Convection is the underlying concept that explains the occurrence of natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes and Tsunamis. However, in the middle school science curriculum of Thailand, convection and natural disasters are taught in isolation. In addition, hands-on activities that show the link between convection and the occurrence of natural disasters do not exist in the curriculum. Therefore, this study aims to develop a set of hands-on activities to promote conceptual understanding and the link between these concepts. The hands-on activities were used among middle school students (N=27). A pretest and post-test analysis shows that the students had a statistically significant shift from lower level of understanding to more complex understanding after doing the activities. Therefore, it is recommended middle school science teachers to use these hands-on activities with their students
