Earthquake Early Warning Lesson Plan Overview In this sequence of activities, students will learn that scientists learn about seismic waves so that they can help make people safer. Students will make observations of a real earthquake from a video and discover that there are different types of seismic waves. Kinesthetic activities will help them understand how these different seismic waves work and how they affect what a person feels during an earthquake. With this firm conceptual understanding and a picture of a real situation, they will make simple mathematical calculations to see how long it takes for these waves to travel. They will be motivated to want to make these calculations because the culminating activity is to design an earthquake early warning system to make their own school safer. Math is a key tool in designing that system. This sequence of activities is designed to last about 3 class sessions.

Teacher Background Earthquake early warning systems do not predict earthquakes before they happen. Instead, they rely on seismic sensors to detect shaking and alert people. Since earthquake waves start at the source and spread out, you can place seismic sensors close to the earthquake source. They can beam their warning signal at the speed of light to surrounding areas. While seismic waves travel faster than the fastest jet airplanes, they still take longer to travel than light. That means that the warning signal will reach nearby cities a few seconds before the damaging earthquake waves. The closer a sensor is to the earthquake source, the more warning time it will provide. Early warning systems are not science fiction. There are systems currently in place in Japan and Mexico City, as well as systems being tested in other areas like southern California. They provide a crucial few extra seconds that can be used to stop bullet trains, medical procedures, and give school children time to protect themselves under their desks. It's not enough time to evacuate a city (or even a building in many cases), but it can be enough to save lives and money. Read more on the links from this website: http://www.elarms.org/press/index.php. In particular, we recommend this news article http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/05/05/MN82287.DTL and this 10 minute movie clip: http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/570.

Activities 1) Why does this man interrupt his lunch? (20 minutes) 2) Understanding Seismic Waves - Direct Instruction (30 minutes) 3) Kinesthetic early warning (30 minutes) 4) Early warning game (1 class session)

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Grade 6 Content Standards for California Science: 1g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region. Math: Algebra & Functions: 1.1 Write and solve one-step linear equations in one variable 2.2 Demonstrate an understanding that rate is a measure of one quantity per unit value of another quantity. 2.3 Solve problems involving rates, average speed, distance, and time.

Formative Assessment/Link to previous content Duration: 5 minutes Materials: None Key Concepts: Earthquakes are caused by sudden sliding of earth’s tectonic plates Sequence:

1) Teachers can motivate the relationship between earthquakes and plate tectonics with a simple kinesthetic formative assessment: have students place their arms out in front of them, each arm representing one of Earth’s tectonic plates. Ask them to use their arms to show how an earthquake happens. Students may be tempted to simply crash their hands into one another, but an earthquake always involves sliding of one plate over/above, under/below, or sideways past another plate. A proper demonstration also has the arms stationary for a long period of time and then a sudden motion. That’s an earthquake, and the sudden-ness is one reason they are so damaging. This activity explores one way to deal with the fact that earthquakes occur seemingly without warning.

(Thanks to da Vinci’s Vetruvian Man for these public domain images of hands)

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Activity 1: Why does this man interrupt his lunch? Students enjoy this video of a man eating his lunch during an earthquake, which visually illustrates the different pulses of shaking during an earthquake. Duration: 20 minutes Materials: Computer and projector Key Concepts: Every earthquake involves at least two pulses of shaking: an early pulse that is usually weaker and a later pulse that is stronger and more damaging. Sequence: 1) Motivate students: Ask them if they have ever felt an earthquake. If so, describe what they felt. Solicit a few responses. If students have never felt an earthquake, ask them what they think would happen during one. Would the shaking be strong? How long would it last? 2) Tell students: “You will see a video of a very large earthquake that did lots of damage in Seattle in 2002. It caused about 400 injuries and millions of dollars in damage, but nobody was killed. The video is less than a minute, and we’ll watch it two times.” 3) Show video of man eating sandwich during 2002 Seattle earthquake (www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7boO_wTzS4) 4) Tell students: “Take out a piece of paper. The second time we watch the video, write down the sequence of every event you see and the order you see it. For example, we should all start with event 1) Man sits down to eat lunch.” Write on the board: 1) Man sits down to eat lunch 2) 3) ... or a simple table: Time How Severe is shaking? How can you tell shaking is happening? 0:00 No shaking yet Man sits down to eat lunch like everything is normal.

