ESS1+(9-11)+-+1

1a. __plotting the location of mountain ranges and recent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to identify any existing patterns.__

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What do these GSEs mean? What subtopics do students need to address to understand these GSEs?
ESS1 (9-11) -1 is about pulling together material that students have learned through out middle school and finding patterns within the data. It is important for students to not only be able to identify features of volcanoes and earthquakes, but how they interrelate with other subjects they have covered in geography and history. When students enter high school, they should start to understand the relationships between plate tectonics, natural disasters, and geological time. Within this GSE it would also be beneficial to incorporate the aftereffects of locations in which earthquakes and volcanoes frequently occur.

subtopics: 1 Volcanoes
 * distribution along plate boundaries
 * mantle hot spots
 * Ring of Fire
 * Mid Atlantic Ridge
 * Mediterranean-Himalayan Belt
 * Feeding Chamber
 * Rift Valleys

2 Earthquakes
 * Epicenter
 * Focus
 * Intensity
 * Recurrence Interval
 * Mid Atlantic Ridge
 * Ring of Fire
 * Mediterranean-Himalayan Belt

3 Mountain Ranges
 * Understanding contour maps
 * Convergent plates

What ideas do students need to understand before they can address the topics described above?
Plate Tectonics Longitude and Latitude
 * Convergence/Divergence
 * Subduction zone
 * Strike/slip faults
 * Oceanic trench
 * Oceanic spreading ridge
 * Normal Fault
 * Sea floor spreading
 * Oceanic Crust
 * Continental Crust

What misconceptions are students likely to have about these topics?

 * The definition within natural disasters of a "regular occurrence." Geological time is much more vast than students may be able to conceive. It is important to be able to convey to students that patterns can take thousands to billions of years to be seen.
 * Plate tectonics are causing the earth to constantly change and there is nothing stagnant about the patterns they may see on the map. Areas that are either dormant or inactive may change in the future.
 * Students may have problems distinguishing which geological structures or natural disasters are occurring at which type of fault.

What makes this topic hard to learn?
(Note for teachers)

Although this GSE is pretty straight forward, many teachers may have trouble fitting it into their curriculum if they work in a School Department that has cut Earth Sciences down to only be addressed in Middle School. Many districts are no longer including natural disasters in topics to cover in High School, so addressing this GSE is becoming difficult to include without veering too far off from the coarse goals as developed.

Ways to approach this GSE if no longer included in curriculum 1 adapt an activity from the one listed below where students or teacher graph earthquakes and volcanoes as they happen through out the year as a side activity. By the end of the year the pattern will be present and can be addressed in a mini lesson that goes along with another lesson studied 2 combine this information with a more broad topic that may still be covered such as plate tectonics to derive patterns from this data and enhance that units material

What phenomena and representations help students understand these topics?
Maps
 * World Maps
 * Contour Maps
 * Volcanic Activity Maps
 * Earthquake Activity Maps

Videos of the evolution of plate movement [|Pangea to Present]

Volcanic and Earthquake Activity [|Past 10 Years of Earthquakes]

What activities or activity sequences can be used to address these GSEs?
Activity 1: Have a large poster with a world map on it displayed somewhere in the room. Designate a month to each student (somewhere between the 1900s to present) and have them research what volcanic eruptions or earthquakes occurred within that time frame. Students should pick out 2 or 3 of each that were of the greatest intensity and then come in and use tacks/circle stickers to mark the location of each natural disaster they found. At the end of the unit the students will be able to visualize the patterns that have been discussed each lesson. Follow up questions to activity: 1. Are the earthquakes and volcanoes located within specific areas or scattered randomly over the map? 2. If yes to question 1, how would you describe those areas? Are they on the coast, in the oceans or more towards the center of the continents? 3. Are there any earthquakes near mountain ranges? Volcanic Islands? Ocean Basins? Give Examples. 4. State why you think they would be located in these areas and what may be causing these to occur.

Activity 2: Provide Each student with a world map complete with longitude and latitude lines. Create a list of locations for different volcanoes and earthquakes designated by their different longitudes and latitudes that they must pencil into their map. After drawing in all of the points, students must decipher patterns from their data and list any observations they make. Class can come together for a group discussion and make a list on the board of major points that they agree on.

Released NECAP items

 * NECAP 2009 GR 11 04