Teaching Activities

Earth education activities from across all of the sites within the Teach the Earth portal.



Current Search Limits:
High School (9-12)
Environmental Science > Natural Hazards

Results 21 - 30 of 132 matches

Episodic tremor and slip: The Case of the Mystery Earthquakes | Lessons on Plate Tectonics part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
Earthquakes in western Washington and Oregon are to be expected—the region lies in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Offshore, the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate subducts under the North American plate, from northern California to British Columbia. The region, however, also experiences exotic seismicity— Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS).In this lesson, your students study seismic and GPS data from the region to recognize a pattern in which unusual tremors--with no surface earthquakes--coincide with jumps of GPS stations. This is ETS. Students model ductile and brittle behavior of the crust with lasagna noodles to understand how properties of materials depend on physical conditions. Finally, they assemble their knowledge of the data and models into an understanding of ETS in subduction zones and its relevance to the millions of residents in Cascadia.

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geodesy, Seismology, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience:Oceanography:Marine Hazards, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Coastal Hazards:Tsunami, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
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.

Reading an Earthquake Seismogram part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Jennifer Pickering
Introductory lesson that deconstructs the information that can be gleaned from a single seismogram.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Geoscience
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Exploring California's Plate Motion and Deformation with GPS | Lessons on Plate Tectonics part of Geodesy:Activities
Shelley E Olds, EarthScope Consortium
Students analyze data to study the motion of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. From GPS data, students detect relative motion between the plates in the San Andreas fault zone--with and without earthquakes. To get to that discovery, they use physical models to understand the architecture of GPS, from satellites to sensitive stations on the ground. They learn to interpret time series data collected by stations (in the spreading regime of Iceland), to cast data as horizontal north-south and east-west vectors, and to add those vectors head-to-tail.Students then apply their skills and understanding to data in the context of the strike-slip fault zone of a transform plate boundary. They interpret time series plots from an earthquake in Parkfield, CA to calculate the resulting slip on the fault and (optionally) the earthquake's magnitude.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities, Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience, Geology:Tectonics, Geophysics:Geodesy, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
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.

Getting Started with the ShakeNet Data Portal part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Jennifer Pickering
Teacher guide and tutorial for using the RaspberryShake ShakeNet data portal.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8), Intermediate (3-5), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience, Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Earthquake Intensity part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Jennifer Pickering
Introductory lesson that compares ShakeMaps between earthquakes in the same location but different magnitudes, and earthquakes of the same magnitude but different depths, to acquaint learners to the fundamental controls on intensity of shaking felt during an event: magnitude and distance from the earthquake source.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Stream Discharge Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules
This module was initially developed by Bader, N.E., T. Meixner, C.A. Gibson, C.M. O'Reilly, and D.N. Castendyk. 26 June 2015. Project EDDIE: Stream Discharge. Project EDDIE Module 5, Version 2. cemast.illinoisstate.edu/data-for-students/modules/stream-discharge.shtml Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707.
Stream discharge is a fundamental measure of water supply in stream systems. Low discharge may cause problems with water supply and fish passage, while high discharge may mean flooding. In this module, students ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory, High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Floods/Fluvial Processes, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Geoscience:Hydrology:Surface Water, Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity:Surface Water
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Build a Better Wall part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) and CEETEP (Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program). Improvements by ShakeAlert.
How can we design buildings to withstand an earthquake? This activity uses simple materials and gives learners a chance to experiment with structures that can withstand an earthquake. Two optional activities explore building damage by subjecting models to ground vibration on a small shake table.

Grade Level: General Public, High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14), Informal, Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Project, Classroom Activity
Subject: Engineering, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
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.

Pasta Quake: Exploring Earthquake Magnitude part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Paul Doherty (Exploratorium Teacher Institute) and Roger Groom (Mt Tabor Middle School) with improvements by ShakeAlert
This short activity provides an intuitive introduction to earthquake magnitude using an everyday item--spaghetti. Learners are introduced to the earthquake magnitude scale by breaking different amounts of uncooked noodles. Visual scale of the pasta emphasizes the relative differences between magnitudes with each whole step in magnitude. For older students, the demonstration helps students understand why seismologists use the nonlinear logarithmic scale to best graph the huge range of quantities.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review

Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Structures (TVES) part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Bonnie Magura (Portland Public Schools), Roger Groom (Mt Tabor Middle School), and CEETEP (Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program)
Students learn about tsunami vertical evacuation structures (TVES) as a viable solution for communities with high ground too far away for rapid evacuation. Students then apply basic design principles for TVES and make their own scale model that they think would fit will in their target community. Activity has great scope for both technical and creative design as well as practical application of math skills. Examples are from the Pacific Northwest, USA's most tsunami-vulnerable communities away from high ground, but it could be adapted to any region with similar vulnerability.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Project, Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Marine Hazards, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Coastal Hazards:Tsunami, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Engineering, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
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.

Investigating Factors That Affect Tsunami Inundation part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Bonnie Magura (Portland Public Schools), Roger Groom (Mt Tabor Middle School), and CEETEP (Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program)
Learners modify elements of a tsunami wave tank to investigate the affect that near-coast bathymetry (submarine topography) and coastal landforms have on how far a tsunami can travel inland. Damaging tsunami are most commonly produced by subduction zone earthquakes, such as those that occur in Alaska.

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Outreach Activity, Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Marine Hazards, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Coastal Hazards:Tsunami
Activity Review: Passed Peer Review