5) Replay the first 45 seconds or so of the video. 6) Have students get in pairs to make a single complete list. 7) At 6 seconds into the video, the man looks up from his sandwich. Someone in the room says, "Earthquake" and another chimes in, "big earthquake," but the camera has not shaken enough to move yet. At 14 seconds, the lunch-eater and others in the office stand up and leave the room. At 20 seconds, the room starts to shake enough that computers rattle and shake. By 40 seconds, the shaking is over and the room is quiet.

8) Ask students, "Why does the man in the office look up at 6 seconds? How do they know there is an earthquake? [they must have felt it] 9) Ask the students, "When is the shaking strongest?" [after the people have left the room] 10) Emphasize key concept: “So we seem to observe a weak pulse of shaking first and then a strong pulse of shaking later. The time between the first pulse and the strong pulse gave the people time to better prepare themselves for the strong shaking. I wonder if all earthquakes work that way? And if so, why?”

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Optional Extension: View seismic waveforms Students can actually see the two pulses of shaking and their relative strength in actual seismograms. This reinforces what they saw in the videos. Duration: 20 minutes Materials: Waveform printouts, optional computer projector. Key Concepts: • Every earthquake involves at least two pulses of shaking: an early pulse that is usually weaker and a later pulse that is stronger and more damaging. • Graph reading Sequence: 1) Tell students: “We want to know if all earthquakes work like the one in the video clip with two pulses of shaking. Rather than look at video clips of different earthquakes, we’re going to look at graphs of precise measurements of earthquake shaking from sensitive seismic recording devices. Like real earthquake scientists, we are going to look at the shaking graphs to see if we can spot a pattern – something that all the different recordings have in common.” 2) Pass out shaking graphs. They are from a small earthquake near San Francisco in 2007. Many, but not all people felt the earthquake. Each shaking graph is recorded in a different city near San Francisco. Scientists study small earthquakes like this one to learn more about big earthquakes. 3) Walk students through the different axes of the graph: “Each seismogram has a three or four letter ID that is an abbreviation for the city or location of the seismic recording instrument. The lines on the graph represent how quickly the earth moved up (positive) and down (negative). As the lines get really tall, that means that the shaking is stronger. Each graph has different numbers on the vertical axis because the shaking was different strengths at different locations. Who thinks they have the highest number for shaking velocity on their graph? [station CYB, axes run from 600 to -800. Strongest shaking felt was 600 microns/s downward (negative 600)]. The horizontal axis shows time. When did people in your city first feel shaking? Draw an x on your graph.” Circulate to check answers. [all the seismograms were intentionally made so that the graph starts at time zero and shaking starts around 20 seconds. For some stations with low shaking velocity, the time from zero to 20 seconds looks like there is shaking but this is just the regular background vibrations that are always present.] 4) How long did the shaking last for? [Answers vary for the seismograms, but strong shaking is typically over by about 40 seconds on the graphs, so 20 seconds duration is a good answer. There was weak shaking all the way out to 80 seconds visible on some graphs.] 5) Tell students, “Circle the point on the graph with the strongest shaking.” After circulating to make sure that students are marking the highest amplitudes on the graph (either positive or negative – remember that negative just means downwards!). 6) Ask students, “Raise your hand if the ‘X’ you drew when shaking started is at the same location as the circle you just made when the shaking was the strongest.” [Nobody should raise their hand.] 7) Link the observations in the seismograms to the observations in the video: “In the video, we noticed that shaking was weak at first, got really strong, and then died off slowly. Can we see evidence for that in the seismograms? In both examples, there seem to be two pulses of shaking – a weaker first pulse and a stronger second pulse.” [You might even emphasize that most of the seismograms have a short pulse of shaking with medium strength, the shaking gets a little less for a bit, and then there is a sudden arrival of strong shaking.]

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Activity 2: Understanding Seismic Waves – Direct instruction Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Computer projector (with sound), presentation file for Activity 2. Key Concepts: 1) Energy can move through the earth by moving particles of soil in different directions called different types of "seismic waves." 2) Because they move through the earth differently, some types of seismic waves travel through Earth faster than others. 3) Because earthquakes are are caused by sliding plates, there is more energy released as sliding-motion seismic waves (S-waves). So S-waves are stronger than P-waves for most earthquakes. Sequence: 1) Tell students: “To understand what causes those two pulses, we need to look more carefully at what earthquakes are and what causes them.” Show a 2 minute video clip from the TV movie 10.5. It reminds us that plates move and get stuck.

