Goodness, Gracious,
Great Balls of Fire
MASTER
TEACHERS
LESSON TITLE
GRADE LEVELS
TIME ALLOTMENT
OVERVIEW
SUBJECT MATTER
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
Donna Jo Fox and Connie Beckner
Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire
This lesson targets grades 6-9, but may be adapted to other grade
levels.
This lesson is designed to take ten 45-minute class sessions to
complete.
In studying our own “Great Ball of Fire” students will examine and
define the balls, or spheres that make up and surround our Earth.
Students are going to take a trip into the core of the Earth
identifying, labeling, and making claymations of what makes up the
entire lithosphere and different geological events that are caused
by the movement of the tectonic plates. On our trip, students will
be able to plot present day volcanoes and earthquakes on an
interactive map to discover the positioning of the 12 tectonic plates
on the face of the earth. Students will explore this hot and sticky
world with videos, interactive websites, and hands-on activities
designed to bring the students into real world situations with
earthquakes and volcanoes. Are you ready to explore and take a
trip in our own “Great Ball of Fire”? Don’t forget your fire suit. It‘s
hot down there!!
Science
Students will be able to:
• Define the Earth’s spheres (lithosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere).
• Build and label a cross section of the Earth representing its
layers.
• Discover that the Earth’s crust is divided into plates and the
movement of the plates is a response to the movement of the
mantle and is a major cause of geological events.
• Locate, identify, and label major tectonic plates of the world.
• Identify how landforms are created through a combination of
constructive and destructive forces.
STANDARDS
National Standards:
Science Standards and Benchmarks (3rd Edition) - McREL
http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/Benchmark.asp?SubjectID=2&STandardID=
2
Earth and Space Science
Standard 2: Understands Earth’s composition and structure.
Level III (Grades 6-8)
1. Knows that the Earth is comprised of layers including a core,
mantle, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmospheres.
2. Knows how landforms are created through a combination of
constructive and destructive forces (e.g., constructive forces such
as crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions and deposition of
sediment; destructive forces such as weathering and erosion).
4. Knows that the Earth’s crust is divided into plates that move at
extremely slow rates in response to movement in the mantle.
State Standards:
Science - TN
http://www.state.tn.us/education/ci/cistandards2001/sci/ciscig68stand.htm
Earth and Space Science
9.0 Earth Features
9.1 Understand the characteristics of the earth’s layers and the
locations of major plates.
9.2 Describe the forces and processes that shape the earth.
8.9.spi.1 Label a cross section of the earth.
8.9.spi2 Identify the major plates of the world.
8.9.spi.4 Deduce plate movements as the major cause of
geological events.
8.9.tri. Build a model that represents the earth’s layers.
MEDIA
COMPONENTS
VIDEOS
PBS Videos
Savage Earth: “Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging Planet”
Savage Earth: “The Restless Planet: Earthquakes”
Savage Earth: “Out of the Inferno: Volcanoes”
WEB SITES
Earth Floors: Spheres
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/spheres.html
This site provides definitions for the lithosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere.
Savage Earth: Hell’s Crust: “The Hot Zone”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/hellscrust/index.html
This is part of the companion site for PBS’s Savage Earth series.
This site provides animation for the Earth’s Structure (crust,
mantle, outer core, and inner core), Collision Zone, Magma
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Chamber, and Subduction Zone.
USGS Major Tectonic Plates Of The World
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.html
This site provides a world map with all 12 tectonic plates labeled
and colored coded.
Plate Tectonics
http://www.eoascientific.com/interactive/tectonic_plate_theory_plat
e_tectonics_maps/tectonic_plate_theory_plate_tectonics_maps.ht
ml
This site uses an interactive to map tectonic plates in the world by
having the student plot earthquakes and volcanoes using latitude
and longitude. (This site requires Macromedia Shockwave.)
USGS Earthquake, Volcanoes, and Plate Tectonics
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_qua
kes_volcanoes_plates.html
This site provides illustrations to compare earthquakes, volcanoes,
and the tectonic plates on world maps.
