Module V - Ocean Systems Introduction

Essential Question:
How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?



Introduction
With ocean covering more than 70% of the planet's surface, it's safe to say that water provides another good example of how on Earth, everything is connected.

For millennia, cultures have relied on the oceans for transportation, food and other vital resources. It's no wonder more than 50% of all people on Earth live within 50 miles of a coast. And it's no wonder so many of Alaska's indigenous cultures are closely connected to the sea. But ultimately, all cultures share a vital connection to Earth's extraordinary oceans, as we will soon explore.

There are many excellent reasons to deepen our understanding of our oceans; World famous ocean explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle has said, "I think there's a perception we have already explored the sea. The reality is we know more about Mars than we know about the oceans."

Until recent, the longest mountain chain, the tallest mountain and the deepest canyon were understood as terrestrial features. But in less than one human life-time we have since discovered that, in fact, these great features are found under the sea. The list of ocean superlatives and fascinating facts is long and growing longer every day as we learn more about this seemingly alien world found at our shores.

To study our oceans is to open up a tremendous number of possible topics. For the purposes of this module, we will focus scientifically on the role the ocean plays in absorbing and distributing thermal energy; Culturally, we'll explore the myriad connections that many Alaska Natives share with the sea.

Module V - Cultural Connections

ENGAGE

Cultural Connections
Later in this module we will explore, among other ideas, how seasons are the result of Earth's tilt and orbit around the sun. We will also explore how latitude influences climate and how ocean circulation connects all parts and peoples of the planet.

Returning to our exploration of how everything is connected from an indigenous perspective, it's certainly safe to say that people who live closest to land and/or ocean resources have an especially deep understanding of the seasons and the influence of climate on the resources upon which they depend.



EXPLORE

Teacher's Domain
Let's take a look at two TD videos. Living From the Land and Sea describes just that. As well, we can make connections between western scientific study of ocean temperatures and the ocean food webs that indigenous people have a deep historical knowledge of in the TD video, Warmer Oceans Affect Food Web.


Living From the Land and Sea






Warmer Oceans Affect Food Web






EXPLAIN

• How are the seasons and latitude connected to climate and the lives of Alaska Natives?
• What is the role of the ocean to climate and the lives of Alaska Natives.

EXTEND

• What cultural resources exist where you are?
  
• What do long-time residents have to say about climate/ocean dynamics?
  

EVALUATE

• What is the value of Teachers' Domain in providing knowledge from both ways of knowing?

ENGAGE

Career Connections
The earliest encounters between Alaska Natives and Europeans occurred when Russian explorers and fur traders discovered Alaska, along with its abundance of commercially valuable sea otters--and the Unangan people who had discovered Alaska countless generations prior and knew best how to hunt otter.

Apart from the tragic stories of disease and deprivation that followed, comes a story of strength and redemption in the life of Dolly Garza--A Tlingit and Haida Scientist, whose life is dedicated to the study of these cute and voracious otters, along with the preservation of her culture.

EXPLORE

Dolly Garza--A Tlingit and Haida Scientist






EXPLAIN

• What connections does Garza make between her studies and importance of her Native culture?
• How does Garza compare western science to Native ways of knowing?

EXTEND

• How might Alaska Native students view modern science in light of Garza's example?
  

EVALUATE

• What is the value of Teachers' Domain in providing knowledge from both ways of knowing?

Module V - Getting Into Hot Water

Essential Question:
How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?

On the Scientific Side
It is impossible to discuss the important function the ocean plays in absorbing and releasing thermal energy without addressing how the atmosphere interacts with the surface of the ocean. However, we will explore that role more directly in following modules. For now, we'll start with the physics of heat absorption and transfer mechanisms in the ocean.

ENGAGE

Getting Into Hot Water - Blab...
It sometimes seems as though a watched kettle never boils. And we've all shivered outside the shower before drying off. Embedded within these commonplace experiences lies a deeper truth about the nature of thermal energy and how it interacts with one of the most common substances on Earth--water.

