Development Process
Development of the Masters of Disaster curriculum began after a painstaking search to determine if similar materials already exist. We discovered no comprehensive curriculum related to natural-hazards safety that is designed to help teachers meet state and local performance objectives.
Teams of subject matter experts were convened to explore the issues in depth and determine the content. These meetings were held from February through May 1999. A team of teachers, educators, and professional content developers met throughout the summer of 1999 to develop the lesson plans and activities. In addition, the curriculum development firm, Teachable Tech, Inc, was engaged to assist with all development aspects, from meeting with subject matter experts to writing lesson plans, and the design firm, Brecher and Tagami, Unlimited, was engaged to complete all design work on this project.
Pilot Testing and Technical Reviews
The curriculum, once completed, was pilot tested during the fall of 1999 in 43 locations including Guam, Puerto Rico, and 23 states, in small, medium, and large school districts. More than 380 teachers from 90 schools taught lessons from the curriculum and returned more than 650 evaluation forms. These forms were reviewed by our professional development team and suggested changes were incorporated into the lesson plans and activities. The pilot testing was very successful and many teachers expressed great enthusiasm for the materials. In addition to piloting in the schools, more than 40 partners from the following organizations have been very helpful in providing support, technical feedback, and review:
- California Office of Emergency Services
- California Seismic Safety Commission
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- NOAA/National Weather Service
- NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory
- North Carolina Emergency Management Agency
- Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California
- The Weather Channel
- U. S. Geological Survey (national and regional offices)
2007 Revision
Since the June 2000 launch of Masters of Disaster, additional topics such as Facing Fear: Helping Young People Deal with Terrorism and Tragic Events, Fire Prevention and Safety, Wildland Fires and Home Safety have been added to the materials.
In 2004, an independent survey to gather feedback from over 70 implementers and 600 students on the curriculum efficacy and usability was conducted. This information was used to begin the process of making improvements to the curriculum design and packaging while keeping all the features that implementers valued, such as the expert information, ready-to-go lessons and hands-on activities delivered in a way to inspire confidence in children to deal with disasters.
The 2007 version of Masters of Disaster delivers a new look that brings together all the topics in the series with consistent and updated graphics—inside and out. We've taken Masters of Disaster out of the box and put it in a compact kit the size of a folder. These kits have all the teaching materials, activity sheets and videos on CD-Rom and DVD; as well as the other fun stickers, posters and certificates you have seen before.
Two types of kits are available—one for educators and one for families. Each of these products contain a comprehensive set of materials targeted for specific age groups of children in grades K-8.
There is more to Masters of Disaster than ever before. We've added—
- Lessons that go into depth about preparing for and recovering from disasters. (Be Disaster Safe and In The Aftermath)
- The latest science and safety recommendations from leading experts.
- Vocabulary development activities.
- Quick assessments of student learning.
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