Youth Climate Story: Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (Amira)
Videos
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences, Economics
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by ACE
What it is
- This video features Amira, who discusses how Hurricane Maria affected her family and community in Puerto Rico.
- She discusses the challenges of living in an area affected by a climate disaster, the loss of jobs, food insecurity, the loss of power and water, and having to leave her home.
- A three-part hurricane mapping activity and a guided student worksheet are linked below this video.
Teaching tips
Positives
- The video may help students empathize with people who have experienced natural disasters in other locations.
- The activity that is linked below the video utilizes real-world data to analyze.
Additional Prerequisites
- The video is available to view without an account, but teachers must create a free account to access the lesson plan.
Differentiation
- The mapping activity could be used in a math or science class, as students interpret weather station models, complete isobar lines on a map, and convert units.
- Consider having students discuss risks to their local community and then write a reflection paper about how they would feel if their home was damaged by a storm.
- Students could consider the consequences of hurricanes (e.g., migration, drownings, loss in property value, damage to infrastructure) and could investigate possible engineering solutions to some of these impacts.
- When completing the student worksheets, teachers should spend time working through a few practice examples of the weather station models and isobar drawings as a whole group, as these concepts are likely new.
From the scientist review
Rising ocean levels and increased ocean temperatures resulting from climate change have the potential to increase the severity of hurricanes. Island nations and coastal areas carry the burden of dealing with greater hurricane damage, and these areas are often centers of high population density.
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