Earthquake Lesson Plans

Discuss how technology is used to communicate information regarding earthquakes and tsunamis by having students develop their own public safety announcement for hazard mitigation purposes. They will go through the scientific method to develop their presentation in order to show how technology can be used to address problems. Great small group project!

Students discuss major causes of earthquakes and identify famous fault lines, access and map information about ten largest earthquakes in world from 1989 to 1998, and theorize about location of these earthquakes as they relate to Earth's tectonic plates. Students then track current quakes online for one week, and create multimedia presentation describing how and why earthquakes occur.

Sixth graders simulate primary and secondary waves. In this earthquakes waves lesson, 6th graders experiment using a slinky to gain understanding of how waves are created during an earthquake. Students record observations in drawings. students research the epicenter of an earthquake. Students write reflections.

Fifth graders plot Earthquakes and note how they follow the fault line.  In this Earthquake lesson, 5th graders navigate a website and become familiar with the concept that Earthquakes happen along fault lines.  Students locate and understand there are different types of fault lines (convergent, divergent,strike-slip)

Students explore the basics of earthquakes and volcanoes. Using this information, they brainstorm how people in cities must prepare for these types of disasters. They are read the story "Three Little Pigs" and discuss the importance of having sturdy buildings. They draw pictures or write a letter to the pigs telling them how to prepare their home for an earthquake.

Students review plate tectonics, and the relationship between plate movements and earthquakes before participating in an activity. Working in groups, they create proposals for a city government in which they analyze the possible impact of an earthquake on different neighborhoods in the city.

Students study the main methods to measure earthquakes, the Richter Scale and Mercalli Scale. They make a model of a seismograph and investigate which structural designs are most likely to survive an earthquake.

Ninth graders build an "Earthquake Machine" (a manipulative model of a fault line) and use it to explore stick-slip behavior of some faults and to develop a more accurate definition of an earthquake and its causes.

Students discuss the effects of earthquakes. In this earth science lesson, students create earthquake models and earthquake-proof buildings. They construct their own seismograph.

Students simulate earthquakes utilizing an online program, and examine the earthquake-proofing construction for their building. They chart and analyze their simulated data using