Learning Goals
Students will be able to investigate natural disaster myths and modern hazard case studies to explain how different cultures and scientific sources describe survival and response.
Students will be able to analyze mentor texts for suspense techniques, including pacing, foreshadowing, sensory detail, sentence variety, and dialogue, to identify how authors create tension.
Students will be able to formulate a focused investigable question about whether a main character can survive a chosen natural disaster and myth-inspired scenario.
Students will be able to collect and document evidence from texts, videos, simulations, and peer feedback in an organized research notebook to support story decisions.
Students will be able to interpret survival patterns from the Disaster Dash simulation and related sources to justify character choices in a suspense story.
Students will be able to draft, revise, and edit an original suspense narrative with proper dialogue, sensory detail, and clear sequence of events.
Students will be able to evaluate the strengths and limitations of their evidence and story choices when explaining how and why a character might survive a disaster.
Products
Suspense Story Investigation Notebook
A research notebook that records the student’s essential question, source notes, simulation observations, planning decisions, and reflections on how evidence shaped the story. It proves individual mastery of the inquiry process and the content knowledge needed to write an authentic disaster suspense story.
Coauthored Disaster Survival Storybook Presentation
A team presentation or shared storybook showcase that synthesizes members’ evidence into a polished suspense narrative, with explanation of research choices, craft decisions, and limitations. It demonstrates collaborative application by showing how the group used evidence to build a believable survival story for the community exhibition.
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