Maya Zheng

Every year in the US, emergencies occur that result in injury and death in hundreds of thousands of people. However, proper emergency preparedness can decrease morbidity and mortality due to emergency situations. It is the responsibility of the people living in the community to be prepared for those situations. In the EcoliteracySCHOOL (Students Collaborating in Health Oriented Outdoor Learning) program, I designed a scenario-based flipped classroom to educate high school and college students on the importance and different skills associated with emergency preparedness. Students were given different emergency scenarios where they had to use critical thinking and problem solving to come up with solutions to each scenario. Upon the completion of this activity, students were able to understand the importance of emergency preparedness as well as obtain different skill sets to use during an emergency. Students were also able to learn the importance of collaboration and teamwork through this activity since they were asked to participate in small group discussions and listen and learn from each other. The importance of emergency preparedness is crucial for the next generations of health care professionals. The more that students are being informed now can result in a significant decrease in casualties in future emergencies.