2) “An earthquake is the name we give to the event where two plates (blocks of crust) lurch suddenly past one another.” Earthquake = sudden plate motion & shaking 3) “One thing the video does not mention is that in an earthquake, only a small section of the plate boundary slips at one time. Let’s model this motion to see what happens. This piece of paper represents a plate boundary.” Pass out half sheets of paper with the printout of the plate boundary. “ [This model represents all types of plate boundaries, not just transform plate boundaries -- Even at plate boundaries where two plates crash together, one plate slides under the other. In that case, this paper would represent a cross section. For a transform fault, it would represent a map view.]

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4) Have students hold their hands on the arrows to represent the relative motion of two plates as they slide past one another. An earthquake is the sudden movement, so have them move their hands suddenly. 5) Ask students, “where is the paper pushed together? Where does it look like it’s being pulled along? Where are two papers sliding past one another?” Label them on the board and have students label their papers. 6) “So everywhere you labeled the word ‘push’, bits of rock near the plate boundary are suddenly pushing against nearby rocks like a hammer smashing into the ground. That will send pushing vibrations through the earth. We feel those as one form of seismic waves.” 7) Show an animation of P-waves on the computer. Emphasize the push-pull particle motion. Pulling is just the opposite of pulling. So both pushing and pulling produce P-waves. 8) “All along the fault, the rock slides along in a motion like ripping a paper. This is called shear. The sudden shear in an earthquake moves through the Earth too, but differently than the P-waves.” 9) Show an animation of S-waves on the computer. Emphasize the side-to-side motion that comes from the sliding that we call shear. 10) Optional: Do a classic slinky demo or a human conga line showing the different wave types. 11) Have students fill out the ‘motion’ column of the seismic wave table, emphasizing the first letters as memory aides:

Wave

Motion

Speed

P-waves

Push/pull

Faster

S-waves

“Side-to-Side” (from sliding)

Slower

Leave source *Both leave at the same time

Arrival

Strength

First (“Primary”)

Weaker

Second

Stronger

12) “P-waves and S-waves move the rock differently – P-waves by pushing/pulling and S-waves by shear or sliding. If you push on things, they actually behave differently than if you shear them. Let me show you what I mean. Hold your plate boundary paper near the top and try pulling it apart. Does it break? The paper is very strong when you push it. Now, let’s try to model shear. You do that by pulling your paper in different directions – ripping it. Does it break? That’s because paper is weaker when you shear it than when you push it. Rock is exactly the same way. It’s stronger than paper, but there is a difference in its strength. When rock is rigid and strong, it transmits energy really quickly. When it is weaker, energy doesn’t travel as quickly through it and waves will travel slower.” Write Stronger material = waves travel faster; weaker material = waves travel slower. “Which will be travel faster in rock, Pwaves or S-waves?” [P-waves push rocks in a way that they are very strong and rigid, so Pwaves travel fast. S-waves shear rocks in a way that they are less strong and rigid, so S-waves don’t move as quickly through rock. They travel slower.] 13) Have students fill out the Speed column of the table, emphasizing the S in Slower. For the Leave source column, have students play with their plate boundary paper and see that the pushing and pulling happens at the exact same time as the sliding, so both waves leave the source at the same time. Since one is faster, they should also be able to fill out the Arrival time. Emphasize the “S” in second! 14) “Wow, now we know why the guy eating lunch felt that first pulse of shaking that told him an earthquake was happening. But it was really weak and the second pulse was stronger. Why was that? To answer that question, we can return to our plate boundary paper. Everywhere you labeled push or pull write a big P. Everywhere that there is sliding, write big S’s. There is a lot of sliding, so write a lot of S’s. Remember that earthquakes are mostly caused by sliding

