Discovery’s Make a Quake
What it is: Our fifth graders are going to be reading stories about extreme nature next week. To build background knowledge about extreme nature, I was on a hunt for some sites that would teach them about different natural occurrences and include an interactive where they could explore the occurrence first hand. Discovery has an nice interactive on earthquakes called Make a Quake. Students are able to create their own earthquake in a virtual simulator. Students enter a simulator that lets them choose the kind of ground that their building is built on, the preventative measures that have been put in place, and the magnitude of the earthquake. Then they begin the quake to test out different scenarios.
How to integrate Discovery’s Make a Quake into the classroom: This is a great site to help students understand how different factors determine the impact of an earthquake. Allow students to explore this interactive individually on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting. Encourage them to take notes about what combination causes the most damage and which combination causes the least damage. You could also complete this simulation as a class using an interactive whiteboard or a projector. Invite students up to adjust the different factors (ground, prevention, magnitude). Ask students to make predictions about what will happen to their building. Begin the quake to test their hypothesis.
Tips: Students can learn more about past earthquakes by learning more about 1906: The Great Quake Cover-Up and view a photo gallery of earthquake destruction.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Discovery’s Make a Quake in your classroom.