Table of Contents Lesson #

Think again.

UPDATED: 09:19 EST, 16 March 2011

Most Americans associate quakes with the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

But 39 out of the 50 states – including New York and Tennessee – have moderate to high seismic hazard risk.

The earthquake map of America: A seismic map shows that living far from the West Coast is no guarantee of safety from earthquakes. The colour-coordinated map shows a high probability of earthquakes along the West Coast - but it also shows an alarming patch of red at the 'New Madrid fault line straddling Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky, in a dangerous patch that spreads outwards all the way to the South Carolina coast

The 'New Madrid' fault line in the heart of the country is particularly dangerous and could affect more than 15 million people in eight states – Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

The roughly one million people living in and around Memphis are said by the U.S. Geological Survey to be at the greatest risk of a major earthquake of 7.0 or 8.0 on the Richter scale.

The fault, running from St Louis to Memphis, was the site of some of the worst ever quakes to hit the U.S. The series of four tremblers in 1811 and 1812 were so powerful they reportedly caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards.
Assessment Rubric


Student __________________________________ Date ___________


Target Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Rating

“3” “2” “1” “1 - 3”

Behavioral Objective #1: Earthquakes: Cause and Effect	Student can describe the cause of earthquakes and their effect on life and land masses.	Student has an emerging understanding of the cause of earthquakes and their effect on life and land masses.	Student cannot describe the cause of earthquakes and their effect on life and land masses.
Behavioral Objective #2: Vocabulary	Student is able to define new vocabulary: Earthquakes, Plates, Seismic Waves, Faults, Epicenter, Focus (Hypocenter)	Student is able to define most of the new vocabulary: Earthquakes, Plates, Seismic Waves, Faults, Epicenter, Focus (Hypocenter)	Student is unable to define new vocabulary: Earthquakes, Plates, Seismic Waves, Faults, Epicenter, Focus (Hypocenter)
Behavioral Objective #3: Create & Analyze Graph	Student successfully represented and analyzed data in the bar graph and made appropriate inferences and calculations.	Student created and analyzed an appropriate the bar graph and made some inferences but made some miscalculations.	Student did not create an appropriate graph or made the wrong type of graph. Student could not analyze data in graph and made no significant inferences or calculations.

Comments:

References

E-Examples from Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.nctm.org/eexamples/

Earthquake Map. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366603/Earthquake-map-America-make-think-again.html#ixzz3JGBEh7Pq

Earthquakes 101. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/101-videos/earthquake-101

Earthquakes: "Shake It Up Baby Now" (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/scrapsciencejk.html

Educator Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/Science/EducatorResources/NYC Scope and Sequence for Science.htm

Explaining Earthquakes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://science.kqed.org/quest/explainer/earthquakes/

Map of Earthquakes Today. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://earthquaketrack.com/

SUPER VOLCANO! History's Greatest Secret - Metatech. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.metatech.org/wp/earth-changes/super-volcano-historys-greatest-secret/

Trueit, T. S. (2003). Earthquakes. New York: Franklin Watts.

1. 
   http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/disaster/monster1.html
   
2. 
   Tsunami reading handout (from citation #2, condensed by teacher)
   

Investigate the negative and positive impact of extreme natural events on living things:

• Floods (tsunamis)

PS 2.1 e
Inquiry Skills:

(or extensions of the senses) to identify properties

iv. Manipulate materials through teacher direction and free discovery.

xiii. Observe, analyze, and report observations of objects and events.


NCTM Math Skills

Content Standards:

Specify locations and describe spatial relationships using coordinate geometry and other representational systems

• 
  make and use coordinate systems to specify locations and to describe paths
  

Communication :Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others

Critical thinking, problem solving,and decision making. Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

1. 
   Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation
   
2. 
   Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project
   
3. 
   Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
   
4. 
   Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions
   

1. 
   To express and explain the cause and effect of tsunamis.
   

2. 
   To recognize the impact of tsunamis on human life.
   
3. 
   To evaluate whether or not humans should live in places that can be impacted by tsunami flooding.
   

Tell students that they will now: watch a video and take notes on the video

1. 
   “We are going to use our tsunami worksheets to list definitions of words that we will need to know about tsunamis.”
   

1. 
   tsunami- A long high sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake, submarine landslide, or other disturbance. “Tsunami” comes from the Japanese word for “harbor wave”
   

2. 
   fjord- a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley
   

3. 
   surge- an intense wavelike movement
   

4. 
   tidal- of, relating to, or caused by the tides. (have students note that this is important because tsunamis are often
   

5. 
   tremor- movement of earth’s crust (when tremors happen at faults on the ocean floor, tsunamis occur)
   

6. 
   seismograph- Instrument used to detect seismic activities (tremors). Scientists receive data from seismographs and use this data to determine if there will be tsunamis. They then let port cities know if they need to worry about tsunamis.
   

