2020 Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 119-127
Glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) often occurs in the Himalayas. Trial lessons to study the mechanism of GLOF were conducted in high schools in Nepal as a part of their disaster prevention education curriculum. The criteria of the development of the teaching materials was that the structure of the teaching material should be simple, the mechanism should be easy to understand, and the materials should be available locally and made locally. A glacial lake model utilizing a plastic bottle with the side clipped out was developed. Because the students were not accustomed to a description-style answer, an alternative evaluation method was adopted, making use of a questionnaire that was easy to answer for the students. Three secondary schools in eastern Nepal were selected as trial lesson schools, since GLOF occurred in the eastern part of Nepal. The Japanese incumbent teachers worked at these schools as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), ensuring the advantage of easily provided cooperation for the trial lessons. The teaching plan was rough compared with those used in Japan, as it was difficult to grasp the actual situation of the living environment and understand the students deeply enough. The objectives of the lesson are to promote interest in GLOF and to understand its structure. The lesson was conducted with respect to students’ opinions while remaining conscious of the objectives. The glacial lake model with water was buried in the slope of the school. The teacher and students dropped stones, representing glaciers, and gravel into the glacier lake model, resulting in the destruction of part of the model, the end-moraine of the glacier damming the water. The questionnaire survey was administered after the lesson. The results revealed the following: 1) The student came to know GLOF only after learning it at school. 2) Many students answered that they could understand the mechanism of GLOF. 3) The contents and experience of the lesson program was pleasant for students. They pointed out that there was an experiment in the lesson, and the content of the class made it easy for them to understand GLOF. 4) This class was effective to foster students’ interest and encourage further study of GLOF.