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plates, so there is a lot more energy released by sliding than there is by pushing or pulling. That makes S-waves Stronger. 15) Fill out the Strength column of the table. 16) As you move the paper, notice that the sliding and the pushing happen together (at the same time). This should make sense: Think about a massive ship in the ocean. When it starts to move forward, which moves first, the front of the boat, the middle of the boat, or the water in front of the boat? The boat can’t move forward until the water gets out of the way and the water doesn’t have any reason to move until the boat pushes it. They all move at the same time, and the same is true in the rocks surrounding the plate boundary. P-waves and S-waves get released at the same time because the movements all occur together. Have students complete the Leave Source column of the table. 17) Test for understanding: The most damaging seismic waves are: P-waves are felt before S-waves because: a) P waves because they are faster a) P-waves leave the earthquake source before Sb) P waves because they carry more energy waves c) S waves because they are faster b) The side-to-side movement of S-waves cannot be d) S waves because they carry more energy felt c) The forward/back movement of P-waves cannot be felt d) P-waves travel faster than S-waves through rock 18) Now, return to the observations of the video in Activity 1. Have students explain what was going on using their new terminology of P-waves and S-waves. When did each arrive? 19) [Advanced topic to enhance teacher understanding: If an earthquake ruptures the entire plate boundary instead of just one segment, will there be any P-waves at all? Remember that we only draw P’s at the end of the segment that ruptures. If the entire plate boundary ruptures at once, there won’t be any P-waves. However, real earthquakes don’t have the entire plate boundary moving simultaneously or even the entire section of the plate boundary moving as one piece. Instead, one small section of the plate boundary starts to slip, which triggers the next section, which triggers the next section. At each stage in the rupture, there is a part of the plate boundary that is slipping and a part that is not slipping. The parts that are slipping push/pull on the adjacent parts, so P-waves are always produced.] 20) [References for scientists: Small earthquakes recorded with acoustic emissions in South African Gold Mines show 5 times more energy in S than P: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgrb.50274/abstract; Theory derives a factor of 10 when you account for P-S conversions: http://math.stanford.edu/~papanico/pubftp/ptos.pdf. In terms of actual observations, S-wave amplitudes average about 5 times higher than P-wave amplitudes for small earthquakes, http://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~shearer/mahi/PDF/83SSA03a.pdf, though the ratio varies considerably based on the direction to the observation station compared to the direction the fault slipped.]

Optional extension: Human Conga Line This kinesthetic activity demonstrates the difference between different types of seismic waves. It helps illustrate why the people felt two pulses of shaking in the earthquake movie of Activity 1. Duration: 5 minutes Materials: space to line the class up

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Key Concepts: 21) Energy can move through the earth by moving particles of soil in different directions called different types of "seismic waves." 22) Because they move through the earth differently, some types of seismic waves travel through Earth faster than others.

Sequence:

5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13)

1) Have students line up in a long line all facing the person in front of them (as if they were ready to walk out of the room for a fire drill) 2) Have each student place his/her hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. 3) Tell students that they represent the ground. They are individual particles of rock and soil. Because the soil is a solid, each particle is connected to its neighbors. "Once you feel shaking, pass that energy further along the line. But please be gentle so nobody gets hurt. We want this to be an earthquake simulation, not an actual earthquake where people get hurt!" 4) The teacher should go to the back of the line. Tell students, an earthquake sends seismic energy through the earth by causing the ground to shake. "I represent the earthquake." Give the first person a gentle push on the shoulders. A rippling wave will travel down the line. Tell students, "You just felt one type of seismic wave that involves particles pushing and pulling on one another forwards and backwards. This type of wave moves very fast through rock." For the second pulse of energy, gently push the first person over to the left, and then bring them back to center. Tell students, "You just felt a different type of seismic wave that involves particles moving sideto-side. This type of wave moves more slowly through rock in nature." Emphasize key concepts of this activity with students. If an earthquake is far away from you, which type of motion will reach you first? [Pushing waves, because the move faster.] In the video clip of the earthquake we watched, which wave was stronger? [Second pulse, which must be the slower side-to-side waves] Tell students that this is typically the case: the strongest pulse of shaking arrives second. Have students sit down.

