Week 11 & 12

Integrated Lesson

This lesson would be used in a unit on plate tectonics – specifically earthquakes. We would use a few different techniques in this lesson. After a review of the different types of plate boundaries, students will use an interactive map to identify hot-spots and earthquake zones, build their own seismograph, and simulate a tsunami.

The purpose of this learning activity is to get students well acquainted with the inner workings of the earth. Students will explore a few aspects of earthquakes – their locations around the world, how they are recorded, and some of the effects of an earthquake. This learning activity will support various student attitudes. The lesson incorporates hands-on activities, as well as interactive technology. This activity can be used with other activities in the plate tectonics unit. The interactive map can be used for lessons on volcanoes.

The NJCCCS that will be used are:

Content Area : Science

Standard  5.4 Earth Systems Science - All students will understand that Earth operates as a set of complex, dynamic, and interconnected systems, and is a part of the all-encompassing system of the universe. 

Strand  D. Tectonics: The theory of plate tectonics provides a framework for understanding the dynamic processes within and on Earth.  Convection currents in the upper mantle drive plate motion. Plates are pushed apart at spreading zones and pulled down into the crust at subduction zones. 

5.4.12.D.1  Explain the mechanisms for plate motions using earthquake data, mathematics, and conceptual models. 

The technology used will be two interactive websites. First the students will use an interactive map to explore plate boundaries. This map shows volcanoes (active and not active), earthquakes and their magnitudes as well as plate boundaries. Students can zoom in and out as well as add and remove layers. Additionally, students will visit a website that allows them to simulate tsunamis. Students will be able to adjust initial wave size, as well as the coastal terrain.

These types of technologies are used because they are interactive and allow the student to really explore a topic. Each of the websites has a lot to offer. Students can spend time with the websites to learn about not only the topic at hand, but other topics as well.

Students will have to be able to know how to properly navigate a website. The website with the interactive map includes a lot of information which students will have to find. The map has many layers that can be used together or independently. The tsunami simulator website has specific directions that the students must follow. The website explains how to change wave size and coastal terrain.

Day One:

Review of plate tectonics and the different types of plate boundaries.

Students will visit: This Dynamic Planet website: http://mineralsciences.si.edu/tdpmap/

This is an interactive map which would lend itself well to a lesson on plate tectonics.

Answer these questions:

1 - On which plate do you live?  Observe the white arrows that show the

direction of plate movement.  

 2 - What direction is the plate moving where you live?

Pan to the area north of Hawaii in the northwest part of the Pacific Ocean.  

Observe the arrow indicating the rate of plate movement.

 3- How fast is the Pacific Plate moving in this part of the Pacific?  

 Los Angeles is 550 kilometers from San Francisco.  The Pacific Plate is moving to

the northwest, which will take Los Angeles to the location where San Francisco is today.  

4 - Given the rate of plate movement, if you live to be 100 years old, how

far will Los Angeles move in your lifetime?  

 5 - How long will it be before Los Angeles is at the location where San

Francisco is today?  Show your work.

Use this website to simulate a tsunami: http://chair.pa.msu.edu/applets/tsunami/tsunami.html

First have students predict what will happen to the wave size as it approaches the shore. After they have used this website see how their answers might have changed.

Day Two:

Next, the students will but their own seismograph and complete the following worksheet:

http://www.tryengineering.org/lessons/seismograph.pdf

This lesson will have students build their own seismograph and record their own “earthquakes”. Students will work in groups for this activity. The worksheet also highlights the seismograph technology, the Richter scale and the current technologies used.

Assessment:

Student assessment will be in the form of worksheets and questions that go along with each of the activities. Additionally, the test that might accompany this unit would reference some of the activities we did in class.

Also, I would like to relate this lesson to current events. Unfortunately our world has experienced the effects of earthquakes and tsunamis. I think a good way to access the effectiveness of this learning activity would be how the students can use this knowledge to explain and report on current natural disaster events.