Seward's Tsunami Signs and Module IV comments

• Tracy has a great suggestion about interviewing those older Alaskans that went through the '64 Quake.  What would we do without water, power, and the cell phone?
• Food and geology.  Some of my favorite subjects!  Thanks Dominic (Nick) Pader
• Winsor is blowing thing up in her classroom but I have wait until Chemistry.  Great lesson ideas!

Earthquakes and Volcanoes

What a timely module!  I will be finishing up my research geology project my 8th graders have been working on and hope to get into the ol' library to do some old fashioned kind of research of a volcano from around the world.
My previous blog about earthquakes and the huge tsunamis we have had up here in Alaska might have been better suited for this weeks module.
I can only add that the video and graphics that help explain the process of plate tectonics and Alaskan geology, have been a great resource for introducing and strengthening my lessons in geology. This past week I have introduced sections in our textbook with those TD videos and I can't believe how much they follow each other.

The Google Earth lesson was another lesson worth saving for next years students.  I didn't know about that measuring tool and came up with some great pictures to share:

(I had to use the metric system though, the kids might find out I used feet when I try and tell them to think METRIC!)
This week I am collecting the geology project my gifted students have been working on for the past month.  It was their job to find 50 earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis that have occurred since Sept 26th to around October 26th.  I was expecting big things from these kids and some did not disappoint.  These 50 events needed to be plotted on a map of their creation, and a key was to be created defining what symbols they used for each type of event.  I wanted them to also list in an excel program all of the events.  Then I asked them to answer three open ended questions for the final essay part of the project.  1.  Do the different events occur along particular spots around the world?  2. What landforms might one see at these particular places around the world?  3.  What theories and evidence for can you cite that supports your research and what you found.   I was hoping the students would take what we have been doing in class and use that information in their essay.  I even gave them a rubric with what I wanted and some of them even looked at it!
A great website shows a modified lesson you can do with Dynamic Earth. The only problem is getting a map through the site. 
Other great sites I found this week for my classes included using Google Earth and geology, and the  IRIS website that has countless great lessons for Geology.
Next week I am in the library with my kids and volcano research is the topic.  My gifted kids are making their research into a Volcanic Resume, that I have found refreshing and fun to do.  Email me if you want a copy.  I stole it from the NSTA Science Scope magazine.

http://www.nsta.org/middleschool/

 

 

 

The Land and the People

Using a different approach this week, I noticed that the majority of the stories and myths of the native people of Alaska centered around the biotic; the flora and fauna around them and the creation of the animals they depend on for life.  What about the stories of the creation of the world ?, The mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes they have been living with for millennia?  Were there stories common to the people like the local Hawaiian legends of Pele? 
My first stop was the resources of books I have on Alaska Native writers and storytellers.  The only one I could find was a small story written from the 1800's that explained the formation of the Kozzocac Mountains of the Yukon River Delta.  The story is entitled Super Cockroach Tale and follows a Native hunter that sees in the distance a mountain that appears to move towards him as he observes it for a few days.  He becomes curious and decides to check it out for himself.  He notices others at the base of this moving mountain and learns that a shaman has taken it upon himself to learn why it is moving.  The shaman explains that a very large cockroach (indigenous to Alaska?), had carried it from up the Yukon.  They were once very large but because of the size of their load, the cockroaches today are small.  The Kozzovac mountains are the only landmarks down on the Yukon flats.Alaska Quarterly Review Vol. 4 No 3&4 Tim Afcan, Sr. The only mountain I could find that resembles this is Asaacaraq. The first landmark one can see as you travel of the Yukon.  I could be wrong and further research by someone else would be helpful.