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Activity 3: Kinesthetic Early Warning This kinesthetic activity demonstrates the difference between different types of seismic waves. It helps illustrate why the people felt two pulses of shaking in the earthquake movie of Activity 1. Duration: 30 minutes Materials: Students, 4 index cards marked "P-wave" on one side and instructions written on back. 4 index cards marked "S-wave" with instructions on back. 2 cell phones with index-card instructions. Key Concepts: 1. A single earthquake releases BOTH P-waves and S-waves. 2. Both types of waves get released and start moving away from the earthquake source at the same time. 3. P-waves travel faster, but are weaker. S-waves are slower but are stronger. The stronger S-Waves cause the most damage. 4. Every earthquake comes with its own natural warning system – P waves. 5. Consider ways that we can get more warning time by using seismic monitoring stations. Sequence: 1. Motivate the activity: Ask students, "What will you do if you feel an earthquake?" Solicit student responses. Try to get students to use their new terminology. For example: "As soon as I feel the weak P-waves, I will hide under my desk. That will protect me when the strong S-waves destroy our school." 2. Ask students, "Would you have enough time to run downstairs and outside the building?" You will get various responses that focus on the size of the building, the speed that students can run, etc. It's OK that answers are all over the place at this time. 3. Tell students, "It really depends on how much time there is between the P-waves and the Swaves, doesn't it. Today, we're going to investigate the amount of time it takes for earthquake waves to travel from the earthquake source to our city. We'll figure out how much warning time we might have. 4. Get 8 student volunteers: 4 P-waves and 4 S-waves 5. The remaining students will serve as skyscrapers in a city. 6. Distribute the appropriate student instruction cards and go over the procedure with students. Pwaves take two steps each second and S-waves take only one. That’s because P-waves travel about twice as fast in Earth as S-waves. 7. If time permits, head outside to a playground for more space. Otherwise, a large classroom will work. 8. Have all the "skyscraper" students (most of the class) group together to form a city at the front of the classroom. Tell the first pair of one P-wave and one S-wave to walk to the far end of the classroom. 9. Remind the city that they should start counting as soon as they know an earthquake has occurred (how will they know? The P-wave will reach them), and that they should stop counting once the strong shaking from an S-wave reaches them. 10. Announce "earthquake" and have the two students start walking. Ensure that BOTH students start walking at the same time. Narrate for the class, describing that the energy got released at the earthquake source at the same time, but that the P-wave travels twice as fast. Should they start counting yet? No, because the P-wave hasn't reached them yet. Even though the earthquake happened several seconds ago, they wouldn't know about it yet because the waves haven't reached them. 11. Depending on the walking speed, there should be several seconds of time between P-wave and Swave arrival. Record results for Earthquake A on the data sheet.

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12. Repeat the process with earthquake B. For this earthquake have the earthquake source be the middle of the classroom. Because the earthquake is closer, P-waves will arrive first but will not have as big of a lead. 13. Repeat the process with earthquake C. The earthquake source should be just a few steps from the edge of the city. Now, P-waves and S-waves will arrive just a second or two apart. Not much warning! 14. Have students in the city turn around so that now they are NOT facing the earthquake source and can't see it. Tell that they will now feel a "mystery earthquake." Their job is to determine if it happened close by or far away. 15. Silently move the students from the "mystery earthquake" P- and S-wave so that they are near the far corner of the classroom. Tell them to walk towards the city. 16. Students should be able to determine if the mystery earthquake was near or far based on the time delay between P-and S-waves. 17. “For an earthquake that is far away, how can we get more warning time? We don’t know that an earthquake has happened until the P-wave gets all the way to us.” 18. Make a call connecting two cell phones, or just pretend. 19. Ask students, "What would happen if you were talking on your phone to a friend in another town that was closer to the earthquake source? Who would feel the earthquake first?" 20. Have one cell phone user stand between the mystery earthquake source and the city, but much closer to the earthquake source. The other cell phone user should stand in the city. 21. Have the mystery-earthquake P- and S-wave students move back to their source. When the first cell phone user feels the earthquake, he/she should tell the person on the other end of the phone "EARTHQUAKE!" Students in the city should start counting as soon as they know the earthquake happened. This time, it's as soon as the P-wave hits the distant cell phone user. They stop counting when the damaging S-waves hit the city (NOT the distant cell phone user – they don't care if he/she gets destroyed.) 22. Students should have a lot more warning time than before. Think of all the things they could do to prepare for the earthquake with this extra warning time.

City

Earthquake A

Earthquake B

Earthquake C

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS for back of index cards: P-waves and S-waves 1. Pair up in teams that have one P-wave and one S-wave (4 teams for 4 earthquakes). 2. When I give the signal for each earthquake, one P-wave and one S-wave should start moving towards the city. Both start walking at the same time. 3. P-waves walk twice as fast as S-waves. P-waves take two steps each second and S-waves take just one step. 4. When you reach the city: P-waves whisper "P-wave." S-waves shout out "S-Wave." Cell phone users 1. One of you will live in the city and one will live far away.