Savage Earth: The Restless Planet: Article: “All Stressed Out”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/earthquakes/index.html
This site provides an article with animation of a “Strike-Slip” fault
and a “Dip-Slip” fault. The animation includes descriptions of the
faults while the article provides examples of these faults.
Savage Earth: The Restless Planet: Earthquakes, Sidebar
One: “Learning from Earthquakes”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/earthquakes/html/sidebar1.html
This site provides an article and animation illustrating a “Blind
Thrust” fault and a normal fault.
Virtual Earthquake
http://www.eoascientific.com/interactive/earthquakes_seismic_wav
es_activity_earthquake_epicenter/earthquakes_seismic_waves_ac
tivity_earthquake_epicenter.html
This site is an interactive multimedia exercise showing how
earthquakes are created. It will aid students in understanding what
causes seismic waves and predicting seismic activity, and
pinpoints the epicenter of an earthquake. (This site requires
Macromedia Shockwave.)
The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/volcano/index.htm
This site provides an interactive activity that allows students to find
their way out of a volcano and blast their way to the top with
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spewing lava. The students will discover fascinating facts along the
way. (This site requires Macromedia Shockwave.)
Event-Based Science: Remote-Sensing Activity
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/eventscience/rs.index.html
This site provides links to two remote-sensing activities in which
students can participate. “Volcanoes - Run For the Hills” is an
activity in which students will use satellite data to plan the best
route for a new road that the people of Orting, WA can use to
escape mudflow from Mt. Rainer. “Earthquakes: Active or No?
That Is The Question” is an activity in which students will evaluate
seismic activity along major San Francisco faults.
MATERIALS
PER CLASS: TV/VCR, computers with Internet access hooked to
a TV monitor, digital projector, or a smart board; flip chart; marker;
wall world map; and 6 inflatable worlds.
PER GROUP: (4-5 students) - Learning Activity #2 - “Labeling
Tectonic Plates” – 2 wipe-off world maps and 2 black overhead
markers.
Learning Activity #4 - “Labeling Earthquakes and Volcanoes” – 2
red overhead markers and 2 blue overhead markers.
Culmination Activity #1 - “Model Claymations” – 2 sets of 5
different colors of play dough to create claymation models of the
earth’s layers and geological events (collision zone, magma
chamber, seduction zone, and mid-ocean ridge). - ½ box of
toothpicks and paper for labeling purposes.
PER STUDENT: pencil, Handout #1, Part 1 “The Earth’s
Spheres”, Part 2 “Earth’s Structure”; Handout #2, Part 1 “Savage
Earth - Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging Planet – The Hot Zones”,
Part 2 “Savage Earth – The Restless Planet: Earthquakes – The
Faults”, and Handout #2, Part 3 “The Magic School Bus – Blows Its
Top”
PREP FOR
TEACHERS
Prior to teaching this lesson, preview and bookmark all lesson web
sites used in the lesson by students (found in Media Components)
on each computer in your classroom, or create a portaportal for
this unit at http://www.portaportal.com/ or
http://www.teacherweb.com for easy access to the sites from any
computer.
Preview and cue all videos.
Prepare student materials and any hands-on elements.
Technical Requirements:
• Netscape 3.0 or above or
• Internet Explore 3.0 or above
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•
•
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INTRODUCTORY
ACTIVITY:
SETTING THE
STAGE
Macintoch, Window 95 or Window 3.1
Flash 4 plug-in
Shockwave 7 interactive
Step 1. Goodness (throw inflated world to group #1) Gracious
(throw inflated world to group #2), Great (throw inflated world to
group #3) Balls (throw inflated world to group #4) of (throw inflated
world to group #5) Fire (throw inflated world to group #6) is a song
Jerry Lee Lewis made popular in the 50’s and is our theme song
for this study. What are some of you holding in your hands? Yes,
our world, the earth, and the third rock from the sun. What shape
are you holding? Yes, a ball or a sphere is the shape you are
holding. Our world is made up of many different kinds of spheres.
