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Ring of Fire: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis

Target Grade or Age

Grade Level: 5th - 8th

Our talented team of Museum educators are committed to providing an engaging experience that brings SOL-related content to life for your students. We bring passion and energy to each program to ensure the highest level of impact and retention. To learn more about this program, click on one of the format options listed below.

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Duration: 75 minutes

Located around the Pacific Ocean basin, the Ring of Fire is a tectonically active zone where the Pacific Plate meets a number of surrounding tectonic plates, resulting in frequent and devastating natural disasters. In such a geologically dynamic area, mariners must be innovative when designing boats and ships. In this lesson, students will practice their skills as maritime engineers and architects by designing, building, and testing a tsunami-proof boat model from simple materials. For this engineering design challenge, students will pull boat design inspiration from select Japanese, Alaskan, and Polynesian boats featured in the Museum’s collection. To prepare for boat building and testing, students are challenged to think like an earth scientist as they learn or review earth system basics including: layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, the three major plate boundaries, and which natural disasters occur at each boundary and why. 

Duration: 75 minutes

Located around the Pacific Ocean basin, the Ring of Fire is a tectonically active zone where the Pacific Plate meets a number of surrounding tectonic plates, resulting in frequent and devastating natural disasters. In such a geologically dynamic area, mariners must be innovative when designing boats and ships. In this lesson, students will practice their skills as maritime engineers and architects by designing, building, and testing a tsunami-proof boat model from simple materials. For this engineering design challenge, students will pull boat design inspiration from select Japanese, Alaskan, and Polynesian boats featured in the Museum’s collection. To prepare for boat building and testing, students are challenged to think like an earth scientist as they learn or review earth system basics including: layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, the three major plate boundaries, and which natural disasters occur at each boundary and why. 

Learning Objectives

Students will: 

  • Learn the layers of the earth, theory of tectonic plate movement, and three types of plate boundaries, 
  • Learn geological activity at plate boundaries (volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides), and 
  • How humans can create unique designs to survive natural disasters. 

Standards of learning

Science (VDOE 2018):

  • Elementary: 5.1 (a,b,c,d), 5.2 (b,c,d), 5.3 (a,b,c,d), 5.8 (a,b,d)
  • Middle:6.1 (a,b,c,d), 6.3 (a), 6.4 (b,c), 6.6 (f), PS.1 (a,b,c,d), PS.5 (a,b), PS.6 (a,b,c,d), PS.8 (a,b)

Next Generation Science Standards:

  • Elementary: 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1- 2, 3-5-ETS1-3, 4-PS3-2, 5-ESS2-1
  • Middle: MS-PS3-2, MS-PS4-2, MS-ESS2-1, MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-3, MS-ESS3-1, MS-ESS3-2

Principles of Ocean Literacy:

  • 1) The Earth has one big ocean with many features
  • 2) The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth
  • 5) The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected

Pricing:

Payment can be made before the program, or we can invoice following your program.

  • Programs at the Museum are $4.50 per student.
    All adults accompanying a field trip are free.
  • Programs at your location are $4.50 per student.
  • Virtual education programs are $125 per program.

Reservations are required for all programs and are booked on a first-come, first-served basis. Programs fill quickly in the fall and spring, so make your reservations a minimum of two weeks in advance.

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