Lesson Plan: Avalanche!

Lesson Plan

Before Exploring

Have a brief class discussion about avalanches. What do students already know about avalanches? You may wish to explain to students that:

·         Avalanche accidents kill an average of 11 people in Canada every year, making them the biggest threat to mountain weather recreation

·         The word avalanche came from the French verb "avaler" (to swallow)

·         Avalanche victims have a survival rate after 20 minutes of less than 50 percent

·         Avalanches can travel up to 300 km/h.

Outline the Opportunity

Direct students to the topic Avalanche! on the CBC Digital Archives website. In small groups, have students browse the clips titled "Heli-skiing takes off", "A survivor's story", "How to survive an avalanche", "Michel Trudeau is lost", "New Year's nightmare", and "Avalanched survivor", and read the text for these clips.  Point out that there are also links to other sites that contain more information on avalanches. Remind groups to make notes on survivors' avalanche descriptions, especially those that are similar.

Have each group use newspapers or magazines to make a collage to reflect the experiences they heard about. They should use words and pictures from the survivors' interviews. What happened? How did they describe their experience? What feelings did they have? How did they feel afterward?

Assessment Tip
Look for integrity in the way students identify and represent the descriptions they heard.

Revisit and Reflect

Have students display and discuss their collages. As a class, revisit students' original ideas about avalanches and have students discuss any new information they have learned.

Extension

Students can look at the clips titled "Michel Trudeau is lost", "New Year's nightmare", and "School trip tragedy" and write a news story that describes the effects of an avalanche disaster on a community.