Associated Activities
Survive that Tsunami! - Using a small-scale model to generate waves, students investigate how a tsunami moves. They test structures made from different materials to see how they are affected by the tsunami forces, and discuss how engineers design buildings to survive the huge waves.
Lesson Closure
Today, we learned about tsunamis. What is a tsunami and how it is different from a normal wave? (Answer: Students should realize that a tsunami is a disturbance that reaches all the way to the ocean floor and has a lot more energy than a normal surface wave.) What are the three main causes of tsunamis? (Answer: Earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides.) How does each of these create a tsunami? (Answer: In different ways, they each move the sea floor.) What role do engineers play in detecting tsunamis and protecting homes from them? (Answer: Engineers develop special sensors to detect tsunamis, and they create buildings that can survive the strong forces of a tsunami.) Conduct the summary assessment activities in the Assessment section.
Assessment
Pre-Lesson Assessment
Know / Want to Know / Learn (KWL) Chart: Before the lesson, ask students to write down in the top left corner of a piece of paper (or as a group on the board) under the title, Know, all the things they know about tsunamis. Next, in the top right corner under the title, Want to Know, ask students to write down anything they want to know about tsunamis. After the lesson, ask students to list in the bottom half of the page under the title, Learned, all of the things that they have learned about tsunamis. Ask students to name a few items and write them on the board.
Discussion Questions: Get students to think about the upcoming lesson by asking them a few discussion questions. After soliciting answers, explain that these questions will be answered during the lesson.
What is a tsunami?
What causes a tsunami?
Can you name any recent tsunamis?