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Learning Activity: Investigating volcanoes

CNN STUDENT NEWS

(CNN Student News) -- Your students will learn about the formation of volcanoes and the potential impact of volcanic eruptions.

Procedure

Refer small groups of students to their textbooks and the Web sites listed to prepare formal presentations about the formation of volcanoes and the potential impact of volcanic eruptions. Pose the following questions to guide students' research:

Why do volcanoes form?

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

What are the different types of volcanoes?

Where in the world are active volcanoes located?

What happens in a volcanic eruption?

What materials can erupt from volcanoes?

What are some of the warning signs that a volcano might erupt?

Why do volcanoes become dormant?

How do vulcanologists predict volcanic eruptions?

How can volcanoes affect the atmosphere and climate?

What are some of the benefits of volcanoes?

After students present their findings, instruct them to plot the locations of different active volcanoes on a world map. Then, have students draw upon their research and their map to address the following questions in class discussion: What do the locations of these active volcanoes tell us about the Earth's geologic development? Do your findings support the theory of plate tectonics? Why or why not?

Correlated Standards

Places and Regions

Standard 4: Understands the physical and human characteristics of place

Level III Grade : 6-8

Benchmark 2. Knows the physical characteristics of places (e.g., soils, land forms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, natural hazards)

Standard 7: Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface

Level III Grade : 6-8

Benchmark 3. Knows the consequences of a specific physical process operating on Earth's surface (e.g., effects of an extreme weather phenomenon such as a hurricane's impact on a coastal ecosystem, effects of heavy rainfall on hill slopes, effects of the continued movement of Earth's tectonic plates)

McREL: Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education (Copyright 2000 McREL) is published online by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks ), 2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014.

Keywords

volcano, lava, eruption, Mount Merapi, Java, Indonesia, plate tectonics, vulcanology

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