2. 
   After students have completed copying the vocabulary words onto their handouts, pass out the reading handout. Taking turns, allow students to read the passage aloud as a class. (5 minutes)
   

3. 
   Remind students that there are fjord tsunamis, or tsunamis that occur in fjords when icebergs cleave or break, causing large chunks of ice to fall into the water which leads to large waves.
   

4. 
   Play video showing fjord tsunamis: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtEDLzszM2o 3:41)
   

5. 
   Tell children: “We will now move onto the experiment section. Each group will have a chance to come up to the front of the room to conduct their experiment with the help of the teacher. While your group is not working on the actual experiment, there are questions on your handouts to be working on.
   

6. 
   Experiment: 25 minutes (5 groups, each group gets 5 minutes to do their experiment at front of room with teacher assistance)
   

7. 
   Pass out a coordinate grid for students. Tell them that they should draw buildings, a city, farms, or some other type of human establishment within their coordinate grid. Tell students to draw lightly enough that they will still be able to see their grid. (5 minutes). Also have students label the axes of their grids using letters on one axis and numbers on the other.
   

8. 
   Tell students that they will now complete an experiment to see how landslides/other falling things like ice can cause large tsunami waves.
   

9. 
   Have students come up to the sink, one group at a time. Have students fill their container (rectangular nearly to the top with water (leaving less than an inch of room).
   

9. 
   Explain to students that they will use a piece of wood to create a slope that they will slide gravel down. “This process replicates a landslide or a breaking iceberg.”
   

9. 
   Have students record hypothesis as whether they think the slide will cause waves big enough for the water to splash over onto their “land”.
   

12. 
    The students will go one by one, placing their coordinate grid of “land” at the far end of the water filled container. Have students take plastic bag (ziploc) filled with gravel and hold it at the top of their slope. Instruct students to let go of their bag so that it slides down the wood and into the water.
    

12. 
    Tell students to watch as the bag hits the water, creating waves that go down the bucket and over the edge, onto their “land”.
    

14. 
    After each student of the group has gone, ask them to return to their seats. Call up next group and repeat process until all groups have seen the experiment.
    

15. 
    While students are at their desks waiting for their turn/waiting for other students to complete their turn, have them complete the tsunami worksheet. Let students know that there are certain parts of their worksheet that they will only be able to complete after seeing the experiment.
    

I). Closed-Ended Questions:

1. 
   Using the scale provided on your coordinate grid (1 square = ¼ of a mile), how many miles in land did your tsunami waves travel?
   

2. 
   What is the cause of tsunamis?
   

3. 
   What does sliding the bag of gravel into the water represent? Why does this cause a tsunami like wave?
   

1. 
   Should people be allowed to live in places where their communities can be affected by tsunami-caused flooding? Why or Why not? Write your answer in paragraph form.
   

2. 
   What are some ways or inventions that people could use to protect themselves from tsunamis (other than living away from the coast)
   

1. 
   Computer/smartboard
   

2. 
   A rectangular plastic storage unit (about 12 inches long)
   
3. 
   A ziploc bag filled with fish tank gravel or pebbles
   
4. 
   35 copies of tsunami handout
   
5. 
   35 copies of blank coordinate grid
   
6. 
   35 copies of reading handout (reading from children’s literature link listed above)
   

Calving Glacier causes Mini Tsunami - Scares Penguins (YouTube).Retrieved December 6, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtEDLzszM2o

1. 
   tsunami-
   

2. 
   fjord-
   

3. 
   surge-
   

4. 
   tidal-
   

5. 
   tremor-
   

6. 
   seismograph-
   

What are the causes of tsunamis?

Why is early detection of tsunamis important?

Hypothesize: What do you think will happen when we slide the bag of gravel into the bucket of water? Will any of the water from the bucket end up on your “land” grid? Why or why not?

What are your results? Did the waves created splash over the side of the bucket? Did the waves splash onto the “land” on your coordinate grid?

Using the scale of 1 square = ¼ mile, how many miles did the water travel inland?

If the “land” got hit by waves, how do you think that this would impact people living there? If your land did not get hit by the water, imagine what it would be like for people on land being hit by a tsunami. How would that impact the people?