All substances absorb, and in turn release, heat at various rates depending on the nature of the substance. To illustrate this point, place each hand on two different surfaces, for example a book and a tabletop. No doubt you notice the surfaces as having different temperatures.

But let's rethink that; both surfaces are the same temperature if they've been in the same room for a period of time. What is different is the rate at which the two surfaces absorb and release heat. This is the expression of their specific heat capacity.

For the same reason, solar energy arriving at the Earth's surface falling on both land and ocean creates dramatically different results, as daytime and nighttime temperature differences vary considerably between the two.

Because land has a lower heat capacity than water, it heats and cools more easily, becoming hot quickly during the day and cooling off quickly at night. Conversely, temperature between night and day at sea varies comparably less because water heats and cools rather slowly.

Water has an unusually high specific heat capacity; which is to say that water has to absorb quite a lot of thermal energy in order to raise its temperature. By definition, water requires 1 calorie of thermal energy input to raise the temperature of 1 gram of pure water by 1 degree Celsius.

This makes for some easy math and simple labs. Any student can easily calculate the approximate amount of heat energy absorbed or released by water by measuring the temperature change of a known quantity of water. Sounds like time for an easy lab.



EXPLORE

Does a Watched Kettle Boil? - Lab!
This is a simple lab suggestion for those who have appropriate facilities, equipment and lab safety practices. Otherwise you can follow along below and see how it demonstrates thermal transfer of heat to water and how to measure that change.

1. Safety First! (Adult supervision, Goggles, Heat resistant gloves or mitts)
2. Measure 100 ml (100 g) of tap water into a heat resistant beaker or similar container.
3. Record temperature of the water in degrees Celsius with a safety thermometer (No Mercury).
4. Place beaker on a safe heating surface and record the temperature of the water every minute until water boils and temperature does not change.
   
5. Graph the rate of temperature change for water. (Temp on y axis and Time on x axis)
   
6. Calculate the amount of heat absorbed by the water. (Highest Temp - Starting Temp X 100g = calories of heat absorbed by 100 ml of water)

EXPLAIN

• How much thermal energy (in calories) did the water absorb?
• Does a watched kettle boil?
  

EXTEND

• Why does the temperature stay the same while boiling?

EVALUATE

• How useful is this simple lab for your lessons or understanding of the heat capacity of water?
  

ENGAGE

Kids-Don't try this trick at home!
To further illustrate water's high heat capacity, take a YouTube look at the following NASA/JPL video, Oceans of Climate Change, comparing the heat capacity of air to water.


EXPLORE

Oceans of Climate Change







EXPLAIN

• Why doesn't the water balloon break when held over a flame?
• How does this relate to oceans and climate?
  

EXTEND

• How might the concepts in the video relate to your students' learning?
  
• What other ways can you think of to demonstrate differences in heat capacity?

EVALUATE

• How useful was this NASA video for your grade level?
  

Helpful Hint: Like TD, NASA is in the web-education forefront. Their website is sharp, user-friendly and packed with great stuff on a wide variety of topics.

Module V - Reason for the Season

ENGAGE

Reason for the Season
As we begin to apply the physics of thermal energy to the ocean, let's start by reviewing why the equatorial region gains so much more thermal energy (heat) than higher latitudes.

Most of us know that the tilt of the earth is the reason for the seasons--that days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter as Earth is inclined toward and away from the sun, respectively, in its annual orbit. The same is true for both hemispheres, it just occurs at opposite ends of the calendar.



EXPLORE

Here are a few resources that can help you and your students to better visualize how Earth's inclination leads to its differential heating.

The first is a great TD interactive resource called Global View of the Seasons. Be sure to check out its different tabs and features.

Global View of the Seasons







The next two resources are hosted on YouTube. First is a product of Ignite! Learning called What causes Earth's Seasons. And NOAA Visualization has a video titled, Seasons on Earth.

