Natural Disasters Web Quest
Created By: Jessica Smith
This Web Quest includes
interactive web links, links to videos and
articles that go along with a learning guide for students to learn about
earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and tornadoes.
Natural Disasters WebQuest Name: _____________________________________________________________________________ Instructions: Follow the detailed instructions provided in each section to learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and tornados. !Part 1: Earthquakes •Visit: http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/236-how-earthquakes-work-video.htm • Watch the video & answer the following questions. If you need to pause the video to complete the
questions or replay the video, please do so.!1. What is one main cause of earthquakes? !_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. There are 3 different ways for plates to interact with each other. List the 3 types of faults & what
they do. a. ____________________________________________ fault: ________________________________________________________. !b. ____________________________________________ fault: ________________________________________________________. !c. ____________________________________________ fault: ________________________________________________________. !
3. The _________________________________________________________________ in California is one of the best known slip faults. !
4. When the shift occurs in the earth’s crust, the energy radiates out as _________________________________. !5. The largest earthquake ever recorded was a _______________ according to the Richter Scale. !6. For us to FEEL an earthquake on land, it has to register at least _______________ or more on the Richter
Scale. 7. Using a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.), research an earthquake that has occurred in the last 10
years & find 2 interesting facts about that earthquake: !Where it Occurred: _________________________________________ When it Occurred: _______________________________ !Fact 1: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !Fact 2: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•Visit the USGS Website: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/ • Click on ‘Latest Quakes’ & complete the following chart using the last 5 earthquakes recorded in
the world: !
!• Now using the latitude & longitude of the earthquake, mark with a start where the 5 earthquakes
listed above occurred: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Part II: Volcanoes •Visit the following website: http://kids.discovery.com/games/build-play/volcano-explorer •Click ‘Enter’. 1. According to the text under the subtitle ‘Tectonic Plates, where are most active volcanoes found? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________. •Click on ‘Ring of Fire’ in the bottom right of the screen. 2. What is the ‘Ring of Fire’ and where is it located? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Location Time Nagnitude Latitude Longitude
•Click on ‘Layers Within’ in the bottom right corner of the screen. 3. According to the information, how does a volcano form? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________. •Click on ‘Types of Volcanoes’ on the left side of the screen. 4. List the 3 types of volcanoes & read about each one: !
a. __________________________________________________ b. __________________________________________________ c. __________________________________________________
•Click on ‘Inside a volcano’ on the left side of the screen. 5. In the box below, draw a sketch & label all parts of the inside of the volcano. If you don’t know
what one of the words mean, do a quick search on dictionary.com. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!6. For Fun: Click on “Build your own volcano and watch it erupt” on the left of the screen. Follow the
instructions to create your OWN volcano & watch it erupt. !7. Us ing a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.), research a volcano that has erupted in earth’s history
& find 2 interesting facts about that volcano: !Where it Occurred: _________________________________________ When it Occurred: _____________________________ Fact 1: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fact 2: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part III. Tsunamis •Visit: http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/230-how-tsunamis-work-video.htm • Watch the video once all the way through & then go back and answer the following questions about
tsunamis: 1. List 3 possible causes of tsunamis: !
a._______________________________________________________________ !b._______________________________________________________________ !c._______________________________________________________________ !
2. Summarize how a tsunami wave is formed. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !3. A typical tsunami wave slows down to speeds around ________________ mph & wave heights can
reach up to __________________ feet above sea level. !4. Us ing a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.), research a tsunami that has occurred in the past 10
years & record 2 interesting facts about that tsunami. !Where it Occurred: _________________________________________ When it Occurred: _______________________________ !Fact 1: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !Fact 2: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !
Part IV: Tornadoes •Visit http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-tornado.htm •Use the reading on this website to answer the following questions: !1. What type of destruction can tornados cause? !__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. Summarize how tornadoes are formed: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ •Visit: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/forces-of-nature/ • Use this interactive screen to search for the answers to the following questions: 3. What is a supercell? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. How big are the average twisters? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. How are tornadoes forecasted? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Fun: Create your own tornado in this interactive screen (tab 6). !6. Us ing a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.), research a tornado that has occurred in the past 10 years & record 2 interesting facts about that tornado. !Where it Occurred: _________________________________________ When it Occurred: _______________________________ !Fact 1: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !Fact 2: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ !!
Important Note Regarding the SECOND link in Part IV:
Tornadoes (The National Geographic Link)
January 9, 2014
!Recently, National Geographic has made it mandatory to create an account with an email address to view their interactive resources
(bummer, right?) !
My students all have their own school administered e-mail address, so I will have them go ahead and create an account using that e-mail.
!Another simple solution option that may save time and confusion is YOU
could create an e-mail address JUST for this web quest (example: [email protected]). You can provide that e-mail and password to your students so they can all sign in using that one log-in
and password! Please inbox me if you have any questions or concerns! Thank you so much,
Jess