We are going to study in-depth the sphere that is a “Great Ball of
Fire.” To better understand the sphere that is on fire we need to
understand a little about all the spheres that make up our world.
We are going to visit a web site that will help us get started on the
right foot. Divide the class into six cooperative/collaborative
learning groups (3, 4, or 5 students in a group) and distribute
Handout #1, Part 1 “Our Sphere, The Earth” to each student.
Instruct the students to go online to Earth Floors: Spheres
located at
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/spheres.html.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to write on their Handout #1, Part 1 “Our Sphere,
The Earth” the definition of each sphere that makes up our earth.
When the task is completed, bring the class together and ask the
students to define lithosphere. (“rock sphere” earth and its layers the ground you are standing on and the whole inside of the Earth)
Define hydrosphere. (“water sphere” water that covers the
lithosphere – rivers, lakes, and oceans) Define atmosphere. (“air
sphere” envelope of air that surrounds the whole Earth – clouds,
storms, and smog) Define cryosphere. (“ice cold sphere” frozen
part of the Earth - glaciers, icebergs at sea, huge ice caps in
Greenland and Antarctica) Define biosphere. (“life sphere” all
living things – plants, animals, and viruses) Use a flip chart to
gather and display this information.
Step 2. For a few minutes we are going to go back into time to
May 18, 1980, over 23 years ago, to witness a geological event in
the state of Washington (locate Washington on a world map). The
video clips we will be watching are from the PBS Series Savage
Earth. Our first video clip is from “Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging
Planet.” CUE Savage Earth: “Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging
Planet” to a visual of a red-hot, spinning earth with fiery cracked
seams, to an erupting volcano, and to a helicopter flying over a
volcano. The narrator, Stacy Keach, will be saying, “Tonight our
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Savage Earth: killing volcanoes, raging fires from the earth’s
core.” Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION by asking them for the next few minutes as they
watch the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption to identify and write the effects it
had on all the earth’s spheres, on their Handout #1, Part 1 “Our
Sphere, The Earth.” BEGIN PLAY. PAUSE to examine the effects
on the visual of a blond woman wearing glasses standing in front
of a small plane saying, “I have had a sense that amazing
geological events don’t happen in my life time in the U. S. of A.
And so it has completely changed my view in general of what
geology is all about.” Ask the students to tell you, sphere by
sphere, how Mt. St. Helen’s eruption affected each of the earth’s
spheres. (Litho. – changed the face of the mountain, Hydro. –
bridges, rivers(logs), Atmo. – ash clouds took 2 days to get to NY
and 2 weeks to get around the globe, Cryo. – melted glacier, Bio –
plants, animals and 57 humans killed).
Step 3. Let’s look more closely at the lithosphere parts of our
earth as we watch this next video clip. Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to
tell you how the lithosphere compares to the parts of an egg.
RESUME PLAY. PAUSE to identify the parts on the visual of a
red-hot earth rotating; the narrator, Stacy Keach, says, “This is the
solid rock we build our lives upon.” Ask the students to tell you how
an egg is compared to our lithosphere (crust – shell, mantle and
outer core – white liquid, and inter core – yoke). Put this
information on your flip chart.
Step 4. Let’s check our conclusion by going on our computers to
the companion web site for Savage Earth. Distribute Handout #1,
Part 2 “Earth’s Structure” to each student. Allow students to go
online to Savage Earth: Hell’s Crust: “The Hot Zone” located at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/hellscrust/index.html.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to write the descriptions with the depths of the
lithosphere. Students will draw, and label parts of a lithosphere on
Handout #1, Part 2. When the task is completed, bring the
students together and share information. This information will be
useful in the Culminating Activity #1 when claymation models will
be created and labeled.
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LEARNING
ACTIVITIES
Step 1. What does a volcano in the U. S. have to do with an
earthquake six months later all the way around the world in Italy?