What causes Earth's Seasons

Seasons on Earth




Helpful Hint: Many schools intentionally block access to YouTube because of some of some of its objectionable content. Regardless of how you may personally feel about blanket school censorship of content, most school IT professionals can provide you with an internet "backdoor" so you can access the media you need to teach.


EXPLAIN

• What causes the seasons on Earth?
  
• What do seasonal patterns tell you about differential heating of the planet?
  

EXTEND

• What do seasonal patterns of change indicate for cultures living in different climate zones?

EVALUATE

• How informative and useful are these resources for your purposes?
  

ENGAGE

Changes in Latitude--Where It's Hot and Where It's Not!
It's reasonable to figure that more hours of daylight means more heating in that hemisphere. True enough, but hours of day light and the amount of light absorbed and turned into heat does not necessarily follow. So, what role does latitude play in the differential heating of the planet?

We know that above the arctic circle, daylight occurs 24/7 for part of the summer. Yet this does not translate into a climate that is warmer than at the equator with its fairly consistent diurnal rhythm of sunrise and sunset. What gives?

What's Your Angle?
Light arrives in the equatorial region more or less perpendicularly--that is straight-on. Therefore, more light energy arrives per unit of area.

Because the curve of the Earth, light arriving at the surface at higher latitudes is spread over a proportionally larger area, resulting in less solar energy per unit area. Huh?


Try This Trick!
Using a projector or some other light source, hold a circular piece of paper or lid so that the light hits it straight-on, then look at the shadow it projects on the wall. Now try tilting the paper so that light strikes it at an angle. The surface area of the circle has not changed, but the area of its shadow is much smaller.
Less light per unit area = smaller shadow = less thermal energy per unit area.



Reflecting on Climate
Reflecting on another angle, because of the curve of the Earth, solar energy at higher latitudes arrives at a greater angle of incidence, and is more more easily reflected off any surface. Much like a bullet's ricochet.

To put it in black and white terms, most of us know the difference between wearing a white or black shirt on a hot, sunny day. As though polar regions were designed to stay colder, what little solar energy actually makes its way through the atmosphere to the surface encounters a bright, white surface that reflects it back into the atmosphere before it can be absorbed and turned into heat.

This reflective quality of the Earth's surface and its atmosphere is referred to as albedo. (Incidentally, we'll be re-visiting this important phenomenon in a later modules.)


Red Sky at Night, Red Sky at Morning
We are finding that a solar photon has a perilous journey to high latitudes. Even before any light reaches the surface at higher latitudes, it must travel through more air than at the equator. This longer journey through the envelope of gases diffuses and scatters more of light's energy into the atmosphere before it can be absorbed at the surface and turned into heat. This, incidentally, is also why sunrises and sunsets are more colorful and dimmer than the sky at noon.

Bottom line - whether its Earth's atmosphere, albedo or light's angle of incidence, because polar regions receive less solar energy over time, they are colder and have year-round snow and ice.

And that's is a good thing for regulating Earth's climate, as we will learn over the next few modules.



EXPLORE

Check out this short, simple TD video capturing the rising and setting sun.
Observe Sunrise and Sunset






Let's begin to consider some pathways for the movement of thermal energy by viewing this TD interactive resource, Sea Surface Temperature.

Sea Surface Temperature






EXPLAIN

• What causes the annual patterns you observe.

EXTEND

• How can you determine the direction of prevailing winds at the Equator?
• How might you use either of these resources in your class?
  

EVALUATE

• How useful are these digital resources for teaching and learning about global systems?
  

Module V - Motion in the Ocean

ENGAGE

Planetary Thermodynamics
Now that we've explored some of the physics of how our planet and the water in the ocean absorbs and releases heat, let's turn our attention to how on Earth that heat energy moves from where it's hot to where it's not -- from the sunny equator to the frosty poles.

Close that door! Were you born in a barn? Sound familiar? Even if your parents weren't rocket scientists, they understood the practicalities of thermodynamics -- that heat is restless and always on the move. But how does the heat actually, physically move?

