Despite the critical role that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects play in human actions against disaster, the potential intersection between STEM education and disaster education has scarcely been examined. In this presentation, from a review of existing scholarship in disaster education, I identify four dichotomies in how we think and teach about disasters and discuss implications for STEM education. First, there is a divide between approaches focused on surviving disasters and those focused on understanding disasters. Second, nature- and human-triggered disasters are often taught as disparate categories of events needing entirely different solutions, which stems from an outdated conception of disaster. Third, disaster education research and policies tend to address either the scientific or the social aspects of disasters with minimal attention to how the two intersect and interact in the unfolding of disaster. Fourth, there is tension arising from whether to situate disaster education within certain school subjects or to focus on cross-disciplinary knowledge, skills and attitudes. Using examples of disaster education curricula in different educational contexts, I examine how each of these dichotomies can hinder disaster education in the context of STEM and discuss future prospects and directions for research, policy and practice.

TeachDisasters Project

This presentation proposes citizenship education as a sustainable and effective approach to disaster education (DE) – education in preparing for disasters – to build resilient communities. Experts have mainstreamed ‘participatory’ approaches for DE. However, two challenges remain: people do not always wish to participate in DE; many projects discontinue without funding. We situate disaster preparedness and citizenship in universal citizenship, which is underpinned by the principles of inclusion, human rights and sustainable development, so that children and young people can exercise agency towards collaborative decision-making and social action. We aim to tackle the above two challenges of DE by integrating preparedness education into citizenship education. This approach would (1) enable agency in learners from a young age to familiarise themselves with preparedness action, (2) embed DE in the present educational provision without burdening schools to allow sustainability, and (3) inspire communities through school-community collaboration to build ‘common values’ of collective preparedness action for continuity.

This short workshop deals with the challenges of education in relation to disasters that are slow in the making and which happen often invisibly, described by Rob Nixon (2013) as ‘slow violence’. We will examine the role of co-authorship, community and capacity building in responding to these disasters in educational contexts, drawing on approaches used in two recent projects: the BERA Manifesto for Education for Environmental Sustainability and a UKRI/RSA experiment in public dialogue with youth on climate interventions (DICEY). The workshop will conclude with a discussion of future opportunities when engaging policy and other change makers with priorities in these areas.

BERA Manifesto for Education for Environmental Sustainability

Dialogue in Climate Engineering with Youth

The indirect effects of climate change are becoming increasingly hazardous to local wildlife and local agriculture, and it is important that children begin to recognize this at an early age. Wild Citizens is a project with primary schools in Southampton, aiming to enable children to become active environmental citizen scientists, who monitor biological and environmental changes in their school grounds, and discuss their findings with people in their local community. The focus is on wildlife, but also on growing food plants and the impact the environment has on this. Children’s observations and discussions about the factors affecting the growth of plants lead them to discuss the local weather conditions, and this in turn can help them grasp the more abstract concept of climate change. However, the disastrous consequences of climate change can cause eco-anxiety among young people – a feeling of helplessness and resulting disengagement from the issues - so we discuss teaching approaches to help manage eco-anxiety caused by the fear of ecological disasters.

[1] ‘Before and after the Sewol ferry disaster must be different’, ‘We must not stay still’. All of us voluntarily started to take action based on sympathy and solidarity to change Korea, and the world. Small actions of individuals are resonating not only with people in Korea but also all over the world and are creating miracles. At the centre of such resonance are the 304 victims of the Sewol Ferry Disaster. Recording and documenting the Sewol Ferry is also an essential responsibility of the state. The 4.16 Memory Classroom is the result of a relentless struggle to protect the disaster sites that bear memories and records. Citizens must fight with records that represent truth and history. The 4.16 record is a beautiful struggle to remember and sympathise with the Sewol ferry disaster.

