Unit 2.5: Applying what we've learned: How can a volcanic eruption or earthquake shake the whole world?

After completing this unit, students will:

• Construct a system map, distinguish it from list-making and note its utility for organizing thoughts and explaining scientific concepts.
• Apply and synthesize foundational concepts of energy, power, energy transformations, and the first law of thermodynamics to explain the processes and phenomena associated with the Hunga Tonga Volcanic Eruption.

Plan for these materials to take 80-95 minutes of class time to complete. These materials are easily adaptable to large and small classrooms. While these materials are written assuming an in-person synchronous classroom, they could be adapted to an asynchronous classroom without much effort.

In this course, plate tectonics are implicitly or explicitly themes in all three main overarching units: Unit 2.5 about the Hunga Tonga Volcano's energy, Units 3.5 and 3.6 on density and layering, and Unit 4.3 on Forces. Complete all of these parts so that your students can build a deep understanding by viewing this topic through a variety of different lenses.

Teaching Materials:

All Slides: Unit 2.5 All Slides v2 (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 38.4MB Aug30 24)

Pre-Class Assignment Instructor Copy:

Unit 2.5 Pre-class assignment - instructor copy v2 -- educator-only file

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Pre-Class Reading Assignment (A hypothesis is a liability): U2.5 A hypothesis is a liability.pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 613kB Jul8 24)

Sample Student System Maps: U2.5 Sample Student Responses.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 8.3MB Jul8 24)

Reflection Assignment: Unit 2.5 Reflection System Mapping v2 (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 69kB Aug30 24)

Scientist Spotlight Full Resource (this is reflection 4): Scientist Spotlight Slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 4.6MB Jul8 24)

Other Materials: computer and projector, white board or chalk board with markers/chalk, materials to complete a gallery walk (this is probably several large sheets of paper to tape on the walls of your room and at least one marker per group. In pilot, editable google slides was used with success as well).

Pre-class Assignment(s):

• Revisit the Unit 2.1 slides. Write a 2-4 sentence summary that "answers" the motivating question based on your current understanding of energy, power, energy transformations, waves, and the law of conservation of energy. What major unanswered questions do you have about how a volcano's energy is transported? (Note: This is a shortened version of the Unit 2.4 Reflection prompt. It is not necessary to assign both, but you want your students to enter this class having revisited the motivating question since they might not have been thinking much about it for the past few classes.)
• Read the open-access journal article "A hypothesis is a liability" and answer the questions:
  • What is "day science" and what is "night science"?
  • What are the possible strengths and weaknesses (in your opinion) about using Just in Time Teaching the rigid focus of "day science" and/or the open-ended freedom of "night science" for teaching and learning science?

In Class (80-95 min):

Warm-up Activity is a Gallery Walk (15-30 min)

• Place the topics below each on a large sheet of paper taped to the walls around the room. In small groups students visit each station for 3-4 minutes and then move on to the next station. The activity is complete when groups return to their original station. Each sheet of paper asks students write & discuss what they understand about energy, power, waves, energy transformations, and energy conservation.
  • In larger classes, multiple copies of each question can be used.
  • For a shorter ~15 min warm-up activity, format these questions as an editable google slides document (instructions are in the powerpoint slides) or on a whiteboard/chalkboard with many markers/pieces of chalk so students can add their comments in real time during class.

Class Discussion and Small Group Work (60 min)

• Overview and introduction to System Mapping. In this small group activity with regular class-wide check-ins, students are introduced to and gain confidence in their ability to construct a system map that synthesizes the connections between course topics. Have the students hang on to these system maps (digital copies are great) because they will return these for the reflection at the end of this unit.
  • Students create their first system map by revisiting a familiar demonstration from the Energy Transformations Activity in Unit 2.3: The Killer Pendulum. 
  • Students also analyze a system map about the COVID-19 pandemic from a published peer-reviewed paper. 

Wrap up (5 min) 

• Introduce the Unit 2.5 Reflection. In this unit's reflection, students finish their system maps and explain them in words. Make sure students are clear on expectations and that the materials we have just worked on in class are an important beginning. 

This unit is designed for synthesis and not to introduce any new materials. It could be adapted for use in any lower-level science class as reinforcement and to develop system mapping tools.

A pre-class assignment (described above) is graded for completion only, not correctness. Administer using the same format throughout your course (through the LMS, turn in paper copies, guided discussion/participation in class, etc.). Consider setting the due date an hour or so before your class begins to give you time to summarize where your students sit with these concepts (this is a form of Just in Time Teaching).

As usual, this unit concludes with a Reflection: Create a System Map for the Hunga Tonga Volcanic Eruption. Be sure to include as much detail as you can about the concepts we have been discussing in class. In about 500 words, discuss the content from your system map in a way that shows complete understanding of the material. Reflect on the material in your system map in a thoughtful manner, linking concepts to experiences outside of the class itself and/or previous content used in class. Explain specific examples.

Pre-Class Reading Citation: Yanai, I., & Lercher, M. (2020). A hypothesis is a liability. Genome biology, 21(1), 1-5.

The way of describing a system model used in this unit is adapted from the InTeGrate Module called Unit 3: Modeling a System.

Sahin O, Salim H, Suprun E, Richards R, MacAskill S, Heilgeist S, Rutherford S, Stewart RA, Beal CD. Developing a Preliminary Causal Loop Diagram for Understanding the Wicked Complexity of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Systems. 2020; 8(2):20. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems8020020

• The system map in this article is used as an example system map.

Here is more great material that is specific to the Hunga-Tonga Eruption:

• Graphic: why the ocean depth of the Hunga Tonga caldera created the 'sweet spot' that produced such an explosive eruption from Alistair Hamill's twitter page, @lcgeography
• 90-second PBS video on subduction zone volcanoes
• 12-point twitter thread on plate tectonics from Alistair Hamill's twitter page, @lcgeography
• Volcanic hazards infographic from Alistair Hamill's twitter page, @lcgeography
• Destructive Plate Margins article from Internet Geography
• Deep down temperature shifts give rise to eruptions from the European Space Agency
• Deep down temperature shifts give rise to eruptions from Sci Tech Daily
• What we know about the Tonga eruption, four months on from Radio New Zealand
• A video appearing to show a large sonic boom following the Tonga volcano eruption from Alistair Hamill's twitter page, @lcgeography