On Earth, by far the greatest amount of thermal energy transfer from the equator toward the poles is through evaporation and condensation in the atmosphere. Really?

Yup. Evaporation is a cooling process. Remember the last time you were standing in a breeze dripping wet? But we're ahead of ourselves. More on that in the next module.

Helpful Hint: This cool concept is a clue to the Extend question from the Rate of Temperature Change of Water graph at the beginning of this module.

In addition to evaporative global heat transfer, an enormous amount of heat also moves poleward carried in the flow of enormous, warm ocean surface currents. At the same time, deep cold currents in the abyss drive cooling waters toward warmer regions.

In this section, we'll explore some of the physical mechanisms that move heat at the surface of the ocean.

Ocean Circulation - Motion in the Ocean
Prevailing winds blowing over the surface of thousands of miles of open sea sets the ocean in motion. Trade Winds blowing east to west (Easterlies) at the equator cause equatorial ocean currents to flow in the same direction. Likewise, Westerly winds prevailing at higher latitude push currents in the opposite direction.

But it's not easy for anything to take a strictly straight path over the surface of a curved planet. The same is true for ocean currents because there are other forces at work and obstacles in the way. Enter, the coriolis effect.

Coriolis Effect
Have you ever heard how water in toilets and sinks in the southern hemisphere drain in the opposite direction of those in the north? Most us have heard this bit of science trivia and pass it along as a matter of fact.

But, just for the record, IT'S NOT TRUE! However, the notion of large-scale, hemispherically counter-rotating gyres in the open oceans IS TRUE!

The Bad News: Under the best of circumstances, it is difficult to describe the complexities of the coriolis effect and how it affects Earth's oceans and atmosphere. Minds that think and visualize in terms of motion and spatial relationships will do better than the rest of us.

The Good News: There are some excellent diagrams and animations on the web that help demonstrate why something - like an ocean current - moving in a straight line over a curved surface takes a curved path. There is good one included in the Wikipedia link provided for the term coriolis effect.


EXPLORE

Though the production quality and writing are lacking in this next YouTube video, it does show a rather clever method for NOT demonstrating The Coriolis Effect in Bathrooms.

The Coriolis Effect in Bathrooms.

Here's another good one - Coriolis Effect




EXPLAIN

• What force causes ocean currents?
• Why do ocean currents rotate in large gyres?
  

EXTEND

• Try your own coriolis demonstration or experiment.
  

EVALUATE

• Describe the value of digital resources for demonstrating abstract concepts like the coriolis effect.
  

ENGAGE

Our Current Understanding
The planet's prevailing winds provide most of the energy that sets ocean currents in motion. But, because of the coriolis effect over the course of time and distance, the path of the current is deflected to the right (poleward) in the northern hemisphere and to the left (poleward) down under.

While these forces do not work in bathroom basins, they do work in concert to create very large ocean gyres. As these immense, slowly rotating currents flow from the equator toward the poles and back, they carry with them an enormous quantity of thermal energy stored in the water by virtue of its high heat capacity.

This heat will express itself a number of ways as it flows from where its hot to where its not, mostly through evaporation and condensation, as mentioned earlier. But for now, its safe to say that the great ocean currents can be compared to enormous rivers of warm water in the oceans, flowing from where it's hot to where it's not, while gradually surrendering their stores of thermal energy along the way.




EXPLORE

Take a look at this TD interactive resource showing the dynamics of the great ocean currents: Examine Global Surface Currents.

Examine Global Surface Currents







EXPLORE SOME MORE

For those living on either coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf Stream has interesting history because of its affects on climate and transportation. Let's take a closer look at the natural and cultural history of this famous current with a TD video, What Causes the Gulf Stream? And explore this interesting YouTube tidbit relating to one of our greatest minds.

What Causes the Gulf Stream?






Ben Franklin and the Gulf Stream.