Let’s continue on our trip exploring the inside of our “Great Ball of
Fire.” Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION by instructing them be able to tell you: 1. What is
going on in the Earth to cause the cracking? 2. What are the
pieces called? 3. What happens along these lines, or cracks in
the surface of the Earth? 4. How many people died in Italy from
an earthquake six months after the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption?
RESUME PLAY. PAUSE to check for comprehension on a visual
of Antonio Nittoli for the third time sitting at a chessboard table.
Antonio is wearing a gray vest, pink shirt, blue jeans, and
sunglasses. The translator is saying, “This feeling of fear, it never
leaves you.” Go back through the questions and allow students to
share answers. (Answers: 1. hot earth is cooling 2. plates and
danger lines 3. earthquakes and volcanoes 4. 3000)
Step 2. Let’s take a look at these plates. Distribute a wipe-off
world map and black overhead marker to every two students.
Instruct your students to go online to the web site USGS Major
Tectonic Plates Of The World at
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.html. Provide your
students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking
them to draw and label the 12 tectonic plates on their wipe-off
world maps with their black overhead markers. The teacher needs
to rotate around the room to assess that each pair of students is
correctly labeling the plates.
Step 3. Now let’s plot some earthquakes and volcanoes on an
interactive map to see if we can discover some correlations
between earthquakes/volcanoes and the tectonic plates. Instruct
your students to go online to the web site Plate Tectonics at
http://www.eoascientific.com/interactive/tectonic_plate_theory_plat
e_tectonics_maps/tectonic_plate_theory_plate_tectonics_maps.ht
ml. Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION by asking them to plot the location of 4
earthquakes and 4 volcanoes by using their latitude and longitude
coordinates on the interactive map that will then outline the
tectonic plates using the student’s plotted earthquakes and
volcano coordinates. The teacher needs to rotate around the room
to monitor the student’s progress with their interactive maps.
Step 4. Let’s visit another web site that shows us some
correlations we can make on our wipe-off world maps. Distribute
red and blue overhead markers to every two students. Instruct
your students to go online to the web site USGS Earthquakes,
Volcanoes, and Plate Tectonics located at
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http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_qua
kes_volcanoes_plates.html. Provide your students with a FOCUS
FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to label each
earthquake with a blue dot, each volcano with a red dot, and be
able to tell you what correlations can be made about earthquakes,
volcanoes, and tectonic plates around the world. The teacher
needs to rotate around the room monitoring the student’s progress
with their wipe-off world maps. When the activity is complete bring
the class together and ask the students what the correlation is
between earthquakes, volcanoes and tectonic plates. (Most
earthquakes and volcanoes are on the tectonic plates of the
world).
Step 5. As we continue our trip, let’s watch another video clip from
Savage Earth: “Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging Planet.” Provide
your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by
asking them to be able to tell you; 1. What is an earthquake? 2.
What is a volcano? 3. What happens when a jet plane flies
through volcanic ash? RESUME PLAY. PAUSE for discussion on
the visual of volcanic ash billowing up with a palm tree split (right),
to a greenish brown cloud that appears when the narrator, Stacy
Keach, says, “Where the plates of the earth’s crust collide, they
unlock a destructive power that can reach even into the sky.” Go
back through the question and allow the students to share
answers. (Answers: 1.emits the power of the heart of the planet in
waves through the planet. 2. emits the power of the heart of the
planet up into the air sometimes 1000 feet. 3. clogs the engines
and they shut off.)
Step 6. Let’s look under the ocean and see what is going on with
our tectonic plates. Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR
MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to tell you:
1.What is happening on the floor of the ocean? 2. What is the
name and description of what is created? 3. Do you think it was
wise to live there? Why? RESUME PLAY. PAUSE to elicit student
responses on a visual of blue sky, to Fire Mountain in the
background and in the foreground is the city’s white arched gate.
The narrator, Stacy Keach, says, “Today Fire Mountain cast a
shadow over the town that beat the volcano. It is quiet, until the
next time.” Go back through the questions and allow students to
share answers. (Answers: 1.splitting seams, new land forming, and
plates are breaking apart, 2. Westman Islands – 6 black rocks,
3.opinion – no, burned out the village. Yes, their homes.)
