For this lesson, I had the students construct buildings of connecting blocks and do an earthquake simulation to watch how the buildings fell apart. We discussed what a fault line was and how the Earth is made of moving plates. We made a model volcano and watched it erupt.
The students met half of the goals for this lesson. The students were able to list the possible effects of an earthquake. They stated that the ground shakes, buildings fall apart, and things can fall off the shelf. They were able to demonstrate the proper safety techniques to protect themselves during an earthquake. They either stood in a doorway or if possible went into a room with no windows or loose or breakable objects.
The students had trouble stating exactly why a volcano occurs. They were along the right track in stating that magma comes out of the ground, but they did not know why. With help, I was able to guide the students to the answer, but they did not fully understand it. The students were able to draw pictures of a volcanic eruption.
The volcano eruption went over really well with the students. They had fun building the model and watching it erupt. In the future, I think I might find a different recipe for making the base of the volcano because ours was not holding together very well. The children had fun playing with it though. I explained to the students that in real life magma is very hot and that if they lived near a volcano erupting, they would have to leave home to be safe. We talked about what things they would want to grab if they had to leave home in a hurry. This part of the lesson really helped them to sympathize with victims of natural disasters. We discussed what they could do to help other people who had to leave their belongings behind to evacuate. They wanted to send their toys to the other children. I consider this an effective part because I believe part of making students scientifically literate should involve making them compassionate members of society.
The students had a difficult time understanding plates and fault lines. It was hard for them to process that the plates only move a couple centimeters over a long period of time. I think they envisioned the plates being able to be moved around and rearranged. They kept insisting we could eventually live by a fault line and thus have earthquakes often.
They had a difficult time grasping how the plates moved so I decided to construct the snack plate tectonics another classmate suggested during discussion. We did not have fruit roll ups so we used two layers of graham crackers and frosting to show how the plates moved and how the “magma” came up between the plates. This helped them better understand, but they still had trouble applying this to an actual fault line. I will use this information to improve on this lesson in the future. I will design a model of the plates and fault lines around the world to better show the students where they are and how they move.
The models really helped the students better understand what happens during an earthquake and a volcanic eruption. The students have never experienced either of these events before. It was difficult for them to apply the volcanic eruption to a large scale volcano because ours did not erupt so much as overflow and it obviously was not hot like a real volcano. The earthquake simulation did help them understand what happens to buildings because they got to see their buildings crumble when the plates shook. This concept is universal so all students were able to understand it despite background differences.
In all, this lesson was a success. With another model included and some minor changes, it could be even more effective. The students took away new knowledge and concepts. They also learned valuable life -saving techniques to prepare them in case of an earthquake.