EXPLAIN

• What role do ocean surface currents play in distributing heat on Earth?
• Describe the role of prevailing winds associated with different currents.
• Describe how geography and the shape of the ocean basin affects currents.

EXTEND

• How do surface currents affect local climate?
• Explain why San Francisco and Washington DC, at roughly the same latitude, have such different climates.

EVALUATE

• Describe the value of these resources in enhancing concepts of ocean currents for yourself or your students.
  

ENGAGE

Google Earth
Let's re-visit that question about climate differences between San Francisco and Washington, D.C. using Google Earth.






EXPLORE

Place your cursor on San Francisco and note the N. latitude coordinates for its location. Hint - they're located on the bottom of the screen...and they change whenever you move your cursor. Cool, huh? Now, do the same for Washington DC.

EXPLAIN

• Compare the latitude coordinates for each city.
• Considering what you have learned about ocean circulation patterns, describe the relative temperature of the currents off the coast of each city.
• What kind of climate differences would you expect for these two cities?

EXTEND

• Search the internet for climate data for San Franscisco and Washington DC.
• While you're still in Google Earth, visit the Add Content feature again and search for plug-in layers that demonstrate ocean currents and sea surface temperatures. One that is particularly powerful comes from the NOAA Science on a Sphere project.

EVALUATE

• How does Google Earth work for you?

Helpful Hint: A word of warning; Google Earth does not vouch for the function or utility of the plug-ins offered in the Google Earth Gallery. They can be large files and sometimes clunky and hard to operate. But you may get lucky and find a feature that changes the way you and your students look at the world.

Module V - Destiny of Density Differences

ENGAGE

Destiny of Density Differences - Blab...
Now that we've discussed the physics of the great ocean surface currents, let's explore a different set of principles that govern the vertical circulation of deep ocean currents--specifically, density driven motion in the ocean.

Toss a pebble into the still pool of your imagination. Okay? Now, toss an ice cube in the water. No mysteries here. Pebbles sink and ice floats. Because of their density differences, right?




Iceberg in Stephens Passage, C. Good

But did you know that liquid water can also float on top of water. It may sound strange, but water masses of differing densities often strongly resist mixing because of their density differences.

Because of these density differences, much of Earth's ocean is layered like a fine parfait. (And so is Earth's interior and atmosphere.) Denser stuff at the bottom and the light fluffy stuff on top.

There are two main factors which contribute to the density of water in the ocean. Temperature and Salinity. Here are a couple of swimming examples you might relate to:

1.) Swimming in a lake in the summer often reveals a strong thermocline--a fancy way of saying that the warmer water floats on top. Not just because it's closer to the sunlight that warms it, but also because warmer water is less dense than cold water, and therefore floats on top.

2.) Swimming in the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea or any other briny body of water causes the swimmer to float higher or more easily because salt makes the water denser. Changes in salinity at different depths is referred to as the halocline.

Check Out the ThermoHaloPycnocline Graph Found Here

Taken together, because they often occur together, temperature and salinity both affect the density of water masses, causing them to sink or swim, so to speak, depending on their relative density differences. This vertical movement of water masses is called thermohaline circulation.

Salty Seas
There are two main methods by which the ocean surface increases salinity, that is, gets saltier. One method is hot, and the other is cold:

1.) Evaporation at the surface removes water as vapor, leaving saltier water behind; and

2.) Ice formation at the surface slowly excludes/extrudes salt from the ice and into the frigid waters immediately beneath.

As you can imagine, ocean water that is cold enough to freeze is going to be relatively dense to begin with. Adding more salt to the freezing water makes it even more so.

This combined effect of chilling and adding salt makes water in polar regions so dense that it sinks to the bottom of the ocean in a huge slow moving current that can take many years to resurface. But when it does, these cold water masses are charged with concentrated nutrients and dissolved gases that drive the ocean food web from the bottom up, so to speak.

EXPLORE

Destiny of Density Differences - Lab!
Try This Trick! Make some blue ice cubes using food coloring. Gently place one cube in a glass container filled with still, warm water. Adding some red food coloring to the warm water first creates a nice contrast effect.