Step 7. Creating new land above the surface of the water is not
the only creating going on. Let’s see what is happening along a
40,000-mile stretch of ocean floor that has been transformed.
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Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to be able to tell you: 1.Where is the only place in
the world that the underwater mountain range breaks the surface?
What is its name? 2. 40 miles north of the Iceland capital lies one
of the most unique places on earth. Why is it so unique? 3. What
two plates are splitting here and how fast each year? What country
is being split? 4. What happens that is different if there is an
eruption under a glacier? RESUME PLAY. PAUSE to highlight the
questions on visual of a black iceberg, to a snowcapped mountain
and grasslands. The narrator, Stacey Keach, says, “Icelandians
watch and wait for the next volcano that will come to redraw the
landscape of their island.” Go back through the questions and
allow students to answer. (Answers: 1. Iceland, Fire Mountain
2.only place above the waves you can see the splitting sea floor 3.
North American and European plates, 1” per year, Iceland 4.
6,000 tons of collapsing melting ice, 2,500 ft. blast that created a
crater 6 miles long and 2 miles wide)
Step 8. Let’s take a trip to a beautiful island. Provide your students
with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be
able to tell you: 1. What are the smells and sounds of a volcano?
2. What is a lava tube? 3. Hawaii is not near a danger line but a
what? Describe it. RESUME PLAY. STOP for discussion on the
visual of credits running. Go back through the questions and allow
students to share answers. (Answers: 1.sulfur wrapped in
tarnished silver and chatter, 2. underground channel that transport
lava to the sea, 3. hot spot – extra hot molten rock deep below
earth crust that is feed by a plume)
Step 9. Let’s examine these phenomenons closer by visiting the
Savage Earth companion web site. Distribute Handout #2, Part 1
“Savage Earth – Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging Planet – The Hot
Zones”. Instruct your students to go online to the web site Savage
Earth: Hell’s Crust: Our Everchanging Planet “The Hot Zone”
at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/hellscrust/index.html.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to define, give examples, and illustrate collision
zone, magma chamber, and subduction zone on their Handout #2,
Part 1. When the task is complete, bring the class together and
share information (collision zone – when continental plates collide
or crush together they form mountains and cause earthquakes,
magma chamber – when oceanic and continental plates are
heated and deformed they become part of the mantle and feed the
magma chambers, they create large earthquakes and volcanoes.)
This information will be useful for the Culminating Activity #1 when
claymation models will be created.
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Step 10. Let’s look at earthquakes more closely. The surface of
the earth is like thin eggshells. The inside, or interior, of the earth is
hot (9,000 degrees and soft). A dozen of massive fragments are
formed. CUE Savage Earth: “The Restless Planet: Earthquakes”
past the introduction “Viewers Like You” to the visual of a starry
night and snowcap mountains. The narrator, Stacy Keach, says,
“The Earth is unlike other planets.” Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to
tell you: 1. What are the massive fragments called? 2. What do
they support? 3. As these fragments try to move past each other,
huge stresses build up at plate boundaries. What do these
stresses cause? BEGIN PLAY. PAUSE to check for
comprehension on the visual an entire screen covered with pitchblack molten rock and bright orange crack lines. The narrator,
Stacey Keach, says, “As the plates try to move past each other,
huge stresses build up at the plate boundaries causing
earthquakes.” Go back through the questions and allow students
to share answers. (Answer: 1. tectonic plates, 2. entire ocean and
land masses, 3. earthquakes)
Step 11. Let’s go back in time to Candlestick Park for the 1989
World Series Game in San Francisco. What is San Francisco
sitting on? Yes, you are right a fault line. The month is October
and the day is the 17th. San Francisco was not the epicenter, but
let’s see what damage was done. Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to
tell you: 1.Where was the epicenter? 2. What was the result of the
earthquake in terms of the Earth’s surface? 3. What else was
breaking beside the Earth in San Francisco and how many died?
