Teacher's Guide for ASK ^® Our Restless Earth

Terms to Know/For Further Exploration:

Send your students on a 'scavenger hunt' for definitions and more information about:

Ivory-billed woodpecker * Hybrid * Vents * Sulfur dioxide * Devastated * Acid rain * Ambassador * Bizarre * Humongous * Erupted * Stratosphere * Aerosols * Volcanologists * Plume * Volcanic winter * Lava * Magma * Drought * Firestorm * Dormant * Tsunamis * Porites * Oceanic plate * Continental plate * Global Positioning System (GPS) * Lithosphere * Sunda * Megathrust * Fault * Epicenter * Asteroid belt * Meteorites * Meteor * Crater * Pulverized * Iridium * Mantle plume * Deccan * Traps * Pele

Don't forget:

1. To read (and enjoy!) "Nestor's Dock" (pages 4-5), "Jimmy the Bug" on page 33, and "Marv and Friends" (page 34).
2. To write a letter with your science question to ASK ^® editors (see more letters and find the address on page 32.
3. To find the 'scoop' about ivory-billed woodpeckers (page 2-3) by visiting http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/index.html#.

Ask your students to be on the lookout for more arts and sciences "Scoops" while they read newspapers and watch television news programs. Reserve a bulletin board or door space to post student finds.

"Volcanoes Rock the World" by Meg Moss (pages 6-12)

1. After reading this article, discuss the local, regional, and global effects of a volcanic eruption.
2. Use Internet or library resources to find out more about the volcanic eruptions pictured on pages 8-9.
3. How do scientists 'measure' the size of volcanoes?
4. Why are some volcanic eruptions larger than others?
5. How do 21st century scientists predict future volcanic eruptions?
6. Use Internet or library resources to find out more about Pompeii.
7. Use Internet or library resources to find out more about author Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. Read some of Shelley's descriptions of the 1816 volcano or descriptions from other sources (found in the library or online) aloud to the class. How do these descriptions compare to the destruction of Pompeii?

"The Volcano Next Door" (pages 13-15)

1. After reading the article, discuss the positive attributes of volcanoes. How have volcanoes helped the Hawaiian Islands?
2. Use Internet or library resources to find more information and legends about the goddess Pele.
3. Check out the volcano Kilauea's current activities using the web cam online at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam/index.htm.
4. Don't forget to enter the 'Pele' drawing contest on page 14.

"Quaking Earth, Racing Waves" by Rachel Young (pages 16-23)

1. What clues led scientists to predict an earthquake on the Sunda Megathrust Fault? What clues were most visible to inhabitants of Tello Island?
2. Use Internet or library resources to find out more about Global Positioning Systems (GPS). How do global positioning systems help scientists predict earthquakes?
3. Search newspapers and magazine archives online or at the library to find more articles about the December 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Discuss ways to help people prepare for an earthquake or tsunami, what to do during an earthquake or tsunami, and how people from other countries can help survivors.

"What Killed the Dinosaurs?" by Dana Mackenzie (pages 24-30)

1. Ask small groups of students to use the Internet or library resources to find earlier theories about what killed the dinosaurs. Present oral reports or prepare a bulletin board display to share this information with the class.
2. What is an asteroid belt?
3. Find the Meteor Crater on a map of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Use library or Internet resources to find out more about this region.
4. Discuss the other consequences of the mega-meteorite that fell on earth 65 million years ago.
5. Based on information from this article, ask students whether a mega-meteorite or humongous volcanic eruption would have a more lasting impact on earth. Ask each student to write a paragraph supporting their opinion with facts from the article and any information they found on the Internet or in the library.
6. How would today's 21st century Earth be different if the mega-meteorite had missed? Discuss as a class or in small groups, and then ask students to write short essays describing their ideas.

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Updated: 11/21/08 06:28 pm
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