Another story I found in an invaluable Time Life volume on Earthquakes that tells the story of Lituya Bay in Southeastern Alaska.  The Tlingit Indians of the area have hunted in the bay for generations but knew it as a deathtrap as well.  According to the legend, a demon frog like monster lives in the depths of the bay and when it becomes jealous of newcomers to the area will unleash a wave of epic proportions to capture those strangers and change them into bears. Modern analysis of the these waves have concluded that the bay lies along a major fault that lies under mouth of Lituya Bay.  Major earthquakes can topple large amounts of debris from the surrounding mountains and these landslides into the water displace large amounts of water resulting in enormous waves that have reached up to 3000 feet.  A website, http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1958LituyaB.html documents these large waves and has found that one wave surged to 1740 feet above the bay.

Lituya Bay (Google Earth)

The only other reference to other landforms is the adaption of the inland Dena'ina people of the Lake Clark area.  If you fly, you might be aware of the Lake Clark Pass that connects Anchorage with the Lake Clark area and has been used for years by the Dena'ina people to access the coast and areas around Cook Inlet.   Stories passed down from oral traditions tell of a large glacier travelers needed to cross and of particular, a story about a young child that fell into a crevasse and was later rescued but lost a hand to frostbite.  I have personally flew through that pass and the the U-shaped valley is the only remains from that glacier.  What a great example of climate change over the collective memory of the Dena'ina. Nuvendaltin Quht'ana The people of Nondalton.by Ellanna and Balluta.

Lake Clark Pass (Google Earth)

I love to tell the myths and legends of the Native Americans to enhance the interest of geologic change in Alaska and elsewhere.  Some find the stories juvenile and simple but I stress the importance of observation whether it be from the point of view of Alfred Wagner the scientist known as the father of Continental Drift or that of the indigenous people whose insights and observations should be just as important.
I have found several sites that incorporate Google Earth into Earth Science lessons.  One I use is the link from the AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory), http://www.avo.alaska.edu/, that allows you to download a Google Earth file that will map recent earthquakes and active volcanoes from around the world.  Other sites allow the user to use real time data to map the mid-ocean ridge in the Atlantic through the actual work from the drilling on the JR research vessel,  http://joidesresolution.org/node/218

Comments for 10-24-2010 
http://explore907.blogspot.com/2010/10/module-ii.html 
http://ham28.blogspot.com/ 
http://kuehlexploresalaska.blogspot.com/
My comments ranged from formal education in the Alaskan classroom, to brewing (root beer) to perceptions the kids have of scientists. Wonderful sites out there but feel blogs have TOO much emphasis on education today.

Google Earth and Old Connections

I must have spent an hour cruising around my old birth place of Gallup, New Mexico. I don't think I have been back there for 40 years or so.  I didn't appreciate how beautiful it really was until I spent some time looking around the natural settings of sandstone cliffs, red soil, and high mountain desert.  My only recollections were of Kit Carson's cave

where he hid out during the Indian Wars, and my dad telling me it was easy to spot me in the nursery at the U.S. Indian Hospital  where I was born;  I was the only white baby born that day in a sea of Navajo brown.

What a neat lesson.  I would love to use this for an introductory lesson before I start Earth sciences.  I try and personalize lessons in astronomy by letting the kids find their birthday moon and letting them explore the phases of the moon from that.

I have been using the TD videos for several years now and find them a valuable resource for introducing units and complex concepts that help those visual learners grasp the topic a little bit better.

I believe the connections between the western world of science and local knowledge to be a valuable part of my curriculum.  I use a lot of stories from the native people of the world to illustrate the viewpoint of everyday astronomical occurrences such as the moon and sun cycle, and the northern lights.  These myths are fun to read in class and I think the kids get a kick out of learning about other cultures and how they viewed the world.

I was cruising the participants in our class and have found even MORE connections.  Sandi's family has a Colorado connection  as does my family.  What a beautiful state.  It seems Esther and I share a love Bristol Bay while Janet and I share a great respect for the stunning Prince William Sound.  Neat stuff.

Connections to Home

Home is the Indian Valley; my front yard is the Turnagain Arm, and my backyard is the Chugach State Park.  What more of a connection to your natural surroundings!