Buildings That Resist Earthquakes Better

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Buildings That Resist Earthquakes Better

• RET Teachers Grant Keys Winton Woods Rachel
  Rice Pre-Service Teacher Oak Hills
• Investigators Dr. Anant Kukreti Dr. Kelly
  Cohen
• Graduate Assistants Ravi Chalasani, Sanooj
  Edalalth, Chelsea Sabo

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EARTHQUAKES and Biology???

• Interesting, but how to relate to Biology
  students?
• Ecosystem ramifications? Resulting evolutionary
  divergences? Lesson completely unrelated to
  Biology?

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EARTHQUAKES and Biology???

• Lesson will briefly introduce the main principles
  of earthquakes types, plate tectonics, seismic
  waves, etc.
• Explain the RET Program research design and
  experiments.
• Develop a simple experiment or activity to
  demonstrate wave action.

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Plate Boundaries
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Three Types of Faults
Strike-Slip
Thrust
Normal
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Seismic Waves
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EARTHQUAKES and Biology???

• Focus on the ability of animals to detect and
  predict earthquakes before they actually occur.
• Animals of all types have been shown to act
  strangely immediately before the onset of an
  earthquake or other catastrophic events
  (tsnunamis).
• Provide warning up to 2 hours in advance

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EARTHQUAKES and Biology???

• Opposing perspectives about the validity of
  animal earthquake predictions
• "What we're faced with is a lot of anecdotes,"
  said Andy Michael, a geophysicist at USGS.
  "Animals react to so many thingsbeing hungry,
  defending their territories, mating, predatorsso
  it's hard to have a controlled study to get that
  advanced warning signal." (National Geographic)

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EARTHQUAKES and Biology???

• Activity Idea Classroom Tribunal
• Students divided into teams, asked to research
  and prepare a valid defense for the opposing
  sides of the issue (For, Against, and Requires
  More Research)
• Choose students from each team randomly to serve
  on the jury.
• Teams can cross examine eachother

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ASSESSMENT

• Group participation and preparedness
• One page individual student verdict statement
  with rationale

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STANDARDS

• LIFE SCIENCES (9-10)
• BENCHMARK J
• Summarize the historical development of
  scientific theories and ideas, and describe
  emerging issues in the studies of life sciences.

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STANDARDS

• SCIENTIFIC WAYS OF KNOWING (9-10)
• BENCHMARKS A B
• Explain that scientific knowledge must be based
  on evidence, be predictive, logical, subject to
  modification and limited to the natural world.
• Explain how scientific inquiry is guided by
  knowledge, observations, ideas and questions.