It’s Volcanic!

Presentation By:Raquel Fusick, Gina Bradshaw, Vanessa Hipkins

and Stacey Longeau

ContextGrade: 7Location: MidwestLearning Goals: Students will understand that (1)

volcanoes often occur where oceanic and continental plates collide and (2) earthquakes are also related to plate tectonic activity.

Engage • Reading the play The Wrath of Vesuvius – this

ignited students interests and motivated them to learn more.

• Brainstorming activity: “What are some words associated with volcanic eruptions?”

• Using these words, students worked individually to create concept maps and made connections between these terms.

• Question: Why do you think volcanoes erupt?• The teacher used these responses to help decide

what to teach next.

Concept Map

Engage• Focused on three questions:1. Where are volcanoes formed?2. Why are they formed there?3. What is the relationship between volcanoes and

other catastrophic events?

Explore• Graphic organizers (three columns):“Where Volcanoes Occur”“The Different Types of Volcanoes”“Materials That Erupt from Volcanoes”• Read the novel The Volcano

Disaster to achieve a personal connection (as students read they completed book summaries and added data to their organizers).

• Maps of the world were used to locate where volcanoes have occured.

Explain• Introduced the idea of continental drift.• Puzzle activity• Map of the earth showing major plates, their

direction of movement, and their approximate speed.

• Compare previous volcano maps with plate maps.• Ignored Hawaii because it was formed in a

different way (alternate strategy).• Examine diagram of subduction zones (shared

information through a jigsaw approach).

Elaborate• Final question: What is the relationship between volcanoes

and other catastrophic events?• Listed events related to volcanoes.• Reflect and write a memoir: “Think back about what you

know about volcanoes, earthquakes, and plate tectonics. What is one question you still have?”

• These questions lead into a new 5E cycle in the volcanoes unit.

Student Questions;What’s up with Hawaii?How do tsunamis fit in?Why don’t all volcanoes have lava?

Evaluate• Students create final concept maps.• The teacher looked for the number of terms, the

accuracy of the connections, and the complexity.• Not only were the teachers able to assess the

students, but the students were able to see their own growth.

Concept Map

Assessment Strategies• Engage: brainstorming and pre-unit

concept mapping• Explore: making a claim• Explain: volcano explanation and labeled

drawing• Elaborate: memoir• Evaluate: post-unit concept mapping

Teacher’s Role• Facilitators: poses questions, keeps the

students on task, provided instructions for student exploration, maintain structure in the classroom, observe and listen, model and guide.

The End!