Title:

Mapping Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Grade Level:

6

Subject:

Science

Author:

kweirbrown

Lesson Plan Type:

Experiential Learning

Keywords:

ring of fire, earthquakes, volcanoes, map, plate boundaries

Brief Description:

Students will receive longitude and latitude coordinates for one earthquake and one volcano.  They will create a Google map and locate their assigned coordinates.  For each pin, students will title the pin with the coordinates and select the push pin that represents the location (volcano or earthquake).  They will include an image and brief description for the earthquake or volcano (ie: magnitude, location, date or type of volcano, eruption, date of last eruption).  Each map will be combined for the whole class and then shown in Google Earth.  The plate boundary overlay can also be added to contribute to student understanding of plate boundaries and earthquakes/volcanoes.

California State Standards Addressed:

Science/6/Focus on Earth Science)1.0

Goal(s):

Students will recognize that earthquakes and volcanoes are located at plate boundaries and these events can result in catastrophic changes.

Specific Objectives:

 

Required Materials:

1. create index cards for each of the earthquake and volcano coordinates provided on the PDF file (I put one volcano and one earthquake on each card using red lettering for volcanoes and blue lettering for earthquakes)
2. computer with google map and Earth

Anticipatory Set (Lead-in):

 

Lesson Plan Procedure:

1. create the index cards for each earthquake and volcano on the PDF file (write earthquakes in blue and volcanoes in red)
2. students create a google map and identify their earthquake with a seismogram marker and their volcano with a volcano marker found in the push pin section of google maps
3. students should add key information in the description box of their markers (image and facts) - global volcanism program has a great website for all volcano information see: http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/
4. students send the map to teacher by selecting the collaborate button and adding teacher's email
5. teacher imports all maps into one map (save each map as kml and then import one by one into a blank map so students can see where their points show up)
6. teacher shows resulting map to students for discussion
7. teacher opens map in Google Earth and adds the plate boundary overlay from USGS for discussion of location of earthquakes/volcanoes and boundaries

Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):

discussion of Ring of Fire and converging boundaries importance for activity

Plan for Independent Practice:

 

Assessment Based on Objectives:

Students create a wordle or tagxedo that demonstrate what they learned. 

Possible Connections to Other Subjects:

 

Adaptations and Extensions:

Students can create a google presentation for their assigned earthquake or volcano and link it to the description box.  
Students can write a newscaster report of the disaster. 

Additional Notes:

 An alternative to giving students the longitude and latitude to start with would be to assign them a region of the map to plot volcanoes and earthquakes within that region.  This might be a good alternative because my students struggled with working from the coordinates.  If they have a region, then they can get the coordinates and information at the same time.