Volcanoes and Mt. Pinatubo Lesson Plans
Summer Scarlatelli
Grade Level
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9th Grade Earth Science or Integrated Science
Objectives
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Students will complete this lesson after the chapter on plate tectonics.
Students will be able to better describe the zones of Earth, Earths crust and plate
tectonics.
Students will be able to describe convection currents and how they relate to the
lithospheric plate boundaries
Students will be able to describe what magma is and how it forms at plate boundaries
where one lithospheric plate is subducted beneath another plate, thus forming a
volcano.
Students will be able to locate the Pacific Ring of Fire, discus how it forms and identify
several large volcanoes that exist there (ie: Mt. Pinatubo).
Through research and discussion the students will be able to give an accurate and
detailed description of several effects that volcanoes have on the biosphere, atmosphere
and lithosphere. They will also be able to specifically correlate it to the 1991 eruption of
Mt. Pinatubo.
Key Words
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Plate tectonics, convection, convection current, magma, crust, mantle, core, transform
fault boundary, convergent plate boundary, divergent plate boundary, aesthenosphere,
listhosphere, subduction, Pacific Ring of Fire.
Teaching Time
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Five 45-minute class periods (to allow time for research and filming)
Curriculum and Instructional Strategy
1. Have students take a “Pre-test” survey and grade themselves on how much they think
they know about change and the terminology that encompasses it. They will rate
themselves 4 – 1, four feeling they know a lot through one meaning they feel that they
know very little. The questions will look like the following.
a. How well can you explain plate tectonics?
b. Can you identify the three major zones of Earth?
c. Can you locate and describe the Pacific Ring of Fire?
d. Can you describe the word subduction and are you able to identify how it
correlates to plate tectonics and the creation of volcanoes.
e.
f.
g.
h.
2. Hook
a.
Can
Can
Can
Can
you
you
you
you
identify and describe the two major zones of the mantle?
describe convection currents and how they correlate to volcanism?
describe how magma creates a volcano?
describe how a volcanic eruption affects each of Earth’s four spheres?
To excite and entice students to pay attention to the following lesson plan about
volcanoes, the students will watch a brief one minute clip of the 1991 eruption of
Mt. Pinatubo on youtube.com.
b. After the video is completed the students will notice that lying on the front desk
there will be a beaker filled with water beginning to boil and hard boiled eggs for
each student.
i. The following questions will be written on the board: “What do the egg
and the water have to do with volcanoes?
ii. The students will then be given five minutes to write down their guess on
a blank piece of paper.
iii. The teacher will then proceed to explain the answer to the question.
1. The hard boiled egg represents earth and its layers.
2. The shell is its mantle, the while membrane is the mantle and the
yolk is the core.
3. The shell of the egg or the mantle is made up of two zones called
the lithosphere and aesthenosphere. The lithosphere is broken
into plates that ride along like passengers on the denser
aesthenosphere.
4. The movement of the lithospheric plates is due to convection.
a. Have the students cut the egg in half (with a plastic knife)
and look at its three layers.
b. The students will then gently twist the shells of each half
to model how convection in the mantle works.
5. Convection is the transfer of heat though the movement of heated
fluid material (like the putty of the aesthenosphere) which then
turn into convection currents which is a cycle of a warm liquid
rising while a cooler liquid sinks to replaces it.
a. This is very similar to what happened when we boil water
when we cook pasta.
6. Convection is also what is going on in the boiling water in front of
us.
a. The teacher will then add cold colored water to the already
boiling water with a pipette and the students will watch
the cold colored water sink.
iv. The teacher will then ask, “well we know how plate tectonic and
convection works but how do volcanoes come into play”?
1. The students will then write down their hypothesis
v. The teacher will then explain how.
1. Most active volcanoes are found in areas near the boundaries of
lithospheric plates (more specifically convergent and divergent
plate boundaries) because this is where the most magma is
formed.
