Dear Colleagues:
How are you and your students managing in the heat? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) provides detailed information on how to prepare for and respond to heat emergencies. The website includes an interesting extreme heat infographic you might want to use with your students in these next few days and weeks.
Suggestions for Using Infographics in the Classroom
Allison McCarthy from Visual.ly Creative Services briefly describes how to use infographics in the classroom. Allison is an editor for PBS NewsHour focused on education and informational graphics. She suggests: (1) create some context, (2) have students analyze the graphic on their own in small groups, (3) debrief as a class with each group contributing their insights, and (4) evaluate what students have learned (e.g., each student creates a short summary of the main idea and supporting details of the graphic). Allison begins her discussion with: “Find the right infographic.” What if you can’t find one?
Create an Infographic
Can’t find the right infographic for you and your students? How about making one? Here is a post by Isabel Wiliams (Review of Infographic Tools for the Classroom) on the Tech Tips for Teachers blog, outlining a range of online and downloadable tools you and your students can use for making infographics. Give it a try. Can you and your students simplify the CDC's Extreme Heat infographic?
Stay hydrated, stay cool,
Cynthia
Health Literacy Moderator
Comments
Thanks for posting this, Cynthia. It came at a perfect time. We've been reading about the hazards of heat in my advanced ESL class lately, so it was ideal to add this different type of text on the same topic. The infographic also helped us to address Reading Anchor 7 of the CCR, which focuses on "integrating and evaluating content presented in diverse media and formats."
We did an expert jigsaw activity with students working in pairs to prepare to read and explain one section of the infographic to the class. Since we have been reading about heat-related illnesses and how to avoid them, the students had adequate background knowledge to read, understand, and explain the content of the infographic.
We were all a bit surprised to see the temperatures inside a car when it's 80 degrees outside. It was 93 degrees here this week, so the students and I wondered how hot a car gets when the temperature is that high or higher. One student said she did not believe that 206 Americans had died of heat-related causes in 2006. This gave us the chance to talk briefly about evaluating the credibility of a source, in this case the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
If other members use this infographic in their class, it would be great to hear how it goes. Some may even want to try a jigsaw activity! Let us know how it goes and please share other details about how your class is going this summer.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, AELL CoP
Hi Susan:
Glad it was helpful. When I saw the infographic, I also thought about CASAS 3.4.2 Identify safety measures that can prevent accidents and injuries.
And, like you and your classmates, I was astounded by the car example. I even posted the infographic on the front of my desk to share with others. While the CDC provides reliable information, I think I'm going to put our old fish tank thermometer in the car this weekend -- if it can go up to at least 130 degrees. I want to see the data for myself. We're expecting it to be a "cool" 80 degrees here in Boston so I can do a direct comparison. We've also had several news stories about playground equipment -- metal and plastic slides, dark plastic swings that can reach more than 160 degrees on an 80 degree day.
Cynthia
Dear Colleagues:
I couldn't resist testing the CDC's infographic information on heat buildup in car interiors. As you can imagine, the temperature range on the fish tank thermometer did not go as high as 130 degrees. So, on to the candy thermometer. The thermometer was placed in the car, away from direct sunlight, from 2-3 pm yesterday. The outside temperature was 90 degrees, not 80. Unfortunately, the front third of the car ended up in partial shade by 3 pm but at that time, the interior of the car was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Lots of errors in the replication procedure and, of course, it all needs to be converted to Celsius! Along with the interior not being appropriate to sit in are all the other concerns about putting young children in hot car seats, touching metal latches on hot seatbelts to skin, touching hot steering wheels, etc.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia and all, That is a shocking temperature, for sure. One of the graphs that shows the relationship between heat and humidity that we used in our class can be found here. Another piece of data we examined was a graph on infant fatalities due to heat stroke in the US-- a sobering statistic. We've had some good discussions, and students have learned a great deal about the potential [a vocabulary word we studied] dangers related to heat and what precautions should be taken.
This unit has allowed me the opportunity to share information from a variety of sources and given the students many chances to enhance their reading, writing, listening, speaking and thinking skills with various types of texts, including graphic, print and video. I have seen many benefits of going into one topic in depth. We get to recycle the vocabulary and academic language in a variety of meaningful ways.
Plus, this particular topic has obvious practical implications for students' lives.
Some may have heard that the second highest heat index level on record--165 degrees Farenheit-- was recorded in Iran on July 31. The Washington Post reported,
"To achieve today’s astronomical heat index level of 165, Bandar Mahshahr’s actual air temperature registered 115 degrees (46 Celsius) with an astonishing dew point temperature of 90 (32 Celsius)."
Now that's a shocking number!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, AELL CoP
Hi Susan:
Don't you love being able to access information from all over the world? Thanks for the additional links. I was particularly interested in the Washington Post's picture of the woman walking in the Iraqi desert. It made me wonder if ESOL teachers find students share photos and videos from around the world via their phone when there is a current event, like our summer heat wave. Just creating captions would be an interesting activity, not to mention journaling.
Cynthia Zafft
Hello colleagues, In this thread, I've been sharing aspects of the unit on heat and heat-related illnesses we've been studying in my advanced ESL class this summer. A colleague just told me today about the heat index app available through OSHA.
In addition, this blog by Rachel Obleck offers three different ways to calculate the heat index.
Lots of possibilities for the classroom!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, AELL CoP