Using "Dante's Peak" to Discuss Response to Risk
Michael Phillips, Illinois Valley Community College
In this classroom activity, students watch the movie "Dante's Peak" up to the point where Harry Dalton's supervisor arrives and talks to the town council. Students then compare and contrast Harry's assessment and advice to that of his supervisor, discuss the reaction of the town council members, and develop their own recommendations for how the scientists and town should proceed.

Creating a Natural Disaster Blog/VoiceThread to Understand Resilience
Anne Hall, Emory University
Student groups create blogs or VoiceThreads on selected natural disaster events including a description of the event, the cause of the disaster, response & recovery, prediction & prevention and resilience to the event.

Role playing the 2009 L'Aquila Earthquake and trial to debate responsibility for communicating and understanding risks and natural hazards
Amber Kumpf, Muskegon Community College
In this activity, students reenact key events leading up to and following the 2009 L'Aquila Earthquake and trial. This leads into a debate on responsibility for communicating and understanding risks and natural hazards.

Using a Town Meeting Scenario to Explore the Impacts of Hurricane Sandy
Jennifer Haney, Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania
In this role-playing activity, students are assigned into groups which will explore specific roles related to Hurricane Sandy. A mock town meeting scenario where the community is requesting input for how to address the challenges of rebuilding their homes, businesses, and infrastructure allows for the class to learn more about the multiple perspectives, issues, and interests resulting from this devastating disaster.

Ground Shaking and Damage at Your House
Carla Whittington, Highline College
In this activity, students use a seismic hazard map from the USGS to estimate the ground shaking hazard in their community. The map shows a 10% probability of ground accelerations reaching or exceeding a certain % ...

Comparison of Two Hurricanes
David Kobilka, Central Lakes College-Brainerd
In this activity students synthesize ideas from lecture, reading, and viewing two PBS NOVA videos on hurricanes.

Developing student literacy on risk, resilience, and strategies for living with disaster uncertainty
Monica Gowan, Central Washington University
In this guided research and critical thinking activity, students prepare a research paper comprised of two parts: 1) a "state-of-the-science" review and synthesis of selected literature from risk and resilience research (provided) and 2) a brief critical appraisal of how current knowledge is (or could be) applied to building disaster resilience in a real-world scenario. Part 2 will be set in a student-selected hazard context (coastal hazards, flooding, or earthquake), employment sector (academia, government, private industry, services, non-profit), and geopolitical sphere of influence (e.g., Resilience to earthquake disaster in the student population at Universidad de Lima, Peru).

Risk Assessment and Regulation in Christchurch, New Zealand
Patricia Stapleton, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
This activity encourages students to apply public policy and risk regulation concepts to the case of the Canterbury Earthquakes in New Zealand. Students review government websites, media reports, and first-person-narratives, analyze and evaluate policy responses, and consider alternate policy solutions.

Developing a Multi-Hazard Mitigation Strategy
Rebekah Green, Western Washington University
As a culminating assignment in Natural Hazards Planning, students work in teams to create 15-year mitigation strategy for a selected jurisdiction using the FEMA 386 methodology for prioritizing mitigation options.

The 2014 La Habra earthquake: Teaching Risk and Resilience in Southern California with Citizen Science
Danielle Sumy, EarthScope; Robert De Groot, University of Southern California
This exercise uses the example of the March 28, 2014 M5.1 La Habra earthquake to teach about earthquake risk and resilience in southern California. Students will examine seismic waveforms recording during the earthquake, as well as read reports from scientific agencies and news outlets to answer basic questions regarding earthquake risk and resilience.