Goals:

The students will gain a better understanding of procedures on board a ship such as the Titanic.

The students will critically analyze the materials necessary for survival.

Resources:

Lord, Walter. (1955). A Night to Remember. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Time:

This lesson will take approximately two hours of class time.

Procedure:

1.  Explain the premise of the exercise by rereading the part of A Night to Remember in the chapter that has been already covered in the lesson about boarding the lifeboats. This part also emphasizes the lack of training the crew had and the lack of safety procedures and precautions.

2.  Lead a class discussion about what could have been done differently to save lives. Hopefully, this will lead to the fact that the crew could have been better prepared.

3.  Explain to the students that they are now the crew of the Titanic, and they are to come up with emergency procedures for the ship.

4.  Divide the students into groups of 4-5 people.

5.  Have each group come up with specific steps that would need to be taken on a boat such as the Titanic in the case of an emergency.

6.  Help students through this process by reminding them of current regulations in place for emergencies in the
school such as tornadoes or fire.

7.  Looking at a cross section of the Titanic, have students plan an evacuation procedure for the passengers. Pretend for the sake of this exercise that there were enough boats for every passenger. Have variable factors such as time and the number of people that would be feasible on the deck at one time.

8.  Next, have the students draw up a list of essentials for survival. Talk about certain advantages some items had over others.

Assessment:

The students will be evaluated on the basis of their escape plan. Criteria for success: The group's plan addresses all of the concerns on the evacuation plan.

The students will evaluate each others plans on the criteria of thoroughness and usefulness.

Language Arts - problem solving, critical thinking

Social Studies - assessment of the ship and its capacities at the time

Math - estimating the number of passengers on the lifeboats and calculating time.

Possible Extensions:

Have the students make emergency plans for their houses (i.e. tornado, fire, etc.).

Have the students evaluate current ship emergency procedures.

The Titanic - developed by Kelly Coleman, Nikki Cosgrove, Megan Mills, & Dorothy Weber

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