Teaching Natural Hazards with Analogue Models and Classroom Experiments

The Czech educational system is currently undergoing a reform aimed at shifting from the traditional focus on “covering the curriculum” towards the development of students’ key competences. The emphasis is no longer placed on the amount of content taught, but rather on what students are able to understand, apply, and meaningfully use in real-life situations.

When teaching natural hazards, inquiry-based and experimental approaches are particularly effective. Analogue modelling can be readily implemented in the classroom, allowing students to practically test different scenarios, formulate and verify hypotheses, and deepen their understanding of natural processes. Hands-on experimentation significantly enhances learning and fosters creative and innovative thinking. Through experiments, students can analyse the impacts of natural disasters and propose concepts related to societal preparedness, risk prevention, and mitigation.

In this poster, I present a selection of Earth science experiments and illustrative demonstrations developed and implemented with students using low-cost materials and mostly simple equipment. The examples include models of earthquakes (earth mantle behaviour, construction and use of a school seismograph, simulation of seismic waves, design of earthquake-resistant buildings, soil liquefaction), volcanism (magma viscosity and eruption styles, hotspots, caldera formation), orogenic processes (folding, formation of accretionary wedges), and mass movements (landslides).