Project 2: Earthquake and Boise River Bridge Design - A Project-based STEM +Computing Inquiry (90 minutes in total including 10 minutes break in the middle of the session)
Overall guiding question: How can we build a bridge for the Boise River that is strong enough to resist earthquake forces?
Sub questions: 1) What is an earthquake?
2) Why does an earthquake occur?
CT component embedded in student activities:
Data Collection: Students will gather information on what an earthquake is and what are its causes
Communication: Students will take notes and make presentation based on their research
Learning outcome: An oral presentation on defining an earthquake and why an earthquake occurs.
Entry event (for motivation purpose) - 5 to 10 minutes
A teacher asks the following questions to prompt students thinking about an “earthquake”, and allows the students to share their experiences before showing video about earthquakes.
What is an “earthquake’?
Have any of you experienced an earthquake before? What does it like?
Have any of you watched any movies about earthquake? What does it like?
Does anyone know what is the cause of an earthquake?
Watch Dr. Andre Filiatrault’s earthquake video about what causes earthquakes (5:49 minutes).
Small-group hands-on scientific inquiry on “What is an earthquake?” and “Why does an earthquake occur?”: 40 minutes (with a 10-minute break 20 minutes into the research).
Students (in a group of 2 -3) will independently research on the topics of “what is an earthquake?” “What causes earthquake?” and some other scientific facts about earthquake. Some guiding questions are as follows:
What is an earthquake?
What causes earthquakes? And where do they happen?
Why does earth shake when there is an earthquake?
How are earthquakes recorded?
How do scientists measure the size of an earthquake?
Resources provided: The following resources will be provided for this inquiry activity:
What is an Earthquake: The Science of Earthquakes and What is an earthquake?
How is an Earthquake Caused :Earthquakes, How do earthquakes form? and Types of Earthquakes
Student Presentations: (students presentations need to closely related to the sub questions and learning outcomes) Two 10 minute sessions (20 minutes total)
Suggested approach: Half of the students hang their posters up, and present their research to the remaining students. The poster items will reflect on earthquakes and their causes. After 10 minutes, the two groups of students switch roles with the original presenters who become the audience and the other half of the students who hung up their posters for their presentations. Students can also use Google slides, however the teacher needs to remind students of the limited time available to work on their poster/slides.
End of Session Reflection and Debriefing: 5-10 minutes
Using the Problem Solving Process diagram, the teacher will ask students to identify what kind of problem solving skills/process/computational thinking they used in this session and explain how they used it. The following are some sample questions that can guide the debrief.
What did I learn today?
What problem solving skills/processes or CT components I used today in this diagram?
How did you use the problem solving skills/processes/CT components?
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