Plot That Quake!


Introduction
Teacher's Component
Standards
Requirements
Assessment
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PURPOSE

Earthquakes occur every day. Very few of them are felt, but no day passes without a minor tremor. Despite this, earthquakes do not occur everywhere on the Earth. Information about recent earthquakes is easily accessible over the WWW and the purpose of this lesson is to involve students in the activities of data collection and analysis to foster questions about the how, when, where, and why of earthquakes.

OVERVIEW

This exercise uses information available over the Internet to engage students in the studey of global seismicity. The core activity of this lesson is plotting earthquake locations on a map. Through this exercise, students will make weekly observations on the number of earthquakes and their distribution. Journal entries and class reports will allow students to hypothesize about why earthquakes occur where they do. The unit is best conducted over the course of a year and will require 30-60 minutes a week.

OBJECTIVES

Students will collect and analyze data on earthquake locations to learn the following concepts:
  • The Earth is a dynamic planet.
  • Earthquakes occur every day.
  • Earthquakes do not occur everywhere on the Earth
  • Earthquakes tend to occur in belts or bands
  • Earthquakes have different sizes
  • Earthquakes occur at different depths