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Activity
DiscoverE

Shake It Up with Seismographs

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Shake up your lessons on earthquakes. A simple seismograph lets scholars record "earthquakes" in the classroom. These earthquakes occur when classmates drop balls from different heights. Young scientists measure these with seismographs...
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Interactive
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NOAA

Subduction Zones

For Students 6th - 12th
Sink into an interactive learning experience about subduction zones! Junior oceanographers examine the earth-shaking and earth-making effects of subduction in the fourth installment in a 13-part series. Hands-on activities include...
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Interactive
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NOAA

Ocean Waves

For Students 6th - 12th
Surf's up! What causes the constant motion of Earth's oceans? Scholars discover the origins and types of waves in part nine of a 13-installment series. The resource illustrates wave behavior, their destructive power, and current research...
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Unit Plan
Discovery Education

STEM Camp—Urban Infrastructure

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Build a bridge to learning in a STEM-aligned unit about urban infrastructure. Young engineers explore the many aspects of civil planning and design in a five-day unit. Content includes the challenging aspects of balancing building with...
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Unit Plan
Columbus City Schools

Earthly Waves

For Teachers 8th Standards
How did scientists discover what lies beneath the earth's surface? Dig a hole? X-ray vision? Guide your class through the types of seismic waves and how these waves helped shed light on Earth's many layers. The included resources provide...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Earthquake Preparedness

For Teachers 6th
Forty-five states and territories in the USA are at moderate to very high risk of earthquakes. The discussion-based lesson covers what to do before, during, and after an earthquake. The 14th lesson in the series includes how to prepare a...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Finding the Epicenter

For Teachers 6th Standards
The epicenter is the point on the ground above the initial point of rupture. The 10th lesson in a series of 20 encourages scholars to learn to triangulate the epicenter of an earthquake based on the arrival times of p waves and s waves....
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Assessment
Science Matters

Earthquakes and Volcanoes Post Assessment

For Students 6th Standards
The final lesson in the 20-part series is a post assessment covering earthquakes and volcanoes. Twenty-three questions incorporate each of the previous lessons through multiple choice, justified multiple choice, expanded multiple choice,...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Seismic Activity and California Landforms

For Teachers 6th Standards
By the 19th instructional activity in the 20-part series, scholars realize volcanoes and earthquakes are related to plate boundaries. The instructional activity extends and applies the knowledge by having individuals create a bumper...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Ring of Fire

For Teachers 6th Standards
Over a period of 35 years, earthquakes and volcanoes combined only accounted for 1.5 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in the United States. The 15th lesson plan in a 20-part series connects the locations of earthquakes and...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Earthquake Building/Shaking Contest

For Teachers 6th Standards
Japan is one of only a handful of countries that constructs buildings that are almost earthquake proof. The 13th lesson plan in the 20-part series challenges scholars to build structures to test against earthquakes. With limited...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Wave Watching

For Teachers 6th Standards
Seismologists use the direction and arrival times of p waves and s waves to determine the distance to the source of an earthquake. The engaging lesson has students line up to form human waves. Through different movements when attached,...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Spaghetti Fault Model

For Teachers 6th Standards
Does increasing the pressure between two moving plates provide a stabilizing force or create more destruction? The hands-on lesson encourages exploration of strike-split fault models. The sixth lesson in a 20-part series asks scholars to...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Fault Formations

For Teachers 6th Standards
The San Andreas Fault moves about two inches a year, approximately the same rate fingernails grow—crazy! The third lesson in the series allows for hands-on exploration of various fault formations. Through the use of a Popsicle stick,...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

A Model of Plate Faults

For Teachers 6th Standards
The San Andreas fault is one of the longest fault zones in the world. In a series of 20 lessons, the fourth lesson has pupils use a paper model to recreate various types of plate faults. Each is held in position then drawn into a science...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Earth Shaking Events

For Teachers 6th Standards
The world's largest measured earthquake happened in 1960 in Chile, reaching a terrifying 9.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The second lesson in the 20-part series introduces earthquakes and fault lines. Scholars map where previous...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Richter Scale

For Teachers 6th Standards
The 12th lesson in a series of 20 opens with a demonstration of exponential functions using pasta. This concept is connected to the Richter Scale, which is also an exponential function. Scholars compare the exponential scale that...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Slip Sliding Along

For Teachers 6th Standards
The San Andreas Fault is the largest earthquake-producing fault in California. In the seventh lesson in the 20 part series, pupils create maps of California, focusing on the San Andreas Fault system. The comparison of where California is...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Up and Down Fault Blocks

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Sierra Mountains in Nevada and the Tetons in Wyoming originally formed as fault block mountains. In order to visualize these fault blocks, pupils use construction paper to create layers of earth. They cut the paper models and form...
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Assessment
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Science Matters

Earthquakes and Volcanoes Pre-Assessment

For Students 6th
See how much your class knows about earthquakes and volcanic activity and how these events shape geologic features. The first lesson in the series of 20 is a pre-test to find out what pupils already know. It includes 10 vocabulary words...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Hazards: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities

For Teachers K Standards
The last unit in the series allows kindergarteners to see the dangers and hazards associated with each of the natural disasters learned so far in the series—earthquakes and volcanoes. They listen to sounds associated with the disasters.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Earthquakes: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities

For Students K Standards
Beginning with a pre-lab, kindergarteners trace the letters in the word earthquake and discuss what happens in an earthquake. The lab portion allows young scientists realize that earthquakes trigger shaking of different intensities...
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Lesson Plan
Global Oneness Project

After the Quake: Preserving the Artifacts of Kathmandu

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
On April 28, 2015, a 7.8 earthquake ruptured the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Seven UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in this valley. The efforts of experts and archeologists to restore three of them—Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan...
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Activity
2
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Teach Engineering

Earthquakes Living Lab: Locating Earthquakes

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There are patterns in nearly everything — even earthquakes. Pairs research current earthquakes to see if there are any patterns. They determine the mean, median, and mode of the earthquake data, along with the maximum and minimum. Using...