evacuated at that time eventually
came to live in the East Midlands where this project
was carried out. As the eruption took place during the
hurricane season, the simulation adds the challenge of a
potential hurricane disaster and uses the actual data of
Hurricane ‘Bob’ which occurred two years earlier. In
this simulation the people of Montserrat cannot be
evacuated by air or sea to escape the volcanic eruption
because of the threat of the imminent hurricane. They
have to be moved to what is thought to be the safest part
of the island away from the volcanic lava and explosive
material as well as the hurricane.
The simulation is intended for groups of approximately
20-25 pupils in their first three years of secondary
school. They work in three main groups. One
team of pupils is expected to analyse the volcano data
and another group analyses the hurricane data. These
groups get raw data that they have to process and make
predictions about how and where their phenomena will
affect the island. They pass their information to an
evacuation team. The evaluation team has population
and relief maps of the island and have to recommend
which villages and towns should be evacuated first and
where they should go. They make their recommendations
through two pupils who act as ‘Communicator’
and ‘Data Officer’ (See photo). During the pilot project
in 2003, these two pupils communicated via a video
conferencing link to an American Mission Control in
USA, who in the scenario passed this information on to
the Montserrat people. Mission Control prompted and
guided the groups with questions to ensure that the
evacuation was successful. Following this pilot, the
E-Missions are now run directly from the National
Space Centre in Leicester www.spacecentre.co.uk/
e-mission. The final activity for the pupils is a debriefing
to consider the effectiveness of the evacuation and
casualties and study the long term effects on the island.
In 2003, pupils carried out the missions at the National
Space Centre or at local E-Learning centres attached to
secondary schools. The videoconference link was set up
so that it was visible to all pupils. The Data Officer also
had a separate computer link via a ‘chat room’ so that
he/she could see and transmit numerical and written
information back to the distant mission control. The
groups of pupils handling hurricane and volcanic data
also had laptop computers that received their constantly
updated information from the Internet. Pupils transferred
this data onto hard copy maps and charts as well as
to computer spreadsheets. Other computers were available
so that pupils could research information about the
Island of Montserrat as required.
During the pilot phase in June and July 2003, a sample
of five city schools were monitored to evaluate the
experience. The schools’ participation in the E-Missions
was funded from two different sources. One funding
source was limited to gifted and talented pupils and the
other specified that only less able pupils were to be
included. All five schools were located in inner ring city
areas in the East Midlands. Two of these groups included
pupils with learning and behavioural special educational
needs who were expected not to be able to work
co-operatively. One of their teachers said he hoped that
the novel environment of the E-Mission would ‘appease
them and reduce behavioural problems’.
Design of the evaluation
Six out of the eight missions were observed. Detailed
notes were taken of pupils’ action and behaviour. Com-
23 www.esta-uk.org