Now that you have recorded which parts of your grid were flooded, name this section of the grid (ex: tsunami flood zone) and write 2-3 ideas about laws or plans that could be put in place to protect people that live in those areas.

or

1. 
   tsunami- A long high sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake, submarine landslide, or other disturbance. “Tsunami” comes from the Japanese word for “harbor wave”
   

2. 
   fjord- a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley
   

3. 
   surge- an intense wavelike movement
   

4. 
   tidal- of, relating to, or caused by the tides. (have students note that this is important because tsunamis are often
   

5. 
   tremor- movement of earth’s crust (when tremors happen at faults on the ocean floor, tsunamis occur)
   

6. 
   seismograph- Instrument used to detect seismic activities (tremors). Scientists receive data from seismographs and use this data to determine if there will be tsunamis. They then let port cities know if they need to worry about tsunamis.
   

What are the causes of tsunamis in the ocean?

Tsunamis are caused in the ocean when there are underwater earthquakes or tremors caused by moving of the earth’s crust. The quick movement of the plates causes a lot of water to be moved at a very fast speed. This results in multiple tsunami waves that travel away from the site of the earthquake. Tsunamis can also be caused by landslides, volcanic eruptions, and occasionally by large meteor strikes.
How are tsunamis caused in fjords?

Tsunamis are caused in fjords when large sections of icebergs break off (or cleave) and fall into the water. The falling of the ice into the fjord causes tsunami waves to flow away from the impact site.

Why is early detection of tsunamis important?

Early detection of tsunamis is important because many humans live near the ocean. These people must be warned so that they can evacuate or get to higher ground if there is time. When there is early detection of tsunamis, less lives are lost when the tsunamis reach land.
Experiment

Hypothesize: What do you think will happen when we slide the bag of gravel into the bucket of water? Will any of the water from the bucket end up on your “land” grid? Why or why not?

Yes, water will come out of the bucket when the bag of gravel slides in. I think it will create mini-tsunami like waves that will travel through the bucket and splash out.

Yes, I think the water will hit some of the “land” on my grid. I think yes because,

What are your results? Did the waves created splash over the side of the bucket? Did the waves splash onto the “land” on your coordinate grid?

Yes, the waves created splashed the “land” on my coordinate grid. This showed me how landslides or breaking icebergs can create tsunami waves.
Using the scale of 1 square = ¼ mile, how many miles did the water travel inland?

The water traveled 1 ¼ miles inland.

I think it would be scary for people on land where a tsunami is hitting. People can get hurt by the waves and maybe die. Also, their homes and cars may get destroyed. A tsunami might impact people for a long time because it could take them a very long time to rebuild all of the things that get destroyed.

All of row A was flooded, and squares B3-B8 were flooded.

I named the flooded area “Tsunami Flood Area 1”. I would install warning sirens in these areas so that the people who live there can be warned. I would also create a very good drainage system that would allow the water to drain once the tsunami was over.

If you are finished early: Go on a class computer or take out a class laptop and go on one of the following sites:

or

Though it's true that tsunamis are ocean waves. Triggered by volcanic eruptions, landslides, earthquakes, and even impacts by asteroids or comets, a tsunami represents a vast volume

of seawater in motion -- the source of its destructive power.

The Japanese characters for tsunami mean "harbor wave," and many people commonly refer to them as tidal waves, but in reality tsunamis have little to do with tides. They are creatures of the open ocean, trains of giant waves that can travel for thousands of miles across the sea and still pack enough energy to smash towns and drown the unwary.

Toss a stone in a pond and you create a series of ripples. A tsunami is just like those ripples, except the disturbance that sets them in motion is of a much greater magnitude. Undersea landslides and the collapse of oceanic islands into the sea make tsunamis. Volcanic eruptions can also do it. In fact, the most deadly tsunami in recorded history followed the eruption and virtual obliteration of Indonesia's Krakatoa Volcano in 1883. An estimated 36,000 people died as a result of the eruption, the majority of them from the tsunamis.

Impacts by comets or asteroids can also generate giant tsunamis. No one has actually witnessed such an event, except perhaps in films like DEEP IMPACT. But computer simulations show that the giant tsunamis unleashed by Hollywood special effects wizards -- large enough to swamp the Manhattan skyline -- are possible and have almost certainly happened in the distant past. Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico calculated that if an asteroid three miles across hit the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the tsunami would swamp the upper East Coast as far inland as the Appalachian Mountains.

By far the most frequent tsunami-maker is the buckling of the seafloor caused by an undersea earthquake. Tsunami earthquakes happen at subduction zones, places where drifting plates that make up Earth's outer shell converge, and the heavier oceanic plate dips below the lighter continents.