As an inquiry exercise, students of all ages can engage by making predictions, observations and explanations on a variety of science topics from this one easy, safe, simple trick. How you set it up or what content you explore is up to you.


EXPLORE SOME MORE...

Google Earth
So some some water masses float and others sink depending on their relative density differences. Let's use Google Earth to find images of water density differences around Alaska, or anywhere on Google Earth.

Here's one example from Berner's Bay, just north of Juneau, Alaska.






Click on Image to Enlarge

EXPLAIN

• Why are the rivers silty?
• Why does the plume of silty water extend into the surface waters of Lynn Canal?

EXTEND

• What other places on Google Earth can find examples of water density differences?

EVALUATE

• What is the utility of Google Earth for integrating the different branches of science?
  

ENGAGE

When it comes to great science and great resources, it's hard to beat NOAA. This agency at the forefront of exploring our planet's ocean systems.


EXPLORE

Here is a NOAA video hosted on YouTube. This video helps explain and visualize how thermohaline circulation drives deep ocean currents.

NOAA - Thermohaline Circulation





And here are two TD resources to explore: a graphic and an audio clip, both describing thermohaline circulation.

• Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, Part I
• Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, Part II

EXPLAIN

• What variables and processes affect ocean surface water density?
  
• What role does the global ocean conveyor belt play in Earth's climatic dynamics?
  

EXTEND

• How are surface currents and deep ocean currents connected?
• How do the time scales and effects of surface currents and deep ocean currents compare?

EVALUATE

• How useful are simple labs and/or YouTube for your professional purposes?
  

Blog It!

Essential Question: How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?

After you have reviewed all TD and YouTube resources and completed the Google Earth activities for this module, it's time to Blog It!

3 Questions

1. Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?

2. Extend: How might you use this week’ information and resources in your lessons?

3. Evaluate: How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?

3 Colleagues

• Whose blogs did you visit this week and why?

Module IV - Introduction

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

ENGAGE

Introduction - Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunami, Oh, My!
In the last module, we explored the geologically slow-motion effects of mountain building and erosion forces that created and modified our present landscapes.

In this module we will build on what we've learned exploring tectonic processes and how these geologic forces often lead to dramatic changes at the Earth's surface--and dramatic changes to people impacted by these events. Volcano, earthquake or tsunami, all issue from one common force--the force of Earth's internal heat expressed at the surface.

In Module II, we also considered some of the relationships that cultures share with the landscapes they inhabit. Such relationships develop gradually over time in landscapes that also change gradually--sometimes imperceptibly in a human lifetime.

But sometimes landscapes can change in an instant, usually unexpectedly. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis are sudden and often catastrophic events that change landscapes and the lives of those living there.

If you're between 1 and 100, you've either heard of or experienced some kind of sudden geologic event. Probably several. What stories of geologic upheaval are common in your life?

The emotional aftershocks still reverberate from the January 2010 Haitian earthquake. And there are plenty Alaskans still around after the record 1964 earthquake and tsunami that wreaked such devastation to towns and villages in Alaska.

Californians from Baja to San Francisco ride the jolts and spasms of the San Andreas fault on a regular basis. Their lives and culture reflect an awareness of the power of earthquakes born of urban tragedies over the last century.

Many Alaskans have their flight plans suddenly interrupted by ash billowing from Mt. Redoubt's periodic eruptions. Hawaiians live in full view of the fire-spewing volcanoes that built their landscape. Maybe you experienced the ash fall-out from the devastating 1980 Mt. St. Helen eruption in Oregon.

Most of us remember that terrible day after Christmas 2004 in the Java Sea and Indian Ocean. Or the September 29, 2009 Samoa tragedy as our most recent large scale tsunami event. These events made all the more dramatic to the entire planet because of the immediacy of geographic information systems, the internet and other media.

