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Overview:
In this lesson, students will work cooperatively to become "Volcano Hazards Experts." Groups will research and create posters illustrating dangers from volcanic eruptions, as well as determine the dangers of specific volcanic eruptions. They will present their research to the class. Finally, students will write about a specific volcanic eruption and present their work orally. [Note: This activity can be conducted in conjunction with the giant screen film, Forces of Nature, either before or after viewing it.]
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, earth science, language arts
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 7: "The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface"
Standard 15: "How physical systems affect human systems"
[Note: This lesson also conforms to National Science Education Content Standard F (Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural and human-induced hazards) for grades 9-12.]
Time:
Two hours (possibly more)
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Writing and drawing materials
- Poster board or chart paper
- Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world, one for each pair or small group of students
Objectives:
Students will
- describe the dangers of volcanic eruptions through illustrated, oral, and written accounts; and
- identify the dangers associated with ten volcanic eruptions.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Explain that there are more than 500 active (i.e., capable of erupting) volcanoes in the world. Ask students if they think all volcanoes are alike. Do they all look the same? Do they all erupt in the same way? Are the dangers from all volcanoes the same?
Read aloud two first-person accounts, and ask students to listen for differences.
"Through the glasses, the little fountains scattered about looked very beautiful. They boiled, and coughed, and spluttered, and discharged sprays of stringy red fire - of about the consistency of mush, for instance - from ten to fifteen feet into the air, along with a shower of brilliant white sparks - a quaint and unnatural mingling of gouts of blood and snow flakes!
"I could see the North Lake lying out on the black floor away off in the outer edge of our panorama, and knitted to it by a webwork of lava streams. . . .
"I forgot to say that the noise made by the bubbling lava is not great, heard as we heard it from our lofty perch. It makes three distinct sounds - a rushing, a hissing, and a coughing or puffing sound; and if you stand on the brink and close your eyes it is no trick at all to imagine that you are sweeping down a river on a large low pressure steamer, and that you hear the hissing of the steam about her boilers, the puffing from her escape pipes and the churning rush of the water abaft her wheels. . . ."
After students have listened to both descriptions, ask again: Do you think all volcanoes are alike?
Explain that volcanologists—scientists who study volcanoes—classify volcanoes in a number of ways (e.g., by structure, tectonic origin, type of eruptive material, level of activity, location). Such categorization helps scientists such as Dr. Marie Edmonds, featured in the giant screen film Forces of Nature, to understand, prepare for, and predict eruptions. If students have seen the film, ask them to recall Dr. Edmonds's pioneering prediction research, which includes measuring Soufriere Hills's volcanic gases.
Introduce students to one method of classifying volcanoes—by type—including the two most common on Earth: shield volcanoes (like Kilauea) and composite volcanoes (like Vesuvius).
Development:
List the volcanoes and years of eruption, below, on the board, the overhead, or on sheets of paper for each group. [Note: Do not list the location or hazards at this point; leave room for students to fill those categories in after their research.]
Vesuvius (A.D. 79) (Italy; pyroclastic flows, tephra)
Mount Pelée (1902) (Martinique; pyroclastic flows, tephra)
Heimaey (1973) (Iceland; lava flows)
Mount St. Helens (1980) (Washington, U.S.A.; landslides, lahars, tephra, pyroclastic flows)
Kilauea (1983–present) (Hawaii, U.S.A.; lava flows, gas)
Nevado del Ruiz (1985) (Colombia; pyroclastic flows, lahars)
Lake Nyos (1986) (Cameroon; gas)
Unzen (1991) (Japan; pyroclastic flows)
Pinatubo (1991) (Philippines; tephra, lahars)
Soufriere Hills (1997) (Montserrat; pyroclastic flows, tephra)
(A volcano may have had more than one eruption; years listed above indicate a single eruption.)
Explain to students that, in addition to classifying volcanoes by type (as they explored above), volcanoes can also be classified by the dangers posed by their eruption. (This information is useful for the scientists who try to predict eruptions.)
Divide students into groups of three to five students each. Each group of "Volcano Hazards Experts" should have a separate work space (table or cluster of desks). Assign each group to research one of the following terms describing dangers caused by eruptions. They may wish to start by using the Web sites listed at the bottom of this lesson.
- Tephra
- Volcanic gases
- Pyroclastic flows
- Lava flows
- Landslides
- Lahars
Each group should design and construct a poster that illustrates its assigned volcanic hazard. What are the characteristics of the hazard? What dangers or problems does it pose for people, property, habitats, wildlife? What type or types of volcano—shield, composite, etc.—would feature the hazard?
When posters are completed, have groups make brief oral presentations to the class, or have students move—half a group at a time—to the other groups for two- to three-minute sessions to learn about each hazard. Students should take notes and ask questions.
As a class or in groups, have students write the location of each of the ten volcanoes in the table, then locate and label the volcanoes on an outline map of the world. Is there a pattern to the locations of the volcanoes?
As a class, determine which hazard or hazards occurred in each of the ten volcanic eruptions; add the hazards to the table. Which hazard do students think is the most dangerous? Why? What hazards, other than the six studied in this lesson, are associated with volcanic eruptions (e.g., tsunamis, earthquakes, or post-eruption starvation)?
Closing:
Ask students to discuss which volcanic hazard they think is the most dangerous, and provide specific reasons why.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Ask students to recall the earlier descriptions of volcanic activity. Pliny the Younger wrote a straightforward account of what he saw, while Twain used a more literary technique ("They boiled, and coughed, and spluttered, and discharged sprays of stringy red fire . . . a quaint and unnatural mingling of gouts of blood and snow flakes. . . ."). Individually or in groups, ask students to describe—accurately and using as many details as possible, yet creatively—the hazard and volcano(es) they focused on in their group. Their creative writing should be shared orally with the class, discussed, and handed in. The assignment can take the form of a newspaper article, scientific journal entry, letter to a family member, poem, diary entry of someone who lives near a volcano, or song lyric.
Evaluate students' work based on the amount of detail and accuracy in oral and written presentations and on their use of research.
In this lesson, students should have
- described volcanic hazards in various formats: illustrated, oral, and written;
- located volcanoes on a world map and identified hazards specific to each;
- identified volcanic hazards associated with specific eruptions; and
- evaluated which volcanic hazard is the most dangerous, explaining and stating reasons why.
Extending the Lesson:
- Have students research tsunamis and how these hazards can be associated with volcanic eruptions (or with earthquakes).
- Have students research paintings or other art forms that portray volcanoes, either erupting or dormant. How have artists portrayed volcanoes—as a threat or, as Mark Twain wrote, "very beautiful"?
- Have students research ways in which volcanoes are beneficial, as well as destructive, forces of nature.
- Have students compile their research in a class chart and/or map of volcanic eruptions or hazard types.
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