Module 4 Cataclysmic events

Essential question:  How do stories of cataclysmic events inform students about geoscience and learning... this question cam from Explore Alaska

Explain:

 First of all I was very interested in this week's coursework simply because I get excited about cataclysmic events such as natural disasters.  I literally grew up in the shadow of Mt. Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano, that sits in the harbor of Sitka Sound, and have thought more than once about what I would do if I saw smoke curling from the top (incidently, in the 1970's a local jokester set fire to a pile of tires one April Fools morning and gave the town quite a stir).

Extend:

 How would I use this in my classroom?  Well, part of what I teach to third graders is a unit on social studies and I've found that talking about natural disasters of any kind gets them interested. I know it worked for me for several reasons:

My mother lived through the good Friday Earthquake in Anchorage and only had to tell me once about crouching in the corner of the Lou's Market while glass broke and  dry goods spilled from the shelves.  I think I was in fourth grade when she told me this, but I still remember her describing how the boxes of cheerios tumbled over her and her brother. 

I was also lucky enough to live in the same town that Howard Ulrich, the small boy that rode out the monster wave in lituya bay.  Listening to his interviews was enough to get me so interested, that I decided to go over to Lituya bay and see for myself.

We took our boat over la Chaussee Spit and saw the rock scraped bare up to 1700 feet.  I've got pictures of Crillion Glacier and the slot where the rock fell from. I also have old pictures that I took from the UAF archives that show the damage the next day.

 All these stories put a spark in me to learn more, and I think it works for my students as well.  i show them pictures of my mothers, pictures I've found, and even pictures I've taken as I tell these stories....  I hope that my kids are also curious enough to try and see for themselves what happened and the science behind it.

Another interesting connection that I made last year with my students - when the Chilean Earthquake happened last spring there was a tsunami warning here along Southeast Alaska. I showed my students how to connect to the NOAA website and monitor the alert.  Afterward, we watched the prices of copper climb after the copper mines on Conception were shut down

Evaluate:

How is this relevant?

That's an easy one. Most of the material is to in-depth for my students to understand the science behind it, but the concepts aren't  - There are some major Seismic forces at work in Alaska and have been for a long time. There are some amazing conclusions that have been drawn from looking at the history of these events and what they have to tell us, and it's exciting to really study these.  If nothing else, this stuff should get my studetns interested and involved in exploring the evidence that they can understand.