As a plate plunges down into Earth's interior, it moves in fits and starts -- sticking for awhile, then slipping. When it's stuck against the edge of a continental plate, stresses build up. When the locked zone gives way, parts of the seafloor may snap upward like a diver's springboard as the tension is released; other areas may sink downward. In the instant after the quake, the shape of the sea surface mirrors the contours of the seafloor below. But, just as quickly, gravity acts to return the sea surface to its original shape. As the rumpled sea flattens out, ripples race outward. A tsunami is born.
On the open ocean, tsunami waves approach speeds of 500 mph, almost fast enough to keep pace with a jetliner. But gazing out the window of a 747, you wouldn't be able to pick it out from the wind-driven swells. In deep water, the waves spread out and hunch down, with hundreds of miles between crests that may be just a few feet high. A passenger on a passing ship would scarcely detect their passing. But in fact the tsunami crest is just the very tip of a vast mass of water in motion. Though wind-driven waves and swells are confined to a shallow layer near the ocean surface, a tsunami extends thousands of feet deep into the ocean.

Because the momentum of the waves is so great, a tsunami can travel great distances with little loss of energy. The 1960 earthquake off the coast of Chile generated a tsunami that had enough force to kill 150 people in Japan after a journey of 22 hours and 10,000 miles. The waves from a trans-Pacific tsunami can reverberate back and forth across the ocean for days, making it jiggle like a planetary-scale pan of Jell-O.

As the waves in the tsunami reach shore, they slow down due to the shallowing sea floor, and the loss in speed is often accompanied by a dramatic increase in wave height. The waves scrunch together like the ribs of an accordion and heave upward. Depending on the geometry of the seafloor warping that first generated the waves, tsunami attacks can take different forms. In certain cases, the sea can seem at first to draw a breath and empty harbors, leaving fish flopping on the mud. Tsunamis also flood in suddenly without warning. Tsunami waves usually don't curve over and break, like Hawaiian surf waves. Survivors of tsunami attacks describe them as dark "walls" of water. Impelled by the mass of water behind them, the waves bulldoze onto the shore and inundate the coast, snapping trees like twigs, toppling stone walls and lighthouses, and smashing houses and buildings into kindling.
Experiment material:

Lesson #6



“What’s the Hurri-cane? (an introduction to hurricanes)”

by Robert McCabe

1. 
   http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-hurricane.htm
   
2. 
   http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/outreach/games/canelab.htm
   
3. 
   http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=890
   

Communicating – giving oral and written explanations or graphic representations of observations

Gathering and organizing data – collecting information about objects and events which illustrate a specific situation

Identifying variables – recognizing the characteristics of objects or factors in events that are constant or change

xv. Observe, identify, and communicate cause-and-effect relationships

1.PS 2. 1 e: .Investigate the negative and positive impact of extreme natural events on living things:

• Hurricanes

Reasoning and Proof Standard

• 
  apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems;
  
• 
  solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
  

1. 
   Creativity and innovation
   

a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes

c. Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues

2. 
   Communication and collaboration
   

a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media

1. To analyze the formation of hurricanes.

2. To evaluate the effect of hurricanes on coastal communities in the United States of America.

3. To combine statistics of hurricane classification from 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season in a pie graph.

Lesson will begin with a video from National Geographic website on hurricanes. This video is visually engaging, and starts students with some basic facts and visualizations on hurricanes.

1. 
   Explain to students that we will be continuing our unit on natural disasters with this lesson on hurricanes. Start by asking students what they know about hurricanes. Explain that there are no wrong answers. Use this to gauge prior student knowledge on topic.
   
2. 
   After students have had 2-3 minutes to share their prior knowledge on hurricanes, tell students that we will watch an informative National Geographic video on hurricanes.
   
3. 
   Play video for students (duration: 2:50)
   
4. 
   If there are no questions, continue by pulling up weatherwizkids.com page from student literature section above. Read aloud with students the first three sections, titled ‘What is a Hurricane’, ‘How Do Hurricanes Form?’, and ‘What is Storm Surge?’
   

5. 
   Ask close ended questions from section below and have students turn and talk with a partner to answer. Students will have 3 minutes to discuss. Then call on 2-3 volunteers to share their answers with the class.
   
6. 
   After answers have been shared, have students take out class laptops and log on to ‘Create-a-Cane’ website. Explain that through the exploration of this website, they will be able to find and record the weather conditions that lead to the formation of hurricanes.
   