2. The magma then slowly pushes up into the crust because it is less
dense than the solid crust. The magma along with other volcanic
material slowly builds up and creates a volcano.
3. Map the Pacific Ring of Fire
a. The Pacific Ring of Fire is a major zone of active volcanoes surrounding the
Pacific Ocean.
b. Students will be given a map of the Pacific Ring of Fire that looks similar to the
attached picture and a computer to do a small amount of research.
i. Students will then complete the following tasks.
1. Identify at least eight major volcanoes located along the Pacific
Ring Of Fire
2. Label the countries that border the Pacific Ring of Fire.
3. Identify the other major natural disaster that is common along the
Pacific Ring of Fire
4. Identify the plates that the Pacific Plate lies next to (the above
right map may be useful for this).
5. Identify how convection and convection currents affect the Pacific
Ring of Fire.
6. Identify what causes the Pacific Ring of Fire (Hint: subduction
zones).
4. Student Research and Documentaries
a. Now that the students have a basic understanding of how and why volcanism
occurs, they will now go more in depth on volcanoes and learn specifically about
the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Mt. Pinatubo was specifically chosen because
of its large size, force of eruption and how it influenced all parts of the globe.
i. The teacher may choose a new volcano as the specified topic as each
school year changes.
b. The teacher will divide the class into four groups,
i. Each group will represent a different type of scientist and their view on
how Mt. Pinatubo affected or influenced their area of study. Upon the
start of the student research, the teacher will hand each group a paper
with suggested websites to visit that correlate with their given topic. Each
group will be labeled one of the following:
1. Geologist – will research on the internet how plate tectonics and
the earthquake influenced the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
2. Climatologists – will research on the internet how the eruption of
Mt. Pinatubo affected the atmosphere and climate.
3. Botanists – will research on the internet how Mt. Pinatubo
affected the plant life and growth of the area surrounding the
eruption.
4. Biologists – will research on the internet how the eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo affected humans and animals.
ii. Students will then create new groups of one scientist from each group
1. They will then create a short documentary indicating how the
eruption of Mt. Pinatubo affected each of their researched areas.
2. Students will then present all of the documentaries in class.
3. As a bonus, awards could be presented to each documentary
group with topics that may include: most in depth, most precise,
best use of props or best use of humor to convey scientific
information
5. Have each student retake “Pre-Test” survey and compare their results.
a. Include the following questions
i. Can you identify what plates lay next to the Pacific Ring of Fire?
ii. Can you identify how subduction affects volcanic activity?
iii. Can you name at least four major volcanoes located on the Pacific Ring of
Fire?
iv. Can you identify the other natural disaster that occurs along the Pacific
Ring of Fire?
v. Can you identify four types of scientists that would be interested in
studying Mt. Pinatubo and why?
Teacher Rubric
1. The teacher will evaluate the student’s depth of understanding of global climate and
class participation through the following rubric. Each category will be graded on a four
to one scale, four meaning the student became an expert in the area while a one means
that student did not actively participate in the activities or did not pay attention.
a. Knowledge of Volcanoes
i. The student can identify the three zones of Earth and explain how they
correlate to a hardboiled egg.
ii. The student can describe the two parts to Earth’s mantle.
iii. The student can describe how lithospheric plates move and how the
create volcanoes.
iv. The student can explain how convection works in a pot of water and in
the Earth itself.
v. The student will be able to describe how convection currents work and
how they help create volcanoes.
vi. The student actively watched the demonstrations on the hardboiled egg
and the boiling of water and then participated in writing hypothesis about
what was occurring.
b. Participation in the Pacific Ring of Fire Activity
i. The student completed the activity on their own.
ii. The student was able to identify at least eight major volcanoes located
along the Pacific Ring Of Fire
iii. The student was able the countries that border the Pacific Ring of Fire.
