Students explore earthquakes and seismic waves. They investigate how energy is released in the subsurface to create seismic waves. Students explore the inner workings of a seismograph and how they are used to determine the location of an...

Here is a comprehensive package in which middle schoolers learn about types of seismic waves, triangulation, and tectonic plate boundaries. Complete vocabulary, colorful maps, and a worksheet are included via links on the webpage. You...

Students work together to discuss seismic waves. Using seismograph records, they practice determining where the epicenter of the earthquake was located. They identify and illustrate the three types of waves and how the records can be...

Seismologists use the direction and arrival times of p waves and s waves to determine the distance to the source of an earthquake. The engaging lesson has students line up to form human waves. Through different movements when attached,...

Nice pictures, maps and informative diagrams are incorporated into this PowerPoint about earthquake types and the types of waves carrying energy produced.  There are a number of pages explaining scientific terminology and diagrams...

Students inspect the causes and effects of earthquakes and examine how seismic waves travel. In this earthquake lesson, students determine where earthquakes happen and why, before determining how to build an earthquake resistant...

After learning about P waves and S waves, fifth graders view the intensity of earthquakes by examining seismographs and images of earthquake damage. Young scientists then forecasting future quakes by analyzing data about...

Beginning with a pre-lab, kindergarteners trace the letters in the word earthquake and discuss what happens in an earthquake. The lab portion allows young scientists realize that earthquakes trigger shaking of different intensities...

The epicenter is the point on the ground above the initial point of rupture. The 10th instructional activity in a series of 20 encourages scholars to learn to triangulate the epicenter of an earthquake based on the arrival times of...

A multi-part lesson opens with a review of p waves and s waves. Then scholars use a simple s wave simulator to view the way the wave travels. Next, pupils use cups and various fluids to simulate p waves moving through different...

Shake your earthquake-resistant building prototype! Groups create structures using coffee stirrers and clay that can withstand seismic waves. They then test their structures against their own earthquakes.

Learners identify the four types of seismic waves, their characteristics and effects. Then they predict the level of damage each wave might cause in a residential area and test their predictions against several computer animations. ...

The scientific explanation of seismic waves is detailed in the introduction. A fictional scenario is also provided for your class to discuss. Pictures and handouts that are meant to be included, however, they are not accessible....

The last unit in the series allows kindergarteners to see the dangers and hazards associated with each of the natural disasters learned so far in the series—earthquakes and volcanoes. They listen to sounds associated with the...

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....

High schoolers read an online article at CNNfyi.com to determine what happened in India after an earthquake. They determine the magnitude of this earthquake and address the issue of relief efforts from other countries.

Students investigate the Richter scale and seismology in a teacher-led lab in which they are introduced to the concept of seismic waves and epicenter location. They further investigate the inner workings of a seismograph and practice...

Shake things up in your STEM or earth science classroom when you have small groups construct their own seismographs. A reading assignment on the history of seismographs, the Richter scale, and current technology sets the stage for the...

High schoolers discover the differences between P- and S-waves using a slinky. They see that when displacement occurs along a fault, the built up strain of energy is released in the form of seismic waves.

Students view a video and conduct a problem solving activity to explain the effect different waves have on the earth's structure and what effect they have on different structures.

Students discuss seismic waves. In this science lesson, students investigate the acceleration of the floor in the classroom similar to a seismograph. Students observe a three-component seismogram from an earthquake and determine what it...

Students investigate the current model for the structure of the Earth. On a world map, they mark areas where they think earthquakes and volcanoes occur and compare those areas with earthquake and volcano location patterns.

Young scholars examine plate tectonics and the causative effect of earthquakes.  For this tectonics lesson students differentiate between the types of energy waves that cause earthquakes and tsunamis and how waves travel at...

Plumb the depths of the Submarine Ring of Fire and explore seismic waves with this lesson. Junior geologists simulate s-waves and p-waves, calculate their speeds, and then apply the data to discover the material that makes up inner...