Effects of decontextualized tsunami disaster education: A case study of schools in Acapulco, Mexico

Abstract

Disaster risk reduction education is provided through external support at schools. Most educational programs evaluate the level of knowledge transfer. However, the particular context of school is not considered, even though it prescribes the understanding of students. In this study, tsunami education was provided by a non-Mexican NGO at two schools in Acapulco, Mexico, and questionnaire surveys were conducted. The surveys identified that students were more interested in obtaining knowledge than learning action for their self-protection. This tendency in motivation was generated by the school context: the school teaches decontextualized knowledge despite the need to contextualize disaster education in daily life. This disparity caused a gap in the communication between the NGO members and the students. Therefore, it is important that disaster education programs remove students from the school context and place them in the context of daily life. More localized content could help remove students from the context of school. This study argues that the effectiveness of disaster education is influenced by the context in which students learn, and the findings suggest that educational practices should be designed on the basis of the context of the learners.