iv. The student accurately identified that the other major natural disaster
that is common along the Pacific Ring of Fire are earthquakes
v. The student was able to locate and list the plates that the Pacific Plate
lies next to.
vi. The student accurately researched that the Pacific Ring of Fire is caused
by the subducting of plates around the Pacific Ocean and is able to
explain why.
c. Participation in Research
i. The student actively and accurately researched how Mt. Pinatubo affected
or influenced their area of study.
ii. The student used reputable resources for their research.
d. Participation in Documentary
i. The student actively participated in making the documentary, giving ideas
on how to film it, where to film it and how to enhance it.
ii. The student was able to bring valuable information as a “scientist” to the
documentary
iii. The student was able to accurately describe how his research correlated
to Mt. Pinatubo
Individual Reflection
This sphere report and lesson plan on volcanoes and Mt. Pinatubo has most definitely
improved my knowledge on volcanoes and turned me into a more knowledgeable Earth Science
teacher. It has been extremely helpful because I literally just finished teaching my 9th graders
about plate tectonics and am starting the chapter on volcanoes next week. Through my lesson
plans I have been able to create a nice transition between the two topics, using convection
currents and plate tectonics as a stepping stone into how volcanoes are created. The sphere
report itself I felt was the hardest one that we have done so far because not only did we have
to research an event like volcanoes but we also had to correlate it specifically to Mt. Pinatubo. I
also felt that it was hard finding ways that the atmosphere affects the eruption of volcanoes.
Despite finding these things difficult I was finally able to get a lot more in depth with the
research. I have been really trying hard to put everything into my own words and am better
understanding where to look on the internet for the most valid websites.
Through my research and my classmates research I have learned a lot about Mt.
Pinatubo and volcanoes. I have learned that there are a variety of gasses like ozone, carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, fluorine and sulfur dioxide that are omitted during a volcanic
eruption and how they affect the biosphere positively and negatively. It has been interesting to
learn how volcanoes can cause cooling of the climate for a few years after a major eruption and
that the largest cooling in North America after the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo affected the
Hudson Bay. It was endearing to hear how the cold climate from the massive explosion of Mt.
Pinatubo could actually help the polar bears located half the way across the world. I also really
thought that it was interesting to learn that Mt. Pinatubo was awakened by a magnitude 7.8
earthquake in 1990 and the actual 1991 eruption coincided with Typhoon Yunya, sounds like
some bad luck for the citizens of the area.
The most important thing I have learned from this is how to use the Earth Science book
more effectively. Not only was I able to read the chapters on plate tectonics and volcanoes
more indepth (I no longer can just identify the three major lithospheric plates but I can actually
describe how they work and how they create volcanoes) I now know how to connect chapters
together (convection currents>plate tectonics>subduction zone>volcanism) and add
information and labs to these sections. Through looking for ideas on labs for my lesson plans I
was able to find two labs from www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov called “What’s the Difference” and
“The Biggest Plates on Earth” that will be wonderful additions to reinforce the curriculum. I did
however run into a problem while I was writing my lesson plans, I felt like I was writing a very
similar lesson plan (besides from the content) to last two that I have written for this class.
Because ESSEA is so specific with what they want in our lesson plans, it seems like you can only
get so creative with the Pre-test, Post-test, rubric and jigsaw. Luckily Dr. Root gave me some
great ideas to go off of for the jigsaw, so that helped the morale a bit. Overall, this was a fun
topic to discuss and I found it really rewarding to see how my hard work in school benefits me
at work in the classroom.
Peer Review
Hi Summer,
I read your lesson plan- really interesting and detailed! Its great you were working on a similar
unit in your real class at the same time.
Sorry I don't have any helpful comments/suggestions- I think the lesson is great as it is. I loved
using the hard-boiled egg to demonstrate the different layers of Earth.
I also really liked your jigsaw documentary film component- the jigsaw component in my lesson
plan was a documentary film as well.
Your rubric was also very clear and detailed.
Great job!
Sarah