4FN17 – Science – Disasters: Earthquakes

How do FreeNode lessons work?

FreeNodes are instructor-led schooling lessons with a unique approach, granting you the freedom to independently teach using a personalized lesson plan. This autonomy enables you to tailor your lessons to suit students’ individual needs, learning styles, and interests.

To use a FreeNode, read the provided class outline & follow the formatting provided for each class. Make sure to touch on the Theocratic Connection in each class. Follow the outline closely so it is aligned with our main at-home curriculum.

How Do I Use the FreeNode?

Read this lesson plan before class to familiarize yourself with the ideas and concepts you’ll be teaching the students. You may print this page out if you need to use it as a reference point during live classes.

This lesson is a guide, but feel free to expand on the content or decrease/increase what you teach depending on the learning levels of the students in your class or the amount of time you have to cover the material.

Can I show videos in FN classes?

Yes, feel free to include additional material to supplement the class lesson material. Videos, Physical Objects, Games, Activities, etc. are okay to share in live classes.

Videos should have no advertisements or logos and should be viewed by you before showing them to the students to ensure no offensive or questionable content is included.

The video should make up only 1-3 minutes of the live class and should not take the place of instructor-led instruction. Videos should be supplementary only.

How do bookmarks work?

Bookmarks help you keep track of lessons you’re going to teach in future live classes. The bookmarks you see are for all your bookmarked lessons across all grades.

You can bookmark a lesson by visiting the lesson you want to bookmark and clicking the “bookmark” button in the bookmark section.

You can remove a single bookmark by visiting a lesson you’ve bookmarked and clicking the “bookmark” button again to unbookmark it.

You can clear all of your bookmarks by clicking the “clear all bookmarks” button. Be careful, this will erase all of your bookmarks.

Class Lesson Plan

Objectives:

Understand the concept of earthquakes, their causes, and types of faults.
Recognize the dangers of earthquakes and learn safety measures.
Explore the phenomenon of tsunamis, their causes, and preventive actions.
Familiarize students with the geography of earthquake-prone regions.

Materials:

Visual aids (images or diagrams of earthquake faults, tsunamis, and safety measures)
Examples of earthquake-resistant buildings and structures
News articles or video clips depicting real-life earthquake incidents and tsunamis, if available

Introduction (3 minutes):

Recap the concept of natural disasters as catastrophic events caused by natural processes on Earth.
Define earthquakes as sudden releases of energy in the Earth’s crust, causing ground shaking.
Highlight the dynamic nature of Earth’s surface and its constant changes.

Theocratic Connections:

N/A

Activity 1 – What are Earthquakes? (16 minutes):

Explain that tectonic plates are the rocks that make up Earth’s crust and that they fit together like puzzle pieces. At the edges where two plates meet, there are cracks in the crust, like the cracks you’d find between two puzzle pieces. These cracks are called faults. Faults are where the plates move and shift against each other. Explain that earthquakes are the result of two tectonic plates in earth’s crust pushing or sliding against each other.

Introduce the three types of earthquake faults: normal, reverse, and strike-slip. Normal faults happen when two blocks of the Earth’s crust move away from each other. Reverse faults occur when two blocks of the Earth’s crust move towards each other. And strike-slip faults occur when two blocks of the Earth’s crust move past each other. All of these create stress that can cause an earthquake. Use visual aids such as videos or images to illustrate fault movements and their effects.

Provide historical examples of devastating earthquakes and their impact. Highlight the importance of earthquake-resistant building designs. Detail safety measures during an earthquake: finding a safe place, staying indoors, and protecting oneself.

Activity 2 – What is a Tsunami? (8 minutes):

Define tsunamis as large waves caused by undersea earthquakes. Discuss other causes of tsunamis: underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, and meteorite impacts. Emphasize the sudden and destructive nature of tsunamis. Discuss the geography of tsunami-prone regions. Use visual aids such as videos or images. Explain the importance of having an evacuation plan for people living in tsunami-prone regions.

Conclusion (3 minutes):

Summarize key points: earthquakes, faults, dangers, and safety measures.
Emphasize the importance of community preparedness and understanding one’s geographical location.

Assessment:

Informally assess student participation during class discussions and activities.