But have you heard about the 1946 tsunami that obliterated the Scotch Bluff light house in the Aleutians and devastated portions of Hawaii? Or the incredible story of a father and son who rode their fishing boat on a tsunami that reached over 1700 feet high in Lituya Bay on the Gulf of Alaska in 1958?

These stories serve to remind us that dramatic forces have been shaping landscapes long before our ability to remember or record these events -- long before humans walked this quaking Earth.

Module IV - Cultural Connections

ENGAGE
Cultural Connections
Across thousands of miles of water and thousands of years, two Pacific Ocean cultures have developed at the base of island volcanoes. Aleut, the indigenous people of the Aleutian Archipelago call themselves Unangan--or seaside people. Over centuries, they have created their culture and adapted to the conditions of these remote, windswept volcanic islands.

Though dwelling in an arguably more pleasant climate, the indigenous peoples of Hawaii have developed their own stories and culture as they have met the challenges of their dynamic landscapes.


EXPLORE
TD Resources
Let's explore and contrast how Unangan and Hawaiian Islanders have met the physical, geological and cultural challenges of their volcanic island homes in these 3 TD videos:

Living on the Coast






Maui and the Creation of the Islands






Contemporary Land Issues Regarding Mauna Kea






EXPLAIN

• What are some similarities and differences between the cultures presented in the videos?

EXTEND

• What other cultures do you know that live in the shadow of volcanoes?
• How does living on volcanic islands influence culture?
• What other related stories do you know?
  

EVALUATE

• How does science impact indigenous cultures, for better or worse?
• Why are stories an important part of every culture?

Module IV - Earthquakes

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

EXPLORE

Earthquakes
Let's begin our exploration of earthquake causes and affects with a TD video about a not particularly Good Friday in Alaska, the 1964 Alaska Earthquake.

1964 Alaska Earthquake







EXPLAIN

• What kind of tectonic forces caused the 1964 earthquake?
  
• What other devastating forces where also released by the 9.2 earthquake?
• What are some ways people have since responded to the events of March 27, 1964?

EXTEND

• What stories of the 1964 Earth Quake do your students know?
  
• What stories do your students' parents and grandparents know?
• How could you use these stories in your classroom?
  

EXPLORE SOME MORE...
For almost 2000 years, people have attempted to record and measure seismic events, starting with Chinese inventor Zhang Heng (78-139 AD). Over the centuries the designs and information provided by seismometers have evolved, but our very human interest in understanding and predicting earthquakes remains in our determined pursuit of more knowledge and greater safety for humanity. Take a few minutes to view these two TD-videos, The Seismograph and Predicting Earthquakes.


The Seismograph






Predicting Earthquakes






EXPLAIN

• How do P and S waves differ?
• What are some practical implications for these differences?
• How might you integrate seismography into other topics or courses you teach?
  

Module II Redux: The following TD resources were also featured in Module II. They are included again in Module III because of their relevance to both Modules. Check them out again if you'd like a bit an earth science review. Otherwise, skip down to the Google Earth activity next.

Mountain Maker, Earth Shaker - Interactive.






Tectonic Plates, Earthquakes and Volcanoes - Interactive






Tectonic Plate Movement in Alaska - TD Video






EXPLORE SOME MORE...
Google Earth - Real-Time Earthquake Monitoring
You can monitor Earth's seismic activity up to the hour by clicking the Add Content feature on Places Menu and selecting Real-Time Earthquakes from the Google Earth gallery of great plug-ins.

EXPLAIN

• Where was the most recent earthquake when you checked?
• What kind of plate boundary exists at the Aleutian Trench?
• What kind of plate boundary is responsible for most earthquakes?

EXTEND

• How could you use Google Earth to make learning geoscience more engaging?
• What other resources could apply to learning about earthquakes?
  

EVALUATE

• What are the value of these and/or other digital resources for teaching and learning about the Earth and our place on it.
  

Helpful Hint: Google Earth is a BIG program and usually runs smoother if you limit the number of layers operating on Google Earth at any one time.