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To whom it may concern, I enjoyed the Scipack on Plate Tectonics. I was hoping that it would address the unusual circumstance of the Hawaiian achipelago. I have a much better understanding and some great visual models for convergent boundries that produced volcanic island arcs. However, I would love a link or PPT that demostrated the phenomenon in the middle of the Pacifc plate. Any suggestions? Mahalo,

Aloha, I live on the Big Island, thus feel it is very important for students to understand hot spots and plate movement. I use the "Volcanoes Alive/Ola Ka Honua" curriculum designed by USGS, NPS and a couple other partners. It contains many models and hands on lessons for understanding plate movement, etc. I have never used the interactive DVD as our computer resources are limited, but that may be something you want to check out. You can download all the curriculum online for free. Probably have to buy the DVD... Here is the website. http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/volcanoes_alive/ Hope this helps! Megan Kailua-Kona, HI

Hi! It is important to learn about the Hawaiian Islands because where we live and how the place where we live can change. I'm not sure of any links or powerpoints out there about this, but there was a documentary on PBS last night about Kilauea. It was a very interesting documentary about how volcanos erupt and form new lands. I'm not sure how old the documentary is, but it was really interesting to see video of the volcano erupting, how the lava cools, and what happens when the lava meets the ocean. I think if you go to the PBS website, you can get a link on that.

Hi Nohelani, Erin, and all thread participants,
There is another discussion thread that has a lot of great resources on earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Ruth had found an NSTA Blog about volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., that lists a wealth of websites. Perhaps you will find some additional Hawaii specific resources there, Erin. The Earthquake for Kids (USGS) is listed there. Astronomy Cast Episode 141: Volcanoes, Hot & Cold also has a list of resources under Shownotes: Volcanoes on Earth. Also, USGs has a specific URL for Hawaiian Volcanoes. I hope this helps.
Carolyn

Thanks everyone for sharing some terrific volcano resources on the Hawaiian hotspot. You may be interested in this integrating this learning activity on "Volcano Resumes" into your study of Hawaiian volcanoes. http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/4/ss08_031_07_12 Dorothy

Erin, Just took a NOAA-sponsored course at Bishop Museum 2 weeks ago. Not sure if this is directly what you're looking for, but these are draft versions of lessons that you may find helpful. I'm not a 4th grade teacher but took whatever I could get. Eventually, NOAA is planning on getting approval so don't be thrown by the draft comments. Lori

Attachments

G4_U1_L2_Patterns_In_The_Hawaiian_Islands_Lesson.pdf (1.43 Mb)

G4_U1_L2_Patterns_In_The_Hawaiian_Islands_Student.pdf (0.73 Mb)

Thanks a million! I shared these resources with my department and already have implemented a lesson plan from the "Volcanoes Alive/ Ola Ka Honua" website on the stages of a volcano in my classroom. I look forward to using the Islands Bar Graph. The websites are all fantastic. This Community Forum is pretty sweet!

Good Morning, I am also a teacher from Hawaii and I believe that we teach a little every year about Hawaii's unique hot spot and about plat tectonics. It's unfortunate that we can't or do not cover these topic every year. Especially after the Japanese Tsunami and it's possible huge impact on Hawaii Tsunamis should be something students should be well versed in. When I was growing up in Hawaii and the first tsunami I experienced was during high school I had no idea what a tsunami was or its origin. I know it's after the fact but maybe there should be a natural disasters strand that affect each state in the school curriculum.

I found that discoveryeducation.com has some excellent videos you can stream onto your laptop/projector concerning any type of Science topics. Just create an account and look up "Pacific Plates and the Future of Hawaii". That MAY help you out a bit. If not, this is an excellent alternative to textbooks and study guides for other concepts.

I am also on the Big Island. The full episode of Nature that featured Kilauea Volcano is linked here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/kilauea-mountain-of-fire/video-full-episode/4825/ Enjoy!

Wow! thanks everyone for such great resources on teaching about hot spots and volcanoes! I am looking forward to exploring these in some more detail!

Hi Carolyn! Thank you so much for the links about volcanoes. We actually have a story in our reading program about volcanoes, so this resources would be great to have for the students to actually see how the volcanoes work. I will be looking on the NSTA discussion threads for more links. Thanks for the suggestions. Nohelani

Thank you so much for sharing the video and resources on the Hawaiian Islands. I am also in Hawaii and I teach 4th grade, so these resources are not only relevant to our science curriculum but also to our social studies. I am currently teaching my kids about the formation of the Hawaiian Islands and the volcanoes and at the same time I am teaching them about the Earth and what affects it. Integrating both science and social studies makes what they are learning relevant. I am also thinking of incorporating art and writing, so if anyone has any ideas or resources, please let me know. Mahalo!

