Lesson Plan
Objective
Students will learn about what causes Earthquakes, its impact and how scientists are able to read how big earthquakes are
Topics Covered
What is the Anatomy of an Earthquake?
What are Seismic waves?
What is a Fault zone
What are plate boundaries?
Vocabulary
crust
fault
seismic
stress
epicenter
magnitude
mantle
outer and inner core
primary and secondary waves
asthenosphere
continental drift
convention currents
tremor
seismic waves
seismograph
Videos
Lab Content
Rapid Changes to Earth's Surface
Materials
Landslide Demonstration (1 per class)
• 1 large plastic bin
• newspaper
• damp sand or dirt with bits of gravel mixed in
• 5 medium-sized rocks
• 2 very small plants
• 2 pretend houses
• 2 water bottles
Volcanoes
• large chunks of ice on plates
• bottles of Magic Shell ice cream topping (the kind that hardens)
Earthquake STEM
• 1 baking dish of Jell-O® for the class (11” x 7” or 8” square dish recommended; we used 2 large boxes of Jell-O® mix)
• toothpicks
• mini-marshmallows
• paper plates