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Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Erosion (December 31, 2004, Two)

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Program Summary

Guests

Related Links and Resources

For Discussion:

Activities

Earthquakes!

Rock and roll. The resources on the Internet about earthquakes are endless. Here are some lesson plans and sites for kids that provide well-organized information, great visuals, and fun activities.

· The Riverdeep EarthScience Center is a wonderful interactive virtual laboratory. You need Flash, Quicktime, and Simplayer, which can be downloaded for free at the new visitor orientation page.

· U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS's) Earthquake Hazards Program offers Earthquakes for Kids, a colorful, entertaining, and fascinating site, with facts, activities, science fair ideas, and more.

· 'Savage Earth: Restless Planet,' an episode of PBS's 'Savage Earth' series, has great videos and animations and a sense of humor.

· Earthquakes: Getting Ready for the Big One is a lesson plan from DiscoverySchool.com.

Quake country. Earthquakes aren't just in California. They occur all over the world. One of the worst American quakes was in Louisiana in 1811. Find out more about it at New Madrid Fault (National Geographic News, December 12, 2000). Recent Earthquakes in the U.S.A. is a map of the United States updated daily to show recent earthquakes around the country. Clicking on a colored square tells where and when one happened and how big it was.

Building for the bump and grind. Shake, Rattle and Roll: Designing for Adversity, from the National Science Foundation, has students experiment with different materials to give an understanding of how the ground behaves in an earthquake and how to design earthquake-safe structures. Constructing Earthquake-Proof Buildings (DiscoverySchool.com) teaches the same subject and has instructions for building an earthquake machine.

Hurricanes!

Be prepared. The University of Illinois site Children, Stress, and Natural Disasters includes classroom activities and curriculum suggestions for teachers to help students prepare for, survive, and deal with a natural disaster such as a hurricane.

Create a disaster supply kit. Point students to FEMA for Kidsto learn what things they’ll need should disaster strike. There's even a section on how to prepare pets for disaster.

Beach Erosion!

Tools of the trade. Students can learn how climatologists ply their trade at the Climatologist's Toolbox. In addition to learning how climatologists extract and study ice core samples, students can also learn how scientists take the Earth's temperature, what studying lake sediments teaches, the stories tree rings tell, and how computers help paint the 'big picture,' climatologically speaking.

Melting Matters. Kilimanjaro isn't the only glacier that is melting. Many tropical glaciers are shrinking as are those in coastal areas. The melt releases large amounts of water into the oceans, raising the sea level. There are numerous consequences to this. Direct students to Sea Level: Ice Volume Changes, a Web page produced by the Ocean Drilling Distance Learning Program of Texas A & M University. There they will find activities and information about short- and long-term effects of melting glaciers and changing sea levels.

Now you see it, now you don't. Whyfiles' Disappearing Beaches takes a sharp look at beach erosion; a QuickTime movie puts it into dramatic perspective. Disappearing Sand, a Web quest from Newspapers in Education, explores the nature of sand, the problem of erosion, and possible solutions. A link takes students to Dr. Beach, a clever site that discusses the beach from a doctor-patient point of view, with diagnoses, prescriptions, and prevention. It also describes the qualities of the best beaches in the country.

Life's a beach. For interesting articles and arresting photographs, visit Coastal and Nearshore Erosion (U.S. Geological Survey), which zooms in on the effects of El Nino and hurricanes on our coastlines. One erosion study documents the disappearance of a 'sea stack' in Oregon over the last 100 years.

No butts about it. Can you guess what’s the most common type of trash found on beaches? Cigarette butts. Visit the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup page. Click on the Cleanup Locator Map to see if there's a coordinator for your state and learn how your students can participate in this year's cleanup, scheduled for September 18. The site is full of fun facts and stories about interesting things found during past cleanups. For example, in 2002, volunteers cleaned up 8.22 million pounds of debris. That's heavier than 205 full garbage trucks. Even if your school is nowhere near a beach, your students can use the information on this site to create charts, graphs, and reports about beach pollution worldwide.

Here today, gone tomorrow. Three lesson plans tackle the issue of erosion. Students read Beaches on the Brink, then discuss it at The Threatening Effects of Erosion (CNNfyi.com). This lesson includes a demonstration of how erosion creates and destroys landmasses. Coasts, an ecology lesson from Discovery School, studies the different types of coasts around the country. Check out Coastal America Education to learn about this organization's learning centers and the program they offer. Volunteer projects are also described. Coastal Development, from National Geographic, focuses of the impact of urban development on coastal ecosystems.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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