RESUME PLAY. PAUSE for discussion at the visual of Dorothy
Otto, the woman rescued from the Oakland Cypress Highway to
the spotlighted Cypress Highway at night with background music, a
flying helicopter sounds and rescue workers talking on their radios.
Go back through the questions and allow students to share
answers. (Answers: 1. 60 miles down the coast of San Francisco
and 40 miles deep in the Earth, 2. 30 miles of fault lurched left
northward, 3. fires, water mains, gas lines, and 40 died).
Step 12. Let’s go even further back into time. We are still in San
Francisco, but the year is 1906. Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to
tell you: 1. How many died? 2. What is liquefaction? 3. What two
areas of San Francisco in 1906 were destroyed by liquefaction,
then rebuilt and destroyed again in 1989? RESUME PLAY.
PAUSE to identify the answers on the visual of seeing for the
second time Allan Linch, a bearded man with long blond hair
wearing a blue jean shirt and jacket standing in front of the Golden
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Gate Bridge saying, “Because we forget, we make the same
mistakes over and over again.” Go back through the questions and
allow students to share answers. (Answers: 1. 3,000 killed, 2.
This happens when loose moist soil or sand is shaken so hard that
individual grains separate, turning the Earth into soft fluid slurry
that can swallow entire buildings. 3. Cypress Highway and the
Marina District).
Step 13. FAST FORWARD to the aerial visual of firemen carrying
a body from rubble and the narrator, Stacy Keach, says, “It is
human failing to deal with tragedy by apportioning blame, but
earthquakes raise a more pressing question: the way we take for
granted the solid Earth beneath our feet. The lessons from Mexico
City are painful ones.” Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR
MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to tell you: 1.
What are the waves called in an earthquake? 2. These waves
commonly travel how fast and are they visible? 3. Eye witnesses
have seen visible waves. How could this happen? RESUME
PLAY. PAUSE to elicit student responses on visual of people
cleaning away rubble and a man saying,” Yet many of my
colleagues tend to disbelieve the phenomenon.” Go back through
the questions and allow students to share answers. (Answers: 1.
seismic, 2. 15,000 mph and invisible, 3. soft ground or soil).
Step 14. Let’s visit a more recent earthquake no one was
expecting. It is January 17, 1994 in the community of Northridge in
L.A. The town was sitting on the epicenter and above a fault line
no one knew was there. It was only a moderate quake of 6.7 on
the scale. FAST FORWARD to a visual of a young man in a tie
being shaken around in a cross section of a room where nothing is
falling and the narrator, Stacey Keach, says, “But even a moderate
earthquake is not a laughing matter.” Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking them to be able to
tell you: 1. How much damage occurred to homes, gas lines and
freeways? 2. What was the financial cost? 3. What caused the
quake and explain what happen to the surface of the Earth?
RESUME PLAY. STOP for discussion on the aerial visual of a
house with a water main shooting in the air and the narrator says,
“It was a clear warning for all cities in earthquake zones but not
everyone was listening.” Go back through the questions and allow
students to share answers. (Answers: 1.11,000 homes, 250 gas
lines, and 9 freeways, 2. $40 Billon, 3.Blind thrust fault – upward
movement of Earth’s crust so strong that surrounding mountains
rose almost a foot).
