Earthquake/Volcano Guided Research Project

Brett Dooley, Patrick Henry Community College
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Summary

Students work collaboratively in triads to understand events associated with an historic earthquake, an historic volcanic eruption, and current techniques for monitoring one of the two natural disasters. After conducting individual research, the students return to their group to discuss what the major factors were leading to the harmful effects of the historic natural disasters and how currently used monitoring could be improved to enable an early warning system.

Used this activity? Share your experiences and modifications

Learning Goals

Content/concepts goals
motion and natural disasters associated with different tectonic boundaries; fault motions; Mercalli scale for describing earthquake damage; monitoring techniques used for volcanoes and for earthquakes

Higher order thinking skills goals
The higher order thinking skills goals are for students to synthesize damage and harm caused by historic eruptions/earthquakes with their knowledge of currently used monitoring techniques and their knowledge of the plate motion associated with each event to envision a future technology that may enable accurate predictions for when an event will occur.

Other skills goals
Students use a limited resource set to search the WWW. They need to collaborate within their groups to share their newly acquired knowledge. They need to create a persuasive presentation to pitch to "potential donors" explaining the need for and value of research into their proposed technology. Students also need to present their pitch to the class. Students are assigned the part to go over at random on the day of the presentation to promote true collaboration and understanding of the entire process by each group member.

Context for Use

Type and level of course
Introductory physical geology course

Skills and concepts students should have mastered
Students should have a solid understanding of plate tectonics and the processes that cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Students should have experience working collaboratively and possess at least basic computer skills (internet searches, use of Google Docs and Slides).

How the activity is situated in the course
This activity is the culminating project for the module on plate tectonics.

Description and Teaching Materials

The activity usually is done over the course of two lab periods. I try to schedule an end of week lab and beginning of the week for presentations to enable student groups to work outside of class and over the weekend. It is done using the Webquest model, developed by Dr. Bernie Dodge of SDSU. This form of guided research limits the time student take to find relevant information and enables them to process and use the information to solve a problem together instead.




Teaching Notes and Tips

Sometimes I find students have difficulty sharing their information. They are tempted to put a slideshow together quickly, which means they are likely to a) focus only on their content and b) copy and paste rather than internalize and process the information. I have begun providing laptops for a limited time, then requesting students collaborate to create a storyboard. At times this successfully encourages greater interaction.

Assessment

Students are individually assessed on the worksheet they complete based on their research. Students do a peer evaluation that goes towards individual assessment as well. The group is assessed on the oral presentation and on the quality of the material in the presentation (which is sometimes better alone than when presented).

References and Resources

The assignment, the resources students will use, and the worksheet form for them to use are all found at:
http://dooleyclasses.sandvox.net/earthquakeand-volcano.html