Incorporating University Students' Lived Experiences of Disasters in a General Education Science Course

• In Event: Teachers' Approaches and Assessments of Culturally Responsive and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies

Abstract

Natural disasters often illustrate historical inequities by disproportionately affecting vulnerable and marginalized groups. The impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 were devastating to all residents of the United States Virgin Islands, with two Category 5 storms battering the islands within a two-week period. At the University of the Virgin Islands, the SCI 100 course aims to limit the loss of life and property in the wake of such disasters through targeted formal education in hurricane preparedness. In this paper, we explore the lived experiences and the preparedness of hurricane survivors in SCI 100 by analyzing essays on the 2017 hurricanes and we discuss the extent to which the objectives of traditional hurricane preparedness curricula reflect these lived experiences.

Authors

• Michele Guannel, University of the Virgin Islands

• Chris Plyley, University of the Virgin Islands

• Angelisa Freeman

• Bethany Good, University of the Virgin Islands