Denise Balukas
My interest in communicating atmospheric science to the non-scientific community has led me to my current research work at the University of Arizona, which focuses on the societal impacts of landfalling tropical cyclones. I am approaching this subject with a global perspective and attempting to address the combination of factors within communities, which determine their vulnerability to the impacts of tropical cyclones as well as their resilience in the aftermath. In partnership with the National Weather Service, I will be working with J.J. Brost (Science Operations Officer) here in the Tucson office to develop a series of three teaching modules designed for middle and high school students which will explore the risks of high impact, low frequency weather events on communities and the methods by which decisions are made to reduce the vulnerabilities of communities to the associated risks.
The modules will use hurricanes as an example of such high impact events. The modules will culminate in students participating in a board game which J.J. Brost and I designed to address the question of communication and comprehension of vulnerabilities with respect to rare but inevitable extreme weather events and the ability to make critical decisions based on probabilistic uncertainty forecasting. Using the Tucson Flood of 1983, which was the result of extremely high precipitation amounts caused by the remnants of tropical storm Octave as an example of a rare but inevitable extreme meteorological event, the students are placed in the role of a city planner, making decisions on mitigation strategies for several different locations within their town. The modules can provide an approachable way of investigating the process of planning for high impact/ low frequency events and investigate any bias involved in the decision making process due to lack of personal experience with such an event.
Manzo Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona is an innovator in using reconciliation ecology as a tool to offer experiential learning and address children’s behavioral issues. Their ecology program has improved and supported the school’s larger educational objectives by enabling students to be more inclined to learn. In January of 2012, Manzo received the U.S. Green Building Council’s “Best Green School” award. Despite impressive infrastructural innovations and accolades, teachers have yet to fully embrace the opportunity to link classroom teaching to the multifaceted aspects of the ecology program. To address this disconnect, this program connects the science students are learning in weekly sessions at Manzo to scientific experiments occurring at Biosphere 2 (B2) in Oracle, Arizona. Manzo Elementary has partnered with B2’s flagship experiment by reproducing a model Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) within Manzo’s greenhouse, testing what types of seeds and saplings will grow in the observatory’s soil. The goal is to create experiential learning programs appropriate for the classrooms that have real and tangible benefits for ongoing research. In so doing, a win-win-win scenario is created: (i) Manzo students conduct science, mathematically process results, and write reports based on their work; (ii) B2 scientists receive augmented datasets about the early ecology of Landscape Evolution Observatory soils; and (iii) B2 educators acquire a template for experiential learning that can be adapted for other classrooms in the area. These activities connect students to contemporary climate change problems such as climate variability and drought and are synchronous with the development of Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) science and math skills. As the second year of this program begins, we have begun working with Ms. Norma Gonzales’ 3rd grade classroom at Manzo Elementary. We hope to expand the mini LEO project and curriculum to other schools within TUSD at the beginning of January, 2015 with help from graduate student assistants from the University of Arizona and the School and Community Gardening Program. 
