How to teach tsunami to the young

As schools across the United States reconvened after the holiday break, teachers wondered how most appropriately to talk to their students about the tsunami that struck the Asian coastline Dec. 26. Once in the classroom, what many teachers found - even among children as young as 4 - was a driving curiosity about the event, joined with an eager desire to reach out to other children half a globe away.

In Philadelphia, Jeanne Bustard discovered that her prekindergartners at the Friends Select School focused first on the science and then on the people involved. "The first thing is interest in how it worked. It's distant to them, but they are fascinated with the size of the water or the idea that there are plates under the earth," says Ms. Bustard.

They also wanted to talk about the impact the tsunami would have on the faraway children. "The students have questions around families and loss," says Bustard. "It's a little less real for 4-year-olds, but they have the same concerns and interest as adults." Bustard was interested by what her young students didn't ask about. "They didn't ask what happened to their toys or other nonnecessities," she says. "Children have a good sense of the basic needs for living."

The science of earthquakes and tsunamis captured the imagination of students at all grade levels, even as some teachers struggled to keep the lessons age-appropriate and to be sensitive to fears the subject could arouse. At the Staten Island Academy, an independent school in New York, classes for seventh- and eighth-graders were more detailed, says Diane Hulse, head

of school. Their lessons included before and after images on the MSNBC website.

But their instructors also spent time discussing and dispelling rumors, such as the fear that a tidal wave could engulf New York City. To avoid frightening children in the lower grades, teachers in those classes talked about it only if the students asked.

As it turned out, the lower school had studied geology before Christmas vacation, and students were ready with their questions. "They knew what tsunamis were. They understood what journalists meant when they talked about the earth's crust," says Ms. Hulse.

Nationwide, teachers looked for ways to help make the tsunami less remote.

Lynn Fuller, who oversees the computer/technology lab at the Indian Camp School in Tulsa, Okla., directed her students to local news reports indicating that the precursor earthquakes had registered on the Geological Society of Oklahoma's equipment. This helped bring a sense of relevance to the students as they measured distances between their hometown and the disaster area.

Students at the International School of Louisiana in Baton Rouge were able to understand the tsunami by relating it to the hurricanes sometimes experienced in their part of the world.

The K-4 charter school adjusted its curriculum to address earthquakes and tsunamis, a slight modification as the third- and fourth-graders already were learning about the earth's crust.

"It provides an opportunity to make connections to the tragedy that happened," says Tom Crosby, head of school.

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