Earthquakes – unit plan
About 14,000 earthquakes are recorded in and around Aotearoa New Zealand every year. Canterbury’s 7.1 and Kaikōura's 7.8 magnitude earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks show the constant threat underlying some parts of New Zealand.
The Christchurch earthquakes demonstrate how destructive these events can be. They’ve also shown that we need to think very carefully about how buildings are designed.
Earthquake damage, Christchurch, September 2010
The Darfield earthquake of September 2010 caused much damage in Christchurch, 40 km away. Vertical movement pushed this storm drain up through the road in the suburb of Brooklands.
Our earthquake collection of resources assists teachers to explain and demonstrate a number of important science ideas to their students. This teacher resource uses many of the articles and images about earthquakes but has modified them to be used in middle/upper primary classrooms.
The learning outcomes of this teacher resource are that students will:
understand that the Earth is made of layers and that the crust is underlain with tectonic plates
understand that earthquakes occur on/near plate boundaries
appreciate how technological advances are making buildings safer in the event of an earthquake.
Students will meet these learning objectives by:
using analogies to investigate/explain the Earth’s layers
assembling tectonic plate puzzles
modelling tectonic plate boundaries and movements
investigating building design and base isolation principles
investigating how to make the classroom and their homes safer prior to an earthquake.
Download the unit plan.
Related content
The articles below are of particular relevance, focusing on some of the key science concepts related to earthquakes:
These articles provide information on the research and technology being developed to help us deal with earthquakes.
Realistic contexts connect students to authentic scientific processes and purposes. It’s all explained in Earthquakes resources – planning pathways.
Earthquakes is a collection supports the House of Science Earthquakes resource kit – but it is also useful for anyone exploring Rūaumoko, what's inside the Earth, plate tectonics, seismic waves and engineering designed to keep us safe.
For younger students, see the resources mentioned in the On shaky ground article.
PLD webinars
Hub has two recorded PLD webinars.
SLH and Earthquakes shows how to use Hub resources to plan an Earth and Space science unit that supports Achievement Standards 90955 and 90952.
Understanding earthquakes in the primary classroom explains how Hub resources were adapted for a primary audience.
