A new resource being adopted by schools tells primary school students when to call triple zero.
The Triple Zero Kids’ Challenge Teacher’s Guide is a resource for teachers of students in Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2. Aligned with the Australian Curriculum for English, science, arts and health and physical education, it is designed to teach children the practical steps on how to identify, confidently react to, and report emergencies by calling triple zero.
An initiative of the Triple Zero Awareness Working Group, a national forum representing emergency services across Australia, the resource consists of 14 lesson plans, each containing a series of classroom learning activities (see lesson plan list below). Many of the lessons include interactive homework extensions that are aimed at further consolidating children’s learning and increasing safety within their households. While the learning activities directly address the serious topic of emergencies, they have been designed to be as fun and engaging as possible.
The resource recommends teachers deliver the lessons in the order presented due to the concepts and skills taught in each lesson building on those in the preceding lessons. All materials needed to deliver each lesson are also provided to reduce the amount of preparation time required. The resource details each lesson and is guided by discussion points and games.
Lessons learnt
An example is the first lesson plan, which asks “what is an emergency?’ This incorporates the English curriculum and asks students to listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations. This is in contrast to the second lesson plan, ‘Police, fire, ambulance’, which integrates the health and physical education curriculum as a movement and physical activity which sees students practise fundamental movement skills and movement sequences using different body parts in response to stimuli.
Interactive participation
The resource complements the key concepts in the Triple Zero Kids’ Challenge interactive online safety game http://kids.triplezero.gov.au. The online/app game consists of 12 different scenarios addressing a range of emergency situations including medical emergencies, major accidents, house fires, bushfires, serious crimes and suspicious behaviours. The game can also be downloaded for free as an app from iTunes or Google Play.
While the guide and lesson plans are informative and a great start to introducing responsibility in emergency situations to children, the resource recommends contacting your local emergency service with any questions relating to any of the content in the resource. Conveniently, a list of state emergency services is located at the back of the resource.
This resource contains the following 14 lesson plans:
What is an Emergency?
Police, Fire, Ambulance
Hoax Calls
Big Accidents and Small Accidents
Triple Zero Heroes
Calling Triple Zero to Report a Big Accident or Medical Emergency
Describing a Suspicious Person
Calling Triple Zero to Report a Suspicious Person
Calling Triple Zero for a House Fire
House Fire Safety
Bushfire Danger Ratings
Bushfire Alerts
Preparing for Bushfire
Making a Bushfire Plan