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Scholars, practitioners and educators propose video games as innovative teaching methods to engage geography students. A methodological framework, informed by constructivist learning theory, explored the ability of 'serious' disaster video games to foster student participation in learning within four New Zealand schools. The findings indicate the utilization of video games within the classroom requires further consideration of the teaching and learning processes for both teachers and students. Ultimately, the alignment of video games to constructivism and pedagogical mechanisms of social science suggests the ability of geography to enable deeper discussions and engagement of the curriculum by both students and teachers.

Every year, worldwide, disasters affect approximately seven million children with disabilities, highlighting their potential vulnerability. Although there is a growing move internationally to promote the rights of children with disabilities, they still receive little attention from disaster risk reduction (DRR) researchers and policy makers. They are often excluded in DRR initiatives and are portrayed as 'helpless' in disaster contexts. This policy brief draws on a multiple case study of three schools supporting children with disabilities in three New Zealand regions. Through the voice of both children and adult participants, the study identifies associated gaps and constraints to disability-inclusive DRR. It makes recommendations that acknowledge diversity and ensure that those marginalized can become stakeholders in the DRR process.

Knowledge of how homeless people deal with natural hazards and disasters is sparse and there is a remarkable absence of homeless people in policies and practices for disaster risk reduction (DRR). This article aims at filling this gap by exploring the lives of homeless people in two New Zealand cities that are exposed to natural hazards. It shows that natural hazards are of marginal concern to homeless people in comparison to the everyday hazards that they experience and that make their everyday life a disaster in itself. The disaster of everyday life is created and compounded by homeless people's precarious lifeworlds. The article, nonetheless, shows that homeless people's vulnerability to natural hazards remains high as they lack power to control the processes that shape their everyday lives, to prepare for large-scale events, and to be represented in DRR policy. Therefore, the article ultimately argues that disaster policies require greater attention to be paid to the power structures that create persistent precarity and the ways in which this is experienced in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Teacher’s Notebook documents an alternative way of designing geography field trips. It relies upon a treasure hunt, which is designed to foster students’ active participation in identifying relevant places as well as discovering and making sense of these places. The treasure hunt is fun and challenging and encourages students to think critically and creatively. The activity documented here is an assignment for an undergraduate class on the human dimension of disasters at The University of Auckland in New Zealand. However, it may well be applied in other settings for any geography classes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]