Teaching Activities
Earth education activities from across all of the sites within the Teach the Earth portal.
Grade Level
Online Readiness Show all
Designed for In-Person
27 matchesResource Type: Activities
Subject Show all
- Earthquakes 11 matches
- Volcanism 1 match
- Mass Wasting 5 matches
- Floods/Fluvial Processes 2 matches
- Subsidence 1 match including karst and groundwater withdrawal
- Coastal Hazards 3 matches
- Extreme Weather 11 matches hurricanes, tornado, drought
Environmental Science > Natural Hazards
9 matches General/OtherActivity Review
Project Show all
- CLEAN 10 matches
- EarthScope ANGLE 10 matches
- GETSI 1 match
- Integrate 2 matches
- NAGT 1 match
- Teach the Earth 3 matches
Results 1 - 10 of 27 matches
Base Isolation for Earthquake Resistance part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
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.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Project, Lab Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience, Engineering, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Seismic Slinky: Modeling P and S waves part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
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.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Classroom Activity, Outreach Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Earthquake Hazard Maps & Liquefaction: Alaska emphasis part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
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.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Mass Wasting, Earthquakes, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Engineering
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Fault Models for Teaching About Plate Tectonics part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
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.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Geology:Tectonics
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Human Wave: Modeling P and S Waves part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) and ShakeAlert
Lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, learners are the medium that P and S waves travel through in this simple, but effective demonstration. Once "performed", the principles of P and S waves will not be easily forgotten. This demonstration explores two of the four main ways energy propagates from the hypocenter of an earthquake as P and S seismic waves. The physical nature of the Human Wave demonstration makes it a highly engaging kinesthetic learning activity that helps students grasp, internalize and retain abstract information.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Outreach Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Seismology, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Earthquake Machine part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
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.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Outreach Activity, Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience, Geology:Tectonics
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Unit 6: Capstone: A modern catastrophic volcanic eruption? part of Earths Thermostat
Bob Mackay, Clark College; Phil Resor, Wesleyan University; Allison Dunn, Worcester State University
This unit is the module's capstone project: developing a conceptual model of the climatic and societal effects of a catastrophic volcanic eruption occurring in modern times. Through independent research and ...
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Course Module, Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Natural causes, Paleoclimate records, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Paleoclimate records, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Natural causes
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Learn more about this review process.
Unit 5: Summative assessment project part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Bruce Douglas (Indiana University)
Chris Crosby (EarthScope Consortium)
Kate Shervais (UNAVCO)
Unit 5 is the summative assessment for the module. This final exercise takes eight to ten hours. The exercise evaluates students' developed skills in survey design, execution of a geodetic survey, and simple ...
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities, Course Module
Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Sedimentary Geology:Stratigraphy, Depositional environments:Continental, Geoscience:Geology:Sedimentary Geology:Facies and Facies Models, Sedimentary Structures, Geoscience:Geology:Geophysics:Geophysics in other disciplines, Geography:Geospatial, Geoscience:Geology:Historical Geology, Geophysics:Geodesy, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:GIS/Mapping/Field Techniques, Landforms/Processes, Geoscience:Paleontology:Preservation and Taphonomy, Field Techniques , Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Tectonics, Geomorphology:Landscape Evolution, Tectonic Geomorphology, Geomorphology as applied to other disciplines, Geography:Physical, Geoscience:Geology:Structural Geology:Folds/Faults/Ductile Shear Zones
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.
Learn more about this review process.
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.
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
Learn more about this review process.
Alaska Earthquake Hazard Inventory & Mitigation Planning part of EarthScope ANGLE:Educational Materials:Activities
Bonnie Magura (Portland Public Schools), CEETEP (Cascadia EarthScope Earthquake and Tsunami Education Program), and ANGLE Project
In this two-part activity, students/participants first: - Complete a Hazard Inventory for their city or area of interest in the event of a magnitude 7 or larger earthquake and tsunami. - Identify what critical structures and infrastructure will be affected. Then: - Write a summary statement assessing strengths and vulnerabilities of essential services or infrastructure. - Propose actions for mitigating vulnerabilities. - Create an Action Plan to address identified needs.
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity, Project
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Marine Hazards, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Coastal Hazards:Tsunami, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Mass Wasting, Subsidence
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary
Learn more about this review process.