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2. For the first 4 earthquakes, do nothing. 3. When we repeat the mystery earthquake, the person far from the city should say, "p-wave" over the cell phone as soon as the p-wave hits. The person in the city should announce to the city, "p-wave coming!" Skyscrapers in the City: You cannot know an earthquake has occurred until the P waves first arrive at your city. However, P waves typically do not cause much damage. That means you have until the S waves hit to protect yourself. 1. For each earthquake, start counting when P waves arrive at the city and stop counting when S waves hit you. Record your numbers below: Time between P wave and S wave arrival ("warning time") Earthquake A

______seconds

Earthquake B

______seconds

Earthquake C Mystery Earthquake Mystery quake with cell phone warning

______seconds ______seconds ______seconds

Optional Extension Activity: Early Warning Math In the kinesthetic Activity 3, students started quantifying the amount of "warning time" between fast Pwaves and slower but more damaging S-waves. They saw that they got more warning when earthquakes were further away. This is exactly how scientists determine the earthquake source location (focus and epicenter). In this activity, students will use distance = speed x time to calculate how long seismic waves will take to travel from an earthquake source to a specific location, such as their school. It is essential to tie this lesson back to the previous lesson and to motivate the next lesson. In the next lesson, students will be designing and testing an early warning system of their own, and they need to use math to figure out how to design a system that will make their school safer. If they don't do the math right, they won't be able to design a successful system. Duration: 2 class sessions or more Key Concepts: • Distance = speed x time. Sequence: 1. Motivate the lesson. (See above about math as a key tool for the next lesson. Perhaps we could move the video from the next activity here to effectively motivate this lesson). 2. Teacher introduces distance equation. 3. Teacher illustrates several practice problems showing how long seismic waves take to travel. 4. Students practice distance equation, solving for different variables in the equation in different situations. 5. Students have additional practice as homework.

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Activity 4: Early Warning Game In this culminating activity, students apply their understanding of earthquake waves and distance calculations to design an earthquake early warning system for their school in northern or southern California. Teams of students will be given a map of candidate seismic stations and a budget. They choose which stations to install as earthquake early warning systems, calculate how much warning time they expect to have from a few example earthquakes. In the end, an animation simulates actual earthquakes. The team whose system gives the most warning time wins. The automated web system is located at http://www.csun.edu/quake. A user’s guide for teachers is at http://www.csun.edu/quake/LESSONPLAN/usersguide.pdf.

Duration: 1 class session Materials: Computer and Projector, handouts. Sequence: 1. Motivate the activity: “Last time, we saw that a seismic sensor and cell phone communication system could get us a little bit of extra warning about strong shaking. What would you do with a little extra warning before an earthquake? Could it help you? Could it be useful anywhere else in society?” Have students share what they would do with warning time. 2. Describe some ideas others have already thought up (slow down trains to prevent derailing, open elevator doors to prevent people from getting trapped inside, stop surgeries, stop precision manufacturing. 3. Show the video of earthquake early warning system in action Japan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXuoMwesmfo, but we have a local copy). Show the animation of how it works. Tell students that real-life scientists are currently testing an earthquake early warning system in California. Today, we are going to see if we can design our own system using what we know.

4. If you are using the southern California map for your game, show the map of northern California faults and candidate seismic stations (and visa-versa) 5. Help students locate their school on the map (marked by a square). 6. Ask students, "Where could an earthquake start out on this map?" [Along one of the faults] 7. Show the example earthquake location along the San Andreas fault (the example at left is for northern California). Ask students, "If an earthquake happens here, where is

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8.

9.

10. 11. 12. 13.

the best location to put an early warning station to protect our school? Would you choose location A, B, C, or D?" [Location A is very far from the earthquake source. Seismic waves will hit the school long before they hit Location A, so it won't be any good as an early warning station. Best not to waste our money on it. Location B is right near the school. It will feel the earthquake at about the same time as the school does, so it provides no extra warning. Location C is half way between the earthquake source and the school, so it's a good candidate. Location D is the best choice, however. Even though it is not between the school and the earthquake source, it is very close to the source in the opposite direction from the school. Since earthquake waves spread out in all directions from the earthquake source, they will hit Location D very quickly. It will give the most warning.] Optional: Have students calculate the time that seismic waves would hit each candidate location in the sample earthquake to practice their calculation skills. Using both P-and Swave travel times, they should be able to calculate how much warning time their school would get from each of the four seismic stations in the example. Tell students, "In real life, we don't know where the next earthquake source location will be. We know that it could be anywhere along one of the active faults. Your job is to design a warning system that gives the most warning for most earthquakes, but you have a limited budget. Each seismic station costs $10,000 and you have a $50,000 budget. We will simulate 3 earthquakes to test each team's system. The team with the most warning time will win." Distribute student instruction page from the web user’s guide (last page): http://www.csun.edu/quake/LESSONPLAN/usersguide.pdf Circulate around the class, helping teams decide on which stations they will choose from all the candidate stations. Have students submit their early warning system choices. Run sample earthquake scenarios from the teacher access screen.

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