[2] Apart from the salvaged ship itself, another main site related to the Sewol Ferry Disaster is the 4.16 Memory Classroom at Danwon High School. It is a record of an important disaster in society, and a spatial record of collective memory encapsulating educational culture and disaster. In recognition of its value as a space for consolation and memorialisation, the Memory Classroom was designated as a national record by the National Archives of Korea. Although the classrooms had to be moved from its original location, every moment of transfer and demolition of the records was documented with photos and videos, and the records have been restored and are in display at the 4.16 Institute for Democratic Citizenship Education.

[3] The 4.16 Institute for Democratic Citizenship Education was established to spread a culture of remembering the tragedy and sympathising with the victims through the establishment of the 4.16 Memory Class at Danwon High School. It aims to support the cultivation of democratic citizens who reflects on and explore the meaning of the Sewol Ferry disaster. In this presentation, the education and training activities of the Institute will be introduced, including the curriculum and educational programmes.

4.16 Institute of Democratic Citizenship Education

Grenfell United was formed in the days after the fire on June 14 2017 with a clear mission: to establish the truth through the Public Inquiry, to campaign for change to ensure another Grenfell never happens again, and for justice, to ensure those responsible are held accountable for the tragic unavoidable deaths of 72 people.

In the five and a half years since the fire, Grenfell United have been campaigning tirelessly to create a legacy for the 72 lives lost that night, to ensure they are not remembered for what happened, but for what changed. This mostly takes its form through education and learning from what happened and meaningful policy changes such as the Social Housing Regulation Bill.

Grenfell United have been acutely aware of the need to involve the children and young people's voice, putting them at the heart of discussions. The children founded their own memorial event, Remembering Together, centred around creativity and reflection to come together and remember their loved ones in their own way. Alongside this, Green for Grenfell was created as an opportunity for schools and young people across the country to get involved and learn about what happened at Grenfell.

Looking forward, we are looking at how to incorporate the children’s voices in the future memorial site.

Grenfell United

Grenfell Foundation

Disaster education builds up from research, and social science disaster research is often done in conjunction with disaster victims and affected communities. In the summer of 2022, KAIST hosted the first Disaster Haggyo, exploring with students and disaster support communities in Ansan and Jeju, South Korea the possibilities for mutual aid as an ethical principle for disaster education. Disaster Justice is a core concept for this work--and this talk will explain the Disaster Haggyo case by way of exploring Disaster Justice for disaster education in Korea and around the world.

Disaster Haggyo

COVIDCalls

Slow Disaster

This study analyzes Korean national curriculum and policy papers to illustrate how disasters are addressed in science education. The 2010s were a decade of major technical and human-caused disasters with long-term societal effects, making discussion of disasters relevant in the science curriculum. During this time, a discourse on the safety issues was prevalent in Korean society following the Sewol Ferry disaster, as well as the movement towards integration of science subjects in the community of Korean science educators. This discourse had a profound impact on the incorporation of disaster into science education. This study also examines disaster representation in the Korea 2015 Revised Science Curriculum and science textbooks, which added disaster and safety aspects in earnest. The results showed that natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons, were the most frequently mentioned in the curriculum and textbooks. However, the level of detail provided was limited, and the emphasis was primarily on the physical science concepts related to disasters rather than the social and human impact. The analysis also indicated that textbooks and the curriculum underrepresented disaster preparedness and mitigation. We conclude that science textbooks and curricula could benefit from including more comprehensive and up-to-date disaster material, including human-induced disasters and disaster preparedness and mitigation.

This presentation describes my experience of offering a class on the Sewol ferry disaster for science and engineering undergraduate students in South Korea. The class was titled 'MV Sewol and the Engineers' and was offered in the spring of 2022 at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Teaching a recent disaster in a college-level class is a difficult task, as the memory and emotion from the disaster remains strong for most students and the academic literature on the disaster is not so comprehensive. A unique challenge in this class, however, was how to make this societal tragedy relevant to the students specializing in science and engineering. In an attempt to learn some engineering lessons from the disaster, we invited many engineers as guest speakers who could tell us their own experiences of working on the investigation of the Sewol ferry sinking. The students in the class had a chance to think of the disaster and its investigation as an occasion closely related to their own career, in which they would be able to participate with their background and knowledge in science and engineering.