-Long-term processes are occurring so slowly (over millions to billions of years), measured on a geologic timescale, that it is nearly impossible to observe these processes actually happening.

-Short-term processes ("Earth" events) can be found occurring everyday, all over the world and often serve as evidence for these longer-scale processes. Some of these processes occur so rapidly and without much warning that they can have catastrophic results for humans and thus come to be called Natural Disasters.

-The long-term processes can be thought of as the accumulation of the shorter-term (observable "Earth" events) processes. This idea comes from a basic principle of geology called "Uniformitarianism", introduced by James Hutton and later Charles Lyell, which indicates that the Earth's history must be explained in terms of the processes that we can see happening now. This is the basic principle that seperates the scientific study of Earth's history from religiously-based conceptualizations of Earth history.

-Students will utilize internet research skills.

-Students will practice their communication skills by presenting their research to the class.

-Students will actively consider the types of hazards for humans associated with Natural Disasters and ways that these hazards can be mitigated.

-Students will come to see that certain types of "Earth" events (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) tend to occur in specific regions because they are related to tectonic forces.

-Students will come to see that other "Earth" events (mudslides, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, etc.) have much wider distrubutions and can thus be attributed to climatic conditions rather than geologic (tectonic) conditions.

-By the end of the year, students should gain a conceptual understanding that short-term (rapid) Earth processes may not occur everyday around where they live, but when considered from a global perspective can be seen happening on a constant (everyday, on-going) basis.

• Large (preferrably wall-sized) map of the world.
• Round dot stickers (multiple colors)
• Dry-erase boards/ Dry-erase markers

Procedure

Opener:

1) Early in the year, ask students to share some "current events" (related to any subject) that they've read about or seen on TV recently. (Having most likely only been introduced to the idea of "current events" in social studies courses, students will tend to share current news stories such as wars, crimes, scandals, etc.)

2) Once a few students have shared typical "current event" stories, introduce the idea that in addition to those stories there are current "Earth" events happening all the time even though they may only hear about the really big events (like earthquakes or devastating volcanic eruptions) on the news or in the newspaper. They may have heard of these events described as "Natural Disasters".

3) Have students brainstorm types of events that they think would count as current "Earth" events and generate a list on the board. (Focus students toward Earth Science related events by discluding any events that could be attributed to humans or animals, but include anything that they can come up with that has to do with Earth-related processes.) If students have trouble generating a thorough list, allow them to look for "short-term" or "rapid" processes in their textbooks. Once a good list has been generated (including at least: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mudslides, rockslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and avalanches), have students copy the list into their notebooks for reference later.

4) Explain that as an on-going project throughout the year, 3-4 students will research current "Earth" events that have happened anywhere in the world each week and as a class they will track these events on the class map using color-coded stickers.

(examples: Red=Volcanic Eruption, Yellow=Earthquake, Blue=Flood, Green=forest fires, etc.)

If you have access to a computer with internet access and a projector, show students these websites as possible resources to start with when doing their research on current "Earth" events:

www.usgs.gov

14 sites designed for kids tracking natural disasters (if link doesn't work, copy and paste the following web address into the browser) http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/searchkids.pl?searchtype=subject&keywords=natural+disasters&title=Natural+Disasters

[If you do not have these resources, simply have the students write the webpage addresses down and encourage them to start with these sites when doing their research at home. ]

5) Write the research requirments on the board (or post them on a piece of paper on a wall) in a place where they can stay for the whole year.

Requirements:
Each week, each "tracker" will . . .
-Research 4 current (meaning within the last month) "Earth" events that they can find information on from the following resources: 1) a newspaper, 2) the news or 3) an internet website. Any event on the list is permissable.

-For each "Earth" event you will need to be able to report on these facts:
1) where it happened (as specific as possible), 2) when it happened, 3) what happened (and why it happened), 4) impact on humans, 5) ways in which people in the area where the event occurred already attempt to mitigate (reduce) the hazards (human impact) related to such events -or- come up with a suggestion for how people could mitigate such hazards in the future.

-Type up the 5 facts for each of your "Earth" events, provide the source where the information was obtained, and be prepared to report to the class on any of the events. The typed report will be turned in for a grade.

Development

6) Pick a day to be your current "Earth" event day each week. Starting the first week, pick 3-4 students to be "trackers." (Suggestions for picking: names in a hat, random from gradebook, allow previous week's "trackers" to pick the next week's "trackers"). New "trackers" should be picked each week. [If continued through the whole year, students should get to be "trackers" at least twice.]

7) When students come in on the designated current "Earth" event day, have all the "trackers" get together at the back of the room. During this meeting they should get stickers to represent each of their events and place them on the map (there may be overlaps, with more than one student having the same event, which is okay and the reason that each student researches 4 events). "Trackers" should each pick one of their events to share with the class (making sure that they are reporting on a different event from the others and a different type of event, if possible).

(**Suggestion: Have the rest of the class work on a journal exercise while the "trackers" are meeting.)

8) Have each "tracker" write his/her 5 facts about the event on a dry- erase board as a visual aid.

9) Allow each "tracker" to give report on their chosen event and point out the location on the map. (Let the "trackers" know that they need not speak for more than 3 minutes. The idea is just to get across that topics discussed in the class are happening all the time all over the world, sp a lot of detail is not necessary for each report.)

Closure

10) At the end of the year after each student has contributed to "tracking" at least twice, pick a day to look at the map as a class. Lead the students in a discussion based around these questions:
What sorts of trends can we observe in terms of locations where our "Earth" events have occurred? (Hopefully by this point the map should show an abundance of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions at locations close to the boundaries of tectonic plates, so that they can make this correlation.)
Which types of events can be attributed to geologic/tectonic processes and which can be attributed to more to climatic factors? Are there any events or specific hazards that could be both geologic and climatic in origin? (Good Examples to Suggest: Earthquake-induced mudslide in a rain-soaked area or a mudslide resulting from a volcanic eruption on a snow-covered mountain)
How can we relate these short-term (rapid) "Earth" events to longer-term processes (Plate Tectonics and Rock Formation) that we have studied this year? This would certainly be a good time to mention or reinforce, if you've already covered, Charles Lyell and James Hutton's principle of "Uniformitarianism"(*this is explained in the new content section).