WOW! So many fellow teachers from Hawaii - I am on the Puna side of Hawaii Island. This is my first year with Science(LA background)and a little overwelmed - so much information. Thank you so much everyone for all the resource and lesson ideas. I have taken classes from Kamehameha Schools that encourage integrating Hawaiiana into our curriculum- makes sense to offer lessons in which our students can relate to. It is awesome to see this on the NSTA site! Although I don't have any resources to share, I look forward to when I can. Thank you again:)

Hi All, Since we are talking about volcanoes, I thought I would ask you science teachers about something. I have heard it stated that volcanoes are responsible for significantly more air pollution than human activity. Can anyone confirm or refute that statement? I could google it, but what's the fun in that. :)

Hi Mr. Loving, In the SciPack, Ocean's Effect on Weather and Climate, the impact of volcanic dust is severe: "If a truly massive eruption were to take place, the global average temperature of Earth might decrease by several degrees Celsius." An interesting animation shows how a volcanic eruption can cloud the whole planet. The section on Terrestrial Mechanisms describes the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, "So much gas, dust, and other aerosols were injected into the atmosphere that a global layer of haze formed. The result was a global temperature drop of 0.5oC, widespread destruction of ozone, and brilliant sunsets for over a year." I don't know if it is the leading cause of the destruction of the ozone. I also heard that methane from cows is high up on the list. Just some thoughts,

Hey Erin, Thank you for the reply. I did that SciPack and remember what you mentioned. It just seems to me that the emphasis is always on human activity. Which makes some sense since we can't do anything about volcanic activity. :) I just think it is wise to analyze the cost benefit cases before changing or creating policies. If the real mechanisms for climate change are natural and cyclical, then we should exercise our stewardship in the most cost effective way to bring prosperity to as many as possible. I look at boneheaded decisions like ethanol in our fuel which is wrecking our engines and causing serious food suffering around the world and I see it as extremely misguided. Well I am stepping down from the soap box. Someone else can have a go at it. :) Mahalo, floyd

PS Erin what is that you are holding up anyway? I have old eyes. :)

Hi Lloyd, It's a Spotted Knife Jaw that I speared in Kona. It weighed a whopping 9 lbs.; my friend submitted it to Skin Diver so that I might gain the women's record, but I haven't heard back. I agree with your politics. I feel dismayed when I read about the mishandled use of ethanol. Guests at my cousin's wedding in Skogafoss, Iceland filled me in on the details of their trip. Hot geothermal water funnels through pipelines to heat homes, schools and public buildings across Iceland. It makes perfect sense--use renewable resources. I can't understand why the innovation to harness cleaner energy is so stiffled in the United States. I'll step down now too.

WOW! I've lived here all my life and never speared anything that big. Cool. Here on the Big Island we have all the power we need, but almost untapped. I was talking to one of my former students who is pretty heavy into the Hawaiian activist scene. One of the issues in the past has been protesters, but he said that there are ways to engage the Hawaiian activists that would allow huge growth in the geothermal resources we have and that the present operation could almost instantly expand, but they are capped more by the status quo of the existent power structure rather than the community. A shame.

Thank you all for sharing so much great resources. I teach 4th grade in Hawaii and I have also used Discoveryeducation.com, they have great videos on volcanoes and earthquakes. The kids learned so much from them. I had them watch the video and pause for discussion and allow them time to take notes. I also used studyjam.com. This is another website that students were able to interact with. Thanks again for sharing!

HI Shahinaz, I really enjoyed your recommended studyjam site. In my seventh grade resource History of Hawaiian Monarchy class, we are creating foldables to demonstrate the ahupua'a form of land division. The water cycle is a key attribute that illustrates the genius of this sustainable model. I will show studyjam's short video on the water cycle as a review. The upbeat tempo will hold their interest. Thanks for the recommendation! I've been downloading videos at home from youtube and converting them to realplayer, but those require careful scrutiny to weed out the good ones.

