Eruption Simulation

Make a volcano erupt in your own classroom! Young scientists use household and craft materials to model and simulate the eruption of a volcano.

Did you know the largest volcano in our solar system is on Mars? Young scholars measure and experiment with how to predict lava and mud flows. This knowledge leads to better evacuation, safety, and preventative methods. 

A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving instructional activity. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with...

Volcanoes are among the most spectacular geological features on the planet. Jump into an exploration of these amazing phenomenon with this multimedia lesson series. Working collaboratively in small groups, young scientists view videos...

Students explore ways scientists prepare for a volcanic eruption. They observe films of earthquakes, oil spills, volcanoes and hurricanes. Students perform activities to demonstrate the relationship of viscosity to lava flow. They...

Students examine how gas pressure causes eruptions of explosive volcanoes, and demonstrate how the build-up of gas from dissolving alka seltzer causes the lid of a film canister to blow off. They compare/contrast between the model and...

Students role-play as villagers, the governor, volcanologists, or the press in a simulation about the possible threat of a nearby volcanic eruption.

Students comprehend tsunamis, where they are likely to occur, and that underwater earthquakes cause them. They discuss what can be done to protect people form a tsunami, such as using computerized bupys, wave simulation machines,...

Students participate in a demonstration that helps them visualize mudflows and how they move.  In this exploratory instructional activity students simulate a mudflow and create an avalanche.

Students build models of the three major types of volcanoes and see how a volcano's shape is related to the type of material it erupts. As a class, they observe a demonstration that simulates the nature of two volcanic materials: lava...