Step 15. Let’s look at some animations of these different kinds of
faults at the companion web site for Savage Earth. Distribute
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Handout #2, Part 2 “Savage Earth – The Restless Planet:
Earthquakes – The Faults”. Instruct your students to go online to
the web site Savage Earth: The Restless Planet: Earthquakes,
Article: Earth “All Stressed Out” located at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/earthquakes/index.html.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to read the article “All Stressed Out” and look at
the animations that accompany the article. Students will define,
give examples, and draw illustrations of the “Strike-Slip” and “DipSlip” faults on their Handout #2, Part 2. When students have
completed this task, ask them to click on another page of the same
site, Savage Earth: The Restless Planet: Earthquakes, Sidebar
One: “Learning from Earthquakes” located at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/earthquakes/html/sidebar1.ht
ml Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTON by asking them to read the article “Learning from
Earthquakes” and look at the animations that accompany the
article. Students will define and draw illustrations of “Blind Thrust”
and “Normal” faults on their Handout 2, Part 2. When the task is
complete, bring the class together and share information (“Strike–
Slip” fault: along this seam, the plates slide passed each other like
cars traveling opposite direction on a highway, ex. San Andreas,
“Dip-Slip” fault: blocks of crust either push together or pull apart,
with one block sliding either up or down a sloped fault plane. Ex.
1994 Northridge. “Blind Thrust” fault: “blind” one that doesn’t break
the surface and makes itself visible. “Normal” fault: crack in the
Earth’s surface). This information will be useful during the
Culminating Activity #1 when claymation will be created depicting
these faults.
Step 16. Let’s see through this interactive multimedia exercise
how earthquakes are created, understand what causes seismic
waves, predict seismic activity, and pinpoint the epicenter of an
earthquake. Instruct students to go online to Virtual Earthquake
http://www.eoascientific.com/interactive/earthquakes_seismic_wav
es_activity_earthquake_epicenter/earthquakes_seismic_waves_ac
tivity_earthquake_epicenter.html. Provide your students with a
FOCUS FOR MEDIA INETERACTION by asking them to be able
to tell you: 1. What causes earthquakes? 2. What causes seismic
waves? 3. How they predicted a seismic wave? 4. How they
pinpointed an epicenter. When the task is complete bring the class
together and allow students to share information.
Step 17. Let’s look at one last volcano, known as the biggest
volcano that mainland Europe ever had. The date is August 24th 79
A.D. and sitting at the bottom of Mt. Vesuvius is Pompeii. CUE
Savage Earth: “Out of the Inferno: Volcanoes” past the
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introduction “Viewers Like You” to the aerial visual of mountain
ranges and blue-green water to a smoking eruption where the
narrator, Stacey Keach, says, “The Earth reshapes itself constantly
obvious to mankind. It spills its restless heart through the rocky
crust we live.” Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION by asking them to be able to tell you: 1. How high
is Mt. Vesuvius and where is it located? 2. The people came into
the streets after the 1st blast. How high was the 2nd blast and what
was in it? 3. How many died and how did they die? BEGIN
PLAY. STOP to check for comprehension on the visual of a
mosaic monkey face with the narrator, Stacy, Keach, saying, “An
entire society condemned by nature.” Go back through the
questions and allow students to share answers. (Answers: 1.
4,000 ft, bay of Naples, Italy 2. Gas and ash 3. 2000 and
suffocation).
Step 18. Let’s Visit Miss Frizzle at The Magic School Bus web site
and gather new information you have not learned yet while
traveling from the center of the Earth through a volcano on her
school bus. Distribute Handout #2, Part 3”The Magic School Bus –
Blows Its Top” to each student. Instruct your student to go online
to the web site The Magic School Bus: Blow Its Top located at
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/volcano/index.h
tm Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION by asking them to find their way from the center of
the Earth through the volcano to the surface and discover
fascinating facts along the way. In the process the students will
write four new facts on their Handout #2, Part 3. The students will
need to be erupted before the new facts come spewing out of the
volcano. When the task is complete, bring the class together and
allow the students to share. (1. The word volcano comes from the
Ancient Romans; they called their god of fire Vulcan and thought
he lived inside a volcano on an island off the Italian coast, which
they call Vulcano. 2. Countries use the heat from volcanoes to
make energy. 3. There is an entire rim of plates that lies under
the Pacific Ocean which is dotted with volcanoes, forming what is
called the Ring of Fire. 4. Mt. Etna is the largest and longest
running record of activity of a volcano in Europe (10,700 Ft. high,
last 2,500 years Mt. Etna has blown 400 times, the last being
1983). 5. Two kinds of lava: pahoehoe – flows freely like liquid - is
a very sticky and thick).
