7EN - T1 - Titanic: Trapped

A leaking tank full of molasses (think honey but really dark and thick) burst sending a huge wave of molasses that trapped several people. It traveled as fast as a tsunami and drowned 21 people. 

Presentation suggestions:

• Retell the disaster as one of the workers who helped build the tank. Perhaps he had expressed his concerns about the tank to the company's manager who wouldn't listen as it would be too expensive to fix.
• Include images of Boston from that time period.
• Include images of a likely worker from that time period? How did he travel to work? What were his work conditions like? Pay? hours?
• Prepare a newspaper report on the story and have the reporter retell his tale of visiting the site of the diasaster?
• Perhaps he was a "dry" prohibitionist ( someone who supported the laws that made the production and sale of alcohol illegal in the U.S. during Prohibition which started in 1919). Include newspaper articles or Prohibition posters from the time period. (YouTube - The Temperance Movement - History Brief)
• Include a prohibition song from the time or peform an excerpt from a rally speech from the time.

The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

• The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire

• Triangle Fire

Presentation suggestions:

• Retell the disaster as if you were a fire fighter who attended the disaster only to find your ladder was 4 storeys too short. Perhaps write the closing summary speech of the lawyer who defended or prosecuted the factory owners at their trial.
• Produce an interactive timeline breaking down the disaster from its background to its links to sweatshops today. Add clips, music, primary source materials e.g. news coverage. Click here for online timeline generators.

The Thredbo landslide occurred at 11:40 pm on 30 July 1997. Part of a road embankment slid down the steep hillside into the ski resort village of Thredbo, in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. Approximately 2000 cubic metres of rock shifted below the Alpine Way.

The landslide pushed Carinya Lodge off its foundations onto Bimbadeen Lodge at high speed burying the 19 victims under metres of rubble. The harsh environment, as well as the steep incline of the hill and instability of the land all made the rescue operations difficult.Eighteen bodies were recovered and one survivor was rescued from under debris more than 60 hours later. Subsequent investigation found the cause of the landslide to be a leakage from the water main leading to the saturation of the fill embankment on the road

•  On This Day: Thredbo Landslide
• Fire and Rescue -  1997 Thredbo landslide

Presentation suggestions:

• Prepare a series of audio recordings of possible radio communications outlining the series of events surrounding Stuart Diver's survival. Embed these recordings into various PowerPoint slides
• Create an attractive and informative digital poster using ThingLink focusing on the various people's stories behind a news paper image.
• Create a 3D pop up picture book for this amazing tale of survival using ZooBurst.
• Using a simple horizontal transition in PowerPoint simulate movement along a 60 hour count down Stuart's final rescue. Add news reports, images, maps, radio updates, interviews etc.