Learning from Nature: A Project-Based Approach to Disaster Awareness in Indonesian Schools

Abstract

The present study aims at raising young students‟ awareness of natural disasters through a cross- disciplinary multimodal project-based learning method using Vygotsky‟s (1986) socio-cultural approach. An Art project was carried out by 2nd grade students of one private bilingual school in Jakarta. The project, which was a group work, included discussing which objects that could save lives from the disaster, drawing the objects and presenting the work in front of the class. All discussions and presentations were audio recorded. The objects and the recording were then analysed to identify students‟ knowledge about surviving from three common natural disasters in Indonesia, i.e., earthquake, tsunami, and volcanic eruption. The findings indicate that the students have initial knowledge about how to survive from the disasters, but their literacy on disaster mitigation is still low. It is recommended that literacy on natural disasters should be part of the curriculum and implemented consistently.