The Process

1. Your Team

First, you will be assigned to a team of four students. This is your Hurricane Watch Team. Each team member will have a role. What roles do you think would be valuable in a hurricane emergency? The roles are meteorologist, firefighter, police officer, and mayor. Discuss the tasks that each of these roles would take during a hurricane scare. Assign roles among your team members. You will become this role for the town meeting presentation. Discuss with the other members of the group why you think the role you have selected best suits your abilities. The final project that you must complete at the end of this unit is to give a presentation. The format of the presentation is a town hall meeting and you will give advice to the citizenry of your town about the coming storm. The information you give will be related to the tasks your role performs in the hurricane emergency.

2. Your Hurricane

Each team of students will be assigned a hurricane to study and research. The hurricanes include:

- Andrew 1992

- Charley 2004

- Floyd 1999

- Fran 1996

- Georges 1998

- Hugo 1989

- Isabel 2003

- Opal 1995

3. Research

In this part, you will be researching hurricanes. Information that you find can be used in other parts of the project, especially the final presentation. Use the list below to guide your research, but do not be limited by it. Below are two websites that are good places to start gathering background information.

- Stages of a Hurricane (tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane)

o You might consider making a descriptive summary table to organize the information to include the differences in wind speed and pressure. This could later be put into your presentation.

- How Hurricanes Work (process of formation & conditions necessary)

o You might consider a detailed flow chart to organize the information, which could later be put into your presentation.

- Energy (gain strength & dissipates)

- Hurricane Categories (Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale)

o You might consider making a descriptive summary table to organize the information to include the category rankings, a description, damage correlation, etc. This could later be put into your presentation.

http://www.loc.gov/

The Library of Congress. The website has vast quantities of historical information. Click on “Research Centers” under “Find It…” Then do a search. (The “Natural Disasters: A Guide to Selected Resources” has multiple science links to hurricane information).

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

National Hurricane Center The website is a collection of US hurricane data, information, and news. Select “Frequently Asked Questions” under “Learn about Hurricanes.”

4. Hurricane Lab

You are now a hurricane expert. In your science and math classes, you will analyze hurricane data and track your own hurricane. You will compare two counties in the United States and explore the many factors that contribute to the destructive force of a hurricane. Then, you will analyze data using Microsoft Excel to map and categorize hurricanes. For a detailed explanation, see the hurricane lab.htm.

5. Compare & Contrast Paper

In your history and English classes, you will write a compare and contrast paper on two hurricanes. The first hurricane was the Galveston Hurricane in 1900, which is the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. The second hurricane is the hurricane that was assigned to your group by your instructor. For a detailed explanation, see the paper instructions.htm.

6. Developing Your Town Meeting Presentation

A hurricane is looming near your city, the Hurricane Watch Team needs to prepare a city meeting to coach and instruct residents on what to do before the hurricane comes. This will be the final group presentation. You need to use power point and any other meeting materials you deem necessary.

Each role is to present their domain’s responsibilities. For a detailed explanation, see the presentation.htm.

Don’t let Galveston happen to you!

7. Peer Evaluation

During the presentations if you are not presenting, you will be the town. For each group you will personally evaluate their presentation. Your instructors will handout a peer evaluation form (peer evaluation form.htm).