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NEW 2015 RESOURCES

Earthquakes Theme Page
Below are the CLN "Theme Pages" which may supplement the study of earthquakes. CLN's theme pages are collections of useful Internet educational resources within a narrow curricular topic and contain links to two types of information. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme.

Natural Disasters

General Earthquake Resources

This "Theme Page" has links to two types of resources related to the study of earthquakes. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are also links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme. Please read our disclaimer.

[The] ABC's of Plate Tectonics
"A broad analysis of the basic principles that should apply to the movements of plates, some new hypotheses about how they apply to convection and landform formation, and some expected scenarios for differing tectonic events."

Big Trouble in Earthquake Country
In this four day unit plan, high school students use on-line data to hypothesize what would happen to life and property from earthquakes of various magnitudes. They then develop strategies to minimize damage and loss of life in their home town area.

Canadian National Earthquake Hazards Program
Lots of information on Canadian earthquakes, including reports of recent earthquakes in or near Canada, maps, and plots of seismograph network recordings. In addition, there are links to reports on specific earthquakes, regional reports, and Q&A files. An archive of seismographical data is also found at this site.

Candy Quakes
In this lesson plan, grade 8 students use candy bars, gum, and licorice sticks to learn how deformational forces affect the earth's crust. It's probably safe to say that this unique lesson will energize your students - both before and afterwards.

Earthforce in the Crust
The Franklin Institute Science Musuem provides a brief description of plate tectonics followed by a well defined set of external links to earthquake resources. Headings include: Current Quakings, Plate Tectonics, Earthquake Science, Teacher Lessons, Interactives, History, and Preparedness.

Earthquake Information
The United States Geological Survey site contains a meta list of links to latest quake information (maps and lists), information on hazards and preparedness, earthquake FAQs and information, and links to other resources.

Earthquakes
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency sponsors this "FEMA for Kids" site on earthquakes. There are over 10 lessons/activities specially designed for children.

Earth's Interior & Plate Tectonics
An instructional document divided into section on "The Earth's Interior " and "The Lithosphere & Plate Tectonics" (Oceanic Lithosphere, Continental Lithosphere ) and "Plate Tectonics").

Encarta Online: Eye on Earthquakes
In the process of developing their own TV News Shows, grade 4-9 students learn about the history of earthquakes, the formation of continents, and earthquake measurement and prediction.

Every Place has its Faults
An explanation, complete with animation, on the four basic types of faults.

Faults, A Model of Three Faults
Grade 7-12 students use a model of the earth's surface to learn about fault movements in this lesson plan from the USGS.

The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire
From the Museum of the City of San Francisco, this Website explores the earthquake of 1906 through photographs, eyewitness accounts, newspaper clippings and reports from departments and organizations of the time. You can also find information on the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

ISU's Earthquake Home Page
This site at Indiana State University lists the date, time, and shows the ticker-tape for the most recent earthquakes.

Musical Plates
In this multidisciplinary project, elementary grade students can learn about earthquakes through activities that use real time earthquake data as well as language art activities that look at how earthquakes affect our lives. There is also a teacher's area to assist educators in implementing this project in their classroom.

National Earthquake Information Center
This US site provides information on current earthquakes and earthquakes in general as well as links to other information sources.

New York Times Learning Network
These lesson plans use New York Times articles as a starting point.
  • Admidst the Rubble of Ruined Cities In this lesson plan, grade 6-12 students develop an understanding of the impact an earthquake could have on a country by developing and proposing solutions to rebuild Columbia's infrastructure in the wake of the January 25, 1999 earthquake.
  • National Tragedy, Global Response Grade 6-12 students "explore how different people on local, national and international levels respond to a destructive natural disaster and the needs of its victims and how various facets of the media cover such an event, focusing specifically on the earthquake that devastated Turkey on August 17, 1999."
  • Outreach in the Aftermath Grade 6-12 students "investigate the many types of aid needed to help Turkey recover and rebuild in the wake of the earthquake that devastated a large portion of the country on August 17, 1999. "

Origami Activities
An activity from the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, students can make a hexaflexagon with earthquake-education themes.

Pacific Geoscience Centre, National Earthquakes Hazard Program
Along with current earthquake information for Western Canada, there are a number of educational resources for teachers including All about Earthquakes: Frequently Asked Questions, This Day in Earthquake History, and Earthquakes in Eastern and Western Canada.

Plate Tectonics
Nasa's Observatorium presents an article on plate tectonics for students in grades 6-9 which presents the theory of plate tectonics in easy-to-understand concepts. There's also a teacher's guide, but you'll have to read through the article to find it.

The Restless Planet: Earthquakes
This PBS online site (based on the Savage Earth series) explores earthquakes through the article: "Earth: All Stressed Out." For more information, check out the three sidebars: Learning from Earthquakes, Quake Prediction, and Build Smart, Not Hard. The site has Flash and QuickTime animations.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Two hands-on teaching activities for elementary/junior high students from the National Science Foundation. In the first, students explore structural design by constructing buildings that can withstand simulated earthquakes. They then design a series of experiments to explore the relationship between type of groundand the degree of damage a building is likely to sustain.

Surfing for Earthquakes and Volcanoes
In this week long lesson plan, middle school students research earthquakes and volcanoes on the Internet. Topics include: continental plate boundaries; interaction between plate boundaries; causes of earthquakes and volcanoes; and the comparison of the formation of Olympus Mons on Mars and the Hawaiian volcanic chain.

Surfing the Internet for Earthquake Data
This site is a meta-list of links to sites where seismic information of one kind or another is available.

TrackStar
TrackStar is an online interface which allows instructors to create lessons for students by sequencing existing instructional content in various web sites within a lesson. Students explore one topic at a particular location within one web site then move on to the next topic at another web site. The list of topics remains visible throughout the lesson so that students can remain on track. Explorations of the web sites beyond the designated instructional content are also possible.

This link is to their search page from where a keyword search on "earthquake" will produce numerous hits. Caution #1: Many (most?) of the web sites that these lessons access will already be on this CLN page - it's the creation of lesson objectives and the sequencing of the tours through the sites that make the lesson potentially useful to your students. Caution #2: The quality of the lessons (e.g., definining objectives, finding web sites, sequencing the tours) will vary widely within the TrackStar collection.

UNR Seismological Laboratory
The Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno has prepared six documents containing explanations, maps, and illustrations for the following earthquake topics.

[The] Virtual Times: Recent Earthquakes & Active Volcanoes
Maps and figures of recent earthquakes.

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Note: The sites listed above will serve as a source of curricular content in Earthquakes. For other resources in Science (e.g., curricular content in Earth Science, General Science, Life Science, or Physical Science), or for lesson plans and theme pages, click the "previous screen" button below. Or, click here if you wish to return directly to the CLN menu which will give you access to educational resources in all of our subjects.

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