When discussing tsunamis it is good to discuss that some tsunamis can reach hundreds of feet high if the conditions are right. In 1958 that is what happened after a landslide generated a 1720 foot tsunami. This video shows a scientist discussing evidence found that Lituya Bay has had other tsunamis this big in the past.
This is an edited version of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. This video does a great job telling the story of the tsunami from the video of those who survived. Make sure you have tissues because there are some sad parts. I edited out any corpses that were videoed as well as any usage of bad language and too close of view of people wearing inappropriate clothing that might get teachers in trouble. I did my best to make this video classroom-friendly.
This is an entertaining newscast that interviews scientists and what they have to say about the movie San Andreas. I show this video in class to demonstrate reality vs Hollywood.
Honeybees create their honey-cone out of hexagons. Why is this? This video demonstrates how bees use math to maximize space and energy.
This is an interactive digital glacier lab that will help students understand what glaciers are, what some of the formations and deposits look like, and will have students explore how glaciers grow and shrink, and how scientists go about discovering glacial movement speeds over time as well as finding out how scientists come up with the numbers of how long glaciers will last at current rates. Students will actually be the scientist discovering the rate of speed as they build their own interactive glacier using Phet. You will need computers that can run Java.
In this lab, students will take piles of sand and determine what the sand's angle of repose is. Students will compare 4 trials and see at how many degrees slope will the sand be able to handle before it has a landslide. There is math involved in this process. Students will then answer some questions based on their observations.
For more Earth Science labs and activities, visit EarthScience.xyz
This file includes all of the assignments, instructions, lab notes, labs, worksheets, and presentations to teach the first chapter of Earth science. Students will get the opportunity to explore the scientific method through both hands-on and digital labs.
Included are:
1 presentation in both PowerPoint and Google Doc
5 Earth Science both digital and hands-on labs
Vocabulary words included on the test
3 ways of integrating technology
All of the worksheets and instructions for the labs and assignments.
2 videos
This Google search activity allows students to go to the internet to search for specific minerals and then to use the Periodic Table to discover what elements the mineral is made out of. This activity usually takes a full 50 minutes for the students to find all of the answers. Students will investigate 12 different minerals and which elements make the mineral up. They will look at a periodic table and decide whether the elements are metals or nonmetals. Students will also search the internet and find out some industrial uses for each mineral.
In this web research activity, students will research 14 volcanoes via the internet. All of these volcanoes are famous for either their size of eruption or the continuous eruptions that they have. They are famous for causing large tsunamis, huge pyroclastic flows, and lahars, as well as some that might not be so dangerous but have flowed continuously for many years. Students will enhance their geography knowledge by plotting the volcano's location on a plate tectonic map. They will find out when the last eruption occurred.
In this EdTech Earth Science activity, students will use Google Drawing to create an image that demonstrates the three main types of earthquake faults, Transverse, Normal, and Reverse. They will find 2 real images of each type of fault. They will draw arrows pointing in the direction that the forces, shear, compression, and tension are moving on each image. They will also find and add an actual diagram of each type of fault. Finally, students will label the hanging wall and footwall on each image except for the transverse/strike-slip.