CULMINATING
ACTIVITY
Step 1. Culmination Activity #1 –. Distribute a set of 5 different
colors of play dough, toothpicks, and paper to each of your 6
groups to create claymations. Assign each group a different
claymation so the class can pull together all aspects of the study.
Group #1: Earth’s Structure, Group #2: Collision Zone, Group #3:
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Magma Chamber, Group #4: Subduction Zone, Group #5: StrikeSlip and Dip-Slip Faults, Group #6: Blind Thrust and Normal
Faults. Students may revisit their Handouts #1 and #2 and
companion web sites, if need to design and label their models.
Each group will present and explain their claymations.
Step 2. To bring the study into real world situations, students will
visit the web site with a “Remote-Sensing Activity.” Visit EventBased Science: Remote-Sensing Activity located at
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/eventscience/rs.index.ht
ml and click on “Volcanoes: Run for the Hills”. Provide your
students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION by asking
them to use satellite data to plan the best route for a new road that
the people of Orting, Washington can use to escape the mudflow
from Mt. Rainer. When the task is complete, bring the class
together and allow each group to share their routes for the new
road.
Step 3. Students will revisit Event-Based Science: RemoteSensing Activity located at
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/eventscience/rs.index.ht
ml and click on “Earthquakes: Active or No? That isThe Question”.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION
by asking them to evaluate seismic activity along major San
Francisco faults. The teachers needs to rotate around the room to
monitor the students progress and when the tasks is complete
bring the class together to allow each group to share their
evaluations of the faults near San Francisco.
CROSSCURRICULAR
EXTENSIONS
Reading/Language Arts
As a class, students will read Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. This
book, set in the early 1900’s, is a historical novel about the life of
Chinese immigrants in San Francisco. It is about their hardships
and triumphs in this new world. Windrider with the help of his son,
Moon Shadow endures the mockery of the other Chinese, the
poverty, the separation from his wife and country, even the great
earthquake to make his dream come true.
In the book, Dragonwings, Moon Shadow’s mother is still in China
and he writes her often. The students will imagine they are Moon
Shadow and will write a letter to his mother describing the San
Francisco earthquake of 1906 and his feelings he had during and
after the earthquake.
Social Studies
Students will research, design, and construct their own timelines of
major earthquakes and volcano eruptions around the world
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throughout history that have effected the civilization surrounding
the geological event.
COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
Research and locate survivors of earthquakes and/or volcano
eruptions. Have the students develop a list of questions to ask in
their e-mail correspondence with the survivors.
Invite a local volcanologist to your classroom in person, or via email. Students will interview them with unanswered questions from
our studies of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Students will visit the locate science museums with exhibits that
explore the Earth’s lithosphere as it involves earthquakes and
volcanoes.
STUDENT
MATERIALS
Name________________________ Date__________________
Handout #1, Part 1 The Earth’s Spheres
Lithosphere - __________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Mt. St. H.________________________________________
Hydrosphere - _________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Mt. St. H.________________________________________
Atmosphere -__________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Mt. St. H.________________________________________
Cryosphere - __________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Mt. St. H.________________________________________
Biosphere - ___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Mt. St. H.________________________________________
Handout #1, Part 2 Earth’s Structure
Crust -_______________________________________________
Mantle - ______________________________________________
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Outer Core - __________________________________________
Inter Core - ___________________________________________
Name_____________________________Date_______________
Handout #2, Part 1
Savage Earth - Hell’s Crust:
Our Everchanging Planet – The Hot Zones
Collision Zone - ________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Magma Chamber - _____________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Subduction Zone - _____________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Handout #2, Part 2
Savage Earth – The Restless Planet:
Earthquakes – the Faults
Strike-Slip fault - _______________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Dip-Slip Fault - ________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Blind Thrust Fault ______________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Handout #2, Part 3 The Magic School Bus – Blows Its Top
1.___________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________
4.___________________________________________________
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