Teacher's Guide and Lessons
Volcanoes is an interdisciplinary set of materials for grades 4-8. Through the story of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, students will answer fundamental questions about volcanoes: "What is a volcano?" "Where do volcanoes occur and why?" "What are the effects of volcanoes on the Earth system?" "What are the risks and the benefits of living near volcanoes?" "Can scientists forecast volcanic eruptions?"
This teaching packet reflects the goals of the National Science Education Standards developed by the National Research Council. These standards recommend that middle school students be able to understand the Earth as a system. By learning about volcanoes, students will understand that the Earth comprises interacting components, or subsystems: the geosphere and the biosphere. In turn the geosphere comprises the lithosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the cryosphere. (fig. 1) These lessons show how the eruption of Mount St. Helens affected all of the Earth's subsystems.
Although volcanoes is an earth science subject, the activities in this packet incorporate a number of related subjects, including other sciences, social studies, language arts, and mathematics.
Contents of the online version of the VOLCANOES! teaching packet include:
- Information from the two-sided color poster
- Teaching guide (with glossary and bibliography)
- Six lesson plans with timed activities (activity sheets in PDF format)
- Evaluation sheet
About the poster
(See Introduction page.)
The attractive VOLCANOES! poster is now for sale, call 1-888-ASK-USGS for more information. The poster is a key visual aid for many of the activities. Side 1 is a dramatic photograph of Mount St. Helens erupting on May 18, 1980. Side 2 is a series of photographs and illustrations annotated with text written for student readers. The section titled "Volcanoes" is a basic introduction to volcanoes and volcanic eruptions. The section titled "Mount St. Helens" tells the story of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens and the effect the eruption had on each of the components of the Earth system. All poster information is available, where appropriate, on this online edition of VOLCANOES!.
Each photograph and diagram has a number. When lessons refer to specific photographs and illustrations, they are referenced as "poster fig." followed by the number of the photograph or diagram.
