Educational Materials Collection

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Results 1 - 10 of 40 matches

Seismic Slinky: Modeling P and S waves
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology)
Students will produce P and S waves using a Slinky© to understand how seismic waves transfer energy as they travel through solids. All types of waves transmit energy, including beach waves, sound, light, and more. When an earthquake occurs it generates four different types of seismic waves. We will focus on two of these: Compressional-P (longitudinal) and shearing-S (transverse) "body waves." These travel through the Earth with distinct particle motion and predictable speed.

Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity, Outreach Activity
Grade Level: General Public, Informal, High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5), College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8)
Subject: Geoscience, Seismology, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes
Special Interest: Data, models, or simulations, Hazards
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Fault Models for Teaching About Plate Tectonics
Modified from an activity by Larry Braile (Purdue University) by TOTLE (Teachers on the Leading Edge) Project and further improved by ShakeAlert.
This short interactive activity has learners to manipulate fault blocks to better understand different types of earthquake-generating faults in different tectonic settings--extensional, convergent, and strike-slip. Fault models aid in visualizing and understanding faulting and plate motions because the instructor and their students can manipulate a three-dimensional model for a true hands-on experience.

Resource Type: Activities:Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Grade Level: General Public, Informal, Intermediate (3-5), High School (9-12), Middle (6-8)
Subject: Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Tectonics
Special Interest: Data, models, or simulations, Hazards
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Earthquake Machine
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) and ShakeAlert
In this activity, learners work collaboratively in small groups to explore the earthquake cycle by using a physical model. Attention is captured through several short video clips illustrating the awe-inspiring power of ground shaking resulting from earthquakes. To make students' prior knowledge explicit and activate their thinking about the topic of earthquakes, each student writes their definition of an earthquake on a sticky note. Next, through a collaborative process, small groups of students combine their individual definitions to create a consensus definition for an earthquake.

Resource Type: Activities:Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Subject: Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Tectonics
Special Interest: Data, models, or simulations, Hazards
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Tsunami Basics Presentation
Robert Butler (ANGLE Project)
Description × This lecture and associated animations give a good introduction to tsunami produced by earthquakes and landslides. It includes information on how they are generated and why there can be great ...

Resource Type: Audio/Visual:Animations/Video, Lecture
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), General Public, Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Subject: Geoscience, Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting, Earthquakes, Tsunami
EarthScope Geophysics Data: Data: Data:Seismic, Geophysics GPS/GNSS, Data:GPS/GNSS
Special Interest: Hazards

How Do We Know Where an Earthquake Originated?
Jeffrey Barker (Binghamton University) & Michael Hubenthal (IRIS)
Students use real seismograms to determine the arrival times for P and S waves and use these times to determine the distance of the seismic station from the earthquake. Seismograms from three stations are provided to determine the epicenter using the S – P (S minus P) method. Because real seismograms contain some "noise" with resultant uncertainty in locating arrival times of P and S waves, this activity promotes appreciation for uncertainties in interpretation of real scientific data.

Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Subject: Geoscience, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Seismology
Special Interest: Process of Science, Quantitative, Data, models, or simulations, Hazards
Quantitative Skills: Estimation, Arithmetic/Computation
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Earthquake Hazard Maps & Liquefaction: Alaska emphasis
TOTLE (Teachers on the Leading Edge), CEETEP (Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program), EarthScope ANGLE, and ShakeAlert projects
Ground shaking is the primary cause of earthquake damage to man-made structures. This exercise combines three related activities on the topic of shaking-induced ground instability: a ground shaking amplification demonstration, a seismic landslides demonstration, and a liquefaction experiment. The amplitude of ground shaking is affected by the type of near-surface rocks and soil. Earthquake ground shaking can cause even gently sloping areas to slide when those same areas would be stable under normal conditions. Liquefaction is a phenomenon where water-saturated sand and silt take on the characteristics of a dense liquid during the intense ground shaking of an earthquake and deform. Includes Alaska and San Francisco examples.

Resource Type: Activities:Lab Activity, Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity
Grade Level: Informal, Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), General Public
Subject: Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Mass Wasting, Natural Hazards, Engineering, Geoscience, Seismology
Special Interest: Hazards, Data, models, or simulations
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Earthquake Basics Presentation
Robert Butler (ANGLE Project)
This lecture and associated animations give a strong introduction to earthquakes--including earthquake waves, magnitude, intensity, USArray seismic data, and resulting hazards such as landslides, liquefaction, and building failure. It also includes some information on seismically resilient building design. It uses Alaska as the case study site. A similar lecture featuring the USA's Pacific Northwest region is available from the Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program (CEETEP)

Resource Type: Lecture, Audio/Visual:Animations/Video
Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), General Public, High School (9-12), Middle (6-8)
Subject: Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting, Earthquakes, Natural Hazards, Mitigation and Preparedness, Seismology, Tectonics, Geoscience
EarthScope Geophysics Data: Data: Data:Seismic
Special Interest: Hazards

Rocks are Elastic!! Seeing is Believing
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology)
This activity helps learners see the elastic properties of rocks by actually bending marble. How rocks respond to stress is a fundamental concept, critical to forming explanatory models in the geosciences (e.g., elastic rebound theory). Whereas learners are likely to have lots of experience with rocks, few will have directly experienced them behaving elastically. As a result of this "missed experience", most learners conceptualize rocks as rigid solids; a concept which generally serves students well in everyday life but impedes learning about particular geologic concepts.

Resource Type: Activities:Outreach Activity, Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Grade Level: General Public, Informal, Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5)
Subject: Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Seismology, Geoscience
Special Interest: Hazards
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Base Isolation for Earthquake Resistance
Larry Braile (Purdue University) and TOTLE (Teachers on the Leading Edge) Project
This document includes two activities related to earthquake base isolation. Learners explore earthquake hazards and damage to buildings by constructing model buildings and subjecting the buildings to ground vibration (shaking similar to earthquake vibrations) on a small shake table. Base isolation a powerful tool for earthquake engineering. It is meant to enable a building to survive a potentially devastating seismic impact through a proper initial design or subsequent modifications. The buildings are constructed by two- or three-person learner teams.

Resource Type: Activities:Project, Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14)
Subject: Geoscience, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Natural Hazards, Mitigation and Preparedness, Engineering
Special Interest: Quantitative, Process of Science, Hazards, Data, models, or simulations
Quantitative Skills: Gathering Data
On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
Learn more about this review process.

Alaskan Volcanoes & Hazards Presentation
This lecture and associated animations give a basic introduction to Alaskan volcanoes, volcanic hazards, and volcano monitoring.

Resource Type: Lecture, Audio/Visual:Animations/Video
Grade Level: General Public, Middle (6-8), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Subject: Engineering, Geodesy, Geoscience, Seismology, Natural Hazards, Volcanism
EarthScope Geophysics Data: Data: Data:Seismic, Geophysics GPS/GNSS, Data:GPS/GNSS
Special Interest: Data, models, or simulations, Hazards, Process of Science, Quantitative
Quantitative Skills: Arithmetic/Computation, Graphs, Vectors and Matrices