This discussion has some great resource ideas. I moved to Hawaii from the mainland and I used to tell my students that if only you could go to the Big Island, you would learn so much. I am realizing now that a student can get a pretty good idea of what's going on at the Hawaiian hot spot through the internet. I want to thank Megan for her volcanoes alive/Ola Ka Honua link, and Nohelani and Fred for the PBS link. Lori's lesson plans that she got through NOAA are great. And I am going to check out Discovery Educations offerings on the topic. Thanks for the ideas, I am looking forward to sharing these resources with my students.

I also live in Puna, Kapoho acutally, on the Big Island and drive to Hilo High, about 30 miles. During major eruptive activity, I notice the vog incidents along my drive. Funny though, even though I live in the East Rift Zone, because of the strong trade winds that come off Cape Kumukahi, Kapoho is spared of the emissions most of the time. Areas where the vog seems to settle are heavy in Hawaiian Paradise Park, and then lighter even into Hilo town. Usually the emissions blow in the other direction toward Ka'u and Kona. For those of you who are interested in the effects of vog on plants, please check out this power point which I obtained from Kelvin Sewake, Cooperative Extension Agent with UH College of Tropical Agriculture (CTAHR). He has done some extensive research and this presentation includes photos of cultivated and wild plants. I have used this power point in my Plants and Animals classes to show students how to make and record observations. Attached is an edited version of the ppt. The original has 48 slides. I deleted several to make it fit into the 10 MB limit. Does anyone know if I can divide it and load it up in sections? Otherwise, let me know if you are interested in the entire slide presentation.

Attachments

Vog_Effects_on__Big_Island_Agriculture_edited_version.pptx (7.55 Mb)

Hi Jennifer - Thank you so much for sharing the slide presentation on Vog Effects - so interesting! I have a unit on Volcanoes and will use this as a resource. I am always on the look out for Hawaiian resources to use in my lessons - helping my students to make connections. Thank you again!

Wow, I just spent a while writing my post below, and when I came to the site, I found that there was already a thread, but that won’t stop me from sharing! Here’s the post: As I was going through the lesson on Plate Tectonics, I suddenly realized that there was no mention of how Hawaii was formed geologically. Living here, I’d always heard that the creation of the islands was the result of a “hot spot” that over millions of years had allowed magma to flow out and build up from the sea floor. In the SciPack, I realized that Hawaii is on the Pacific Plate, right in the middle. Now that I think about it though, they never said how the islands formed. In fact, according to the SciPack most of the action with plate tectonics occurs where the edges meet. That’s where the volcanoes, earthquakes, trenches, island arcs, and huge mountain ranges are. Still, I don’t remember any mention of what a “hot spot” is, how it forms, or how it can result in an island chain in the middle of a plate. I want to know, too, since I live on the islands, and I was expecting some reference to Hawaii. When I think about it, the fact that it is a chain of islands seems to mean that the Pacific Plate is moving, but the hot spot stays in the same place. Does that mean the hot spot burns right through the crust from below as plate slides by? Anyway, now that I saw this problem, I want to do some research of my own and find out more about this particular feature of the planet, especially since I live here. I’ve done a little online research, but it looks as though much less is known about hot spots than tectonic plates. If you have any ideas on where else to look, let me know. I’ll be checking out the links and sources mentioned above. Thanks.

I teach on the west side of the Big Island and the vog is a near constant consideration. We have regular lung testing at our school. The vog is worse at about 1000 ft elevation and I worry about the long term effects for the people living up there. We check AIRNOW.gov to check for the daily rating of particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller (these are the ones that can penetrate deeper into your lungs) and we are frequently in the moderate range, 51-100, as opposed to the good range <50. Hilo, on the windward side has mostly readings in the good range, but here in Kona, the trade winds bring the vog our way.

WOW! What an outstanding list of resources and ideas we have going here! Thanks so much to everyone who has provided links and ideas. I live in CA, so studying plate tectonics is one of the highlights of our Earth Science lessons. Has anyone tried integrating lessons on plate tectonics with STEM? Right now, I am helping to develop a hands-on, inquiry based lesson in which 6th grade students will design a building, made from a given supplies, that can withstand an earthquake. To simulate an earthquake, we plan to design a platform out of fabric and PVC pipe that can "shake". If the students' designs fail, they will re-evaluate their design, and rebuild using the lessons they learned. I was curious if anyone else has tried something like this, or has any suggestions for implementing this simulation in a middle school level science class. Thanks! Maureen

just thought I would share some videos my students enjoyed viewing This is a video of Tonga underwater explosion http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80581826/

For some reason this one didn't upload with the last link

I guess I'm still learning - sorry everyone

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Underwater volcano -cbs news (External Website)