Education Standards
Large Scale System Interactions - Grade 4
Overview
Elementary school lessons utilize local phenomenon and are organized by grade level. By organizing instruction around local phenomenon, students are provided with a reason to learn shifting the focus from learning about a disconnected topic to figuring out why or how something happens. #Going 3D with GRC
Lesson - The Ring of Fire
Student Science Performance
Phenomenon: The majority of earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean.
Gather:
Students ask questions to determine the causes of why earthquakes exist in certain areas.
Students plan and carry out an investigation to determine the patterns of high numbers of earthquakes occurring in the Pacific Ocean.
Students use a model (map) to record the data they gathered and look for patterns between the location of earthquakes.
Teaching Suggestions:
- Have a discussion with students about the validity of the information found on the internet.
- A website with the latest earthquake data https://earthquaketrack.com/r/north-pacific-ocean/recent https://earthquaketrack.com/r/south-pacific-ocean/recent (teacher reference)
- Students will split into groups and look up information on earthquake occurrence that has happened in the Pacific Ocean within the last two years and record it onto a table.
- They will take information from the table and place dots on a map of the Pacific on paper or on a google slide (map of the Pacific will be the background and they can place dots).
- Display a map showing the ring of fire and a map of the Pacific Ocean from Appendix B.
- Dialogue with students about the patterns seen and build understanding that these patterns can be used as evidence to support explanations.
Reason:
4. Students analyze and interpret data to determine patterns in Pacific earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, and continents.
Class Discussion:
- What do you already know about the ring of fire and where is it located?
- What are some patterns you see in the data you collected about earthquakes?
- How does the data you collected relate to your knowledge of the ring of fire?
- What is the relationship between Earthquakes, volcanoes, and the boundaries of tectonic plates/continents?
- Do you predict future earthquakes will follow this same pattern? Why or why not?
(Teaching Suggestions: Earthquakes and volcanic activity occur where tectonic plates meet. This also coincides with the periphery of the continents, where mountain ranges and deep ocean trenches also exist.)
5. Students construct an explanation of why most earthquakes occur in the Pacific Ocean and, based on its location, the effect this has on Oregon and Hawaii.
Communicate Reasoning:
6. Students construct an argument for how the evidence collected in the investigation supports their explanation of the causes of the patterns of most earthquakes occurring in the Pacific Ocean along the ring of fire.
Additional Lessons can be found at #Going 3D with GRC (Gathering, Reasoning and Communicating). Original authors were: Kinisimere Tokailagi, Nalani Theilk, Mapuana Dudoit, Joanie Tanabe, Jessica Fonseca, and Crystal Kalauawa.