4.16
Earthquake!
Russell G. Wright. Event-Based Science series. Menlo Park, Calif.: Innovative Learning Publications, 1996.
Program Overview
The Event-Based Science series is a program for middle school students in grades 6-9. Each module tells the story of a real event--such as the 1995 outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire--through reprinted newspaper articles and personal interviews; sections of background information explain relevant scientific concepts. A central task related to the module's story line leads to a final product that allows students to apply the science they have learned. For each module, a student book, teacher's guide, and videotape and/or videodisc are available.
Student Edition
Recommended grade level:
7-8.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is the event on which this 5-weekstudy of concepts associated with earthquakes is based. The concepts addressed in Earthquake! include faults, earth structure, plate tectonics, liquefaction, and landslides. Students begin the module by watching television news coverage and reading newspaper accounts of the 1989 California earthquake. They are told that their major task during the module will be to design, in 6-member teams, a city for a geographical area with a history of seismic activity.
The module's 8 activities provide students with the background information and skills they need for their task. For example, students identify regions of the earth where earthquakes occur, and they select possible sites for the city-planning project. They investigate conditions that produce liquefaction during an earthquake. They also design and construct a model of an earthquake-resistant building, and they design an experiment to test ways of making a house resist landslides. In another activity, students determine how reliable predictions of major earthquakes have to be before they should be made public.
The module provides short narratives on topics such as tectonic plates, faults, and earthquake preparedness; copies of actual newspaper articles; explanatory graphics; and profiles of professionals involved in site development and planning--for example, geologists, transportation experts, city planners, architects, and civil engineers. Middle school students who experienced the Loma Prieta earthquake tell their stories throughout the module. Other information that students need to complete their task must be obtained from encyclopedias, textbooks, films, magazines, and other sources they can find. The unit culminates with the presentation of student teams' city plans. Teachers may want to supplement or exchange the activities in the unit depending on the latest "real event" in the news.
Teacher's Edition
The teacher's guide provides brief overview information on the module's structure and activities. It includes suggestions for guiding specific student activities, a scoring rubric for a performance assessment, and a list of resources.
Key to Content Standards: 5-8 (see app. C)
UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES: Systems, order, and organization; evidence, models, and explanation; change, constancy, and measurement; form and function.
SCIENCE AS INQUIRY: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry; understandings about scientific inquiry.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE: Structure of the earth system.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Abilities of technological design; understandings about science and technology.
SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: Natural hazards; risks and benefits; science and technology in society.
HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE: Science as a human endeavor; nature of science.
Prices:
Student edition (ISBN 0-201-49092-7), $7.95. Teacher's edition (ISBN 0-201-49093-5), with video, $18.00. Classroom package, $115.00.
Publisher/supplier:
Addison-Wesley/Longman.
Materials:
Available locally.
Topic Index listings linked to this entry
Use these listings to find related entries.
Earth's structure, Earth Sciences: Exploring Earth Science,
Earthquakes, Earth Sciences: Concepts and Challenges in Earth Science, ~ Exploring Earth Science, ~ Glencoe Earth Science, ~ Earth Processes, Earthquakes, ~ Project Earth Science: Geology, ~ Blue Planet, ~ Earthquakes: A Teacher's Package for K-6, ~ Earth Science Investigations, ~ Janice VanCleave's Earthquakes: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn into Science Fair Projects, ~ Measuring Earthquakes, ~ On the Rocks: Earth Science Activities for Grades 1-8, ~ Science Experiments: Earth Science, Multi & Applied Sciences: Integrated Science: Book Two, ~ Investigating Patterns of Change, ~ Science Interactions: Course 1, ~ Science Interactions: Course 2, ~ Scientific Theories, ~ Super Science Activities: Favorite Lessons from Master Teachers.
Faults, Earth Sciences: Earth Processes, Earthquakes: A Teacher's Package for K-6, ~ Janice VanCleave's Earthquakes: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn into Science Fair Projects.
Models, Physical Sciences: Glencoe Physical Science, ~ Matter: Building Block of the Universe, ~ Chemical Interactions, ~ Experimenting with Model Rockets, ~ Inventor's Lab, ~ Newton's Toy Box, ~ Experiments with Balloons, ~ Experiments with Motion, ~ LEGO Technic I Activity Center, ~ Machines, ~ Science Experiments: Chemistry and Physics, ~ Simple and Motorized Machines Activity Pack, ~ Soap Films and Bubbles, ~ Structures, Life Sciences: Glencoe Life Science, ~ Heredity: The Code of Life, ~ DNA--From Genes to Proteins, ~ Food, Energy, and Growth, ~ From Genes to Jeans: An Activity-Based Unit on Genetic Engineering and Agriculture, ~ The Human Body: How Can I Maintain and Care for Myself?, ~ An Introduction to Biotechnology: Book 2, ~ Life Changes through Time, ~ You and Your Body, ~ Zebra Mussel Mania, ~ The Molecular Model of DNA and Its Replication Kit, ~ Order and Diversity in the Living World: Teaching Taxonomy and Systematics in Schools, Environmental Sciences: Plastics in Our Lives, ~ Water: Can We Keep It Fit for Life?, ~ Environmental Issues: Intermediate, ~ Environmental Resource Guide: Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention, ~ Global Awareness for Students (GAS): Studies in Climate, ~ H2O Below: An Activity Guide for Groundwater Study, ~ STV: Water, Earth Sciences: Project STAR: The Universe in Your Hands, ~ Asteroid!, ~ Earth, Moon, and Stars, ~ Earth Processes, Earthquakes, ~ The Moons of Jupiter, ~ Project Earth Science: Geology, ~ River Cutters, ~ Stories in Stone, ~ The Universe: Exploring Stars, Constellations, and Galaxies, ~ Earthquakes: A Teacher's Package for K-6, ~ Earth Science Investigations, ~ Earthy Things, ~ Hands-On Geology: K-12 Activities and Resources, ~ Janice VanCleave's Earthquakes: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn into Science Fair Projects, ~ On the Rocks: Earth Science Activities for Grades 1-8, ~ Project SPICA: A Teacher Resource to Enhance Astronomy Education, ~ A Sedimentary Geologists' Guide to Helping K-12 Earth Science Teachers: Hints, Ideas, Activities and Resources, Multi & Applied Sciences: Models and Designs, ~ Prime Science: Level C, ~ Energy Transformations: Fourth Module in Bio-Related Technologies Unit, ~ Hot Water and Warm Homes from Sunlight, ~ How Telecommunication Works: How People Use Energy to Communicate, ~ If Shipwrecks Could Talk, ~ JASON IV Curriculum: Baja California Sur, ~ Life: Here? There? Elsewhere? The Search for Life on Venus and Mars, ~ Packaging, ~ A Sunken Ship, ~ The Teaching Tank Discovery Book, ~ The Teaching Tank Discovery Book, ~ Technology Science Mathematics Connection Activities, ~ Transformations: Science, Technology and Society.
Plate tectonics, Earth Sciences: Concepts and Challenges in Earth Science, ~ Exploring Earth Science, ~ Glencoe Earth Science, ~ Earth Processes, Project Earth Science: Geology, ~ Volcano!, Multi & Applied Sciences: Integrated Science: Book Two, ~ Investigating Patterns of Change, ~ Science 2000: Science 1 (Grade 7), ~ Science 2000: Science 2 (Grade 8), ~ JASON VI: Island Earth, Hawai'i Expedition Curriculum, ~ Super Science Activities: Favorite Lessons from Master Teachers.
Seismic activity, Earth Sciences: Earth Processes,
