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Lesson Plans - 6th Grade

Earthquake Teaching Box

Students learn the importance of studying past earthquakes to predict what might happen in the future.

Locating an earthquake with recent seismic data

To understand Plate Tectonic processes on the Earth, and to better understand where future earthquakes are likely to occur, it is important to know how to locate earthquakes as they occur. In this activity students use recent, three-component seismic data to locate a global earthquake.

Exploring Rates of Earthquake Occurrence

The activity allows the students to select their own region of interest and to interrogate the earthquake catalog to obtain quantitative data on the rate of occurrence of earthquakes of various magnitudes within their chosen region

Modeling Intraplate Earthquakes with Booby Trap

Introduce and explore elastic rebound theory as a mechanism for earthquakes

Exploring Plate Boundaries with Seismic Data

In this exercise, students will learn about the various types of plate boundaries, investigate well-known examples of some of these boundaries, and then apply what you’ve learned to East Africa to determine the most likely cause of seismicity in this area of the world.