Georgia Science Grade 8Unit 6:
Waves, Sound, and LightGraphing tsunamisIntroduction: Tsunamis are huge ocean waves caused by a sudden movement of water. Most tsunamis are caused by undersea earthquakes or landslides, but they can also result from asteroids or meteorites hitting the ocean. The most important reason to learn more about these massive waves is that they can cause significant loss of life and destruction of property. Task: Have students f ind out more about tsunamis by visiting these web sites. The goal is for them to learn what causes them and how the water moves, then to create a graph showing how many tsunamis occurred in each area listed during the years 1900-present. - Northwest Pacific Ocean – Japan , Philippines
- Northeast Pacific Ocean – Western United States, Canada , Mexico , Latin America
- Southwest Pacific Ocean – Eastern Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, French Polynesia
- Southeast Pacific Ocean – Western South America
- Northwest Atlantic Ocean – Eastern United States, Canada , Caribbean, South America
- Northeast Atlantic Ocean – Europe, Western Africa
- Southwest Atlantic Ocean – Eastern South America
- Southeast Atlantic Ocean – Western Africa
- Indian Ocean – Eastern Africa, Middle East
- Indian Ocean – India , Southern Asia, Indonesia
Alternative: Divide the class into ten groups and assign one ocean area to each group. Groups can take turns recording tsunami data for their areas on a combined class graph. Resources: How Tsunamis Work http://science.howstuffworks.com/tsunami1.htm http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/tsunami/ http://www.bigelow.org/virtual/buoy_sub1.html Scroll down for the tsunami animation Tsunamis through History http://www.bom.gov.au/info/tsunami/tsunami_info.shtml#history http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6759891/ http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/05/global_history.html http://www.schools.ash.org.au/ormeau/~Calvin/historical.htm http://www.nilesema.com/tsunami.htm http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2007/04/ General Tsunami and Safety Information http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/index.html http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tsunami/index.shtm http://www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov/ |