Tsunami video wins Silver Publishers’ Award of the Geographical Association

An educational video on tsunamis, made by Time for Geography in collaboration with Bangor University and the University of Dundee, has received the 2020 Silver Publishers’ Award by the Geographical Association. The Silver Award is the highest accolade given annually for materials associated with geography in schools and colleges that make a significant contribution to geographical education and professional development.

The video explores how tsunamis are formed at sea and how their effect can be recognised in the coastal landscape through a combination of animations, fieldwork in Scotland, and demonstrations in the Hydrodynamics Laboratory at Bangor University. Aimed to boost knowledge at GCSE, A-level and equivalent, Dr Jaco H. Baas (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor) and Prof. Sue Dawson (Dundee) help students to understand tsunamis using physical geography and oceanography, and to assess tsunami hazards in the UK.

At the awards ceremony the Geographical Association highlighted the focus of the video on subject matter that is not typically found in textbooks. They added that, combined with the voices of academic geographers, a clear outline is provided to students of how disciplinary knowledge is developed through tectonic hazards research.

Dr Baas explains: “Reaching out to schools and colleges by sharing knowledge and demonstrating how to do research is an important and gratifying task. The tsunami video provides physical as well as geological information. This underlines the value of using a multidisciplinary approach at all levels of education.”

The two-part tsunami video is available from the Time for Geography website: https://timeforgeography.co.uk/videos_list/plate-tectonics/tsunamis-causes/ https://timeforgeography.co.uk/videos_list/plate-tectonics/tsunamis-uk-evidence/