7. 
   Tell students that they are to explore the website, using the “?” sections when they are confused (though instructor may aid as necessary) to find the best conditions for hurricane formation. Students have 10 minutes for investigation into this topic. Have students record what conditions make the strongest hurricanes form.
   
8. 
   After 10 minutes have passed, have students open science-notebooks and write a response to open ended question number 1 (found below). Tell students they have 5 minutes to write their response.
   
9. 
   Allow 2-3 students to share their responses to open ended question number 1.
   
10. 
    After sharing of response to open ended questions, have students open up Scholastic webpage on Hurricane Sandy relief. Read the page with the students.
    
11. 
    After reading the page, explain that the links on the page under the initial article are articles about various relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy.
    
12. 
    Have students select an article that they would most like to read. Have students read an article of their choosing from the list. Give students 10 minutes to read selected article.
    
13. 
    Give students remainder of the period (about 5 minutes) to write an answer to open ended questions numbers 2, 3, and 4 (found below).
    
14. 
    Tell students that they should start these questions in class and finish responses for homework (to be handed in for assessment).
    

I). Closed-Ended Questions:

1. 
   What is storm surge?
   

2. 
   Why are storm surges dangerous?
   

1. What conditions aid the formation of hurricanes? Why do you think that these conditions lead to the formation of hurricanes?

2. 
   Now that you have read about hurricane relief efforts, what is something that you would like to do to help hurricane victims?
   
3. 
   What are the effects of hurricanes and storm surges on communities?
   
4. 
   What are some things that you think might get overlooked when helping victims of hurricanes?
   

1. 
   Smartboard
   
2. 
   Computers for each student (or fair pairs of students)
   
3. 
   Print outs of the first three sections of the weather wiz kids website (first link in children’s literature section above) in case computers are not accessible. Students may also take these home for reference and studying.
   
4. 
   Printout of Hurricane Sandy Recovery Special Report (third link on children’s literature section).
   
5. 
   Printouts of 3-4 articles from Hurricane Sandy Recovery Report for student reading in case computers are not available.
   

Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-hurricane.htm

Handout
Answers to close-ended questions

1. 
   What is storm surge?
   

2. 
   Why are storm surges dangerous?
   

2. 
   Now that you have read about hurricane relief efforts, what is something that you would like to do to help hurricane victims?
   

3. 
   How do you think hurricanes and storm surges affect communities? Has life ever been impacted by a hurricane?
   

Using Microsoft Excel, compile the following statistics to into a Pie Graph that shows the percentages of how many of each category hurricane there was (based on wind speed) for the 2014 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season (Note: If a computer or Microsoft Excel is not available to you, it is acceptable to create your pie graph by hand-drawing it):

Student Work Sample

1. 
   What is storm surge?
   

2. 
   Why are storm surges dangerous?
   

I got a score of 80 on the create-a-cane website. Based on this website, I know that the ideal conditions for hurricane formation are as follows:

1. 
   Light to medium upper-level, mid-level, and lower-level winds. These winds must also be blowing in the same direction. The website states that there is low wind sheer.
   
2. 
   Very moist middle and lower levels of the atmosphere. The upper layer of the atmosphere can be dry or moist for the formation of hurricanes.
   
3. 
   Formation of hurricanes takes place best between 5-30 degrees north (latitude).
   
4. 
   26.5 degrees Celsius water temperature is best for hurricane formation.
   
5. 
   Once the conditions above are in place, a tropical depression is triggered near the coast of Africa.
   
6. 
   After a tropical depression has been formed, it develops into a tropical storm.
   
7. 
   Tropical storms develop into hurricanes.
   

2. 
   Now that you have read about hurricane relief efforts, what is something that you would like to do to help hurricane victims?
   

2. 
   How do you think hurricanes and storm surges affect communities? Has life ever been impacted by a hurricane?
   

My life was affected by Hurricane Sandy. My family had to evacuate and the first floor of our home had 4 feet of water. It took us a long time to rebuild. Some people in my community have still not moved back into their homes after Hurricane Sandy.

2. 
   What are some things that you think might get overlooked when helping victims of hurricanes?
   

Using Microsoft Excel, compile the following statistics to into a Pie Graph that shows the percentages of how many of each category hurricane there was (based on wind speed) for the 2014 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season (Note: If a computer or Microsoft Excel is not available to you, it is acceptable to create your pie graph by hand-drawing it):

As you watch the storm-surge animations, notice the effect that the physical geography of each coastline has on storm surge. Also, note the waves on top of the ocean's surface. Wind, waves, and sea-level rise all contribute to storm-surge damage.

Hurricane Sandy Recovery Special Report: