Second grade was praised for their understanding of the scientific process, and their confidence and efficiency in speaking in front of a large crowd.
Japan
is on the Ring of Fire, a part of the world with lots of volcanoes
and earthquakes and tsunamis. Mr. Currey is the emperor of Japan.
He needs to know when an earthquake has happened in his empire, and
where it happened, so he can send soldiers there to help rebuild.
What is the fastest way to find out where an earthquake happened, and
how bad it is?
2.
Do some research
We
watched some videos about plate tectonics.
We
read about earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes.
We
made a Key Word Outline (KWO).
We
learned about modern seismographs.
3.
Construct a Hypothesis
Kyushu
We
think that a box or a bottle full of beads or other things will make
a good earthquake detector because when the earthquake happens, it
will fall over, and the stuff will fall out. Where the top of the
box or bottle is, or where there are more beads, that is the
direction of the earthquake.
Hokkaido
We
think that a cardboard box on a hill with wheels will roll when there
is an earthquake. It will roll and hit a bell. We will add a
writing utensil to track the shaking as it rolls down the hill.
Shikoku
We
think that a wall underground will work. The wall shakes, a coconut
falls down, there is a note taped to the coconut that says “Help!
Earthquake!” And then water falls down another tube, then soldiers
dry off and go and save the people.
We
think that a big piece of cardboard with a mini 3D rectangle with a
bell will work. When there is an earthquake, the bell will ring.
Mt.
Fuji
We
think that we will line giant dominoes all the way up to Tokyo, so
when there is an earthquake, they will fall.
Honshu
We
think that we will have dominoes lined up, and the last domino will
hit a bell, which will ring.
4.
Test hypothesis by doing an experiment
We
built our earthquake detectors.
We
tested them on our giant Japan map.
We
changed things and retested several times.
5.
Analyze data and draw conclusions
Kyushu
Earthquake
Lion - it just turned out to look like a lion.
Materials:
box, flat sticks, tape, roll of string
1st
try - box and stick with beads inside it was too stable and it did
not fall
2nd
try - put string ball on bottom it tipped but did not fall over.
Ideas
for building: We wanted it to stand level then when the earthquake
hit the bed
would
fall on its nose. The nose had beads in it. The beads would fall out
and roll in the
direction
of the earthquake, but beads spilled in all directions and did not
tell what
direction
the earthquake was.
Depending
on the direction the Earthquake Lion was facing the location of the
earthquake
was unclear. Adding a ball with a pen might help tell where the
earthquake was.
Hokkaido
Materials:
cardboard boxes, cardboard, stick, tape, plastic container, sharpie,
paper,
marbles.
Intention:
The box would roll down hill. The marbles would shake the box and it
would
hit
the bell when there was an earthquake. The sharpie was supposed to
make a line to
show
how bad the earthquake was. The sharpie was supposed to be draw on
board.
When
detector was tested: It went down the hill before the earthquake. The
ramp was
not
hard enough to hold the box. The bell needed to be attached. The box
went down
the
ramp before the earthquake shook it. Wanted to try a different box
without wheels.
We
might need to start over.
Shikoku
Materials:
Play dough and marble
How
it was built: We tried to make a bell. It did not work. We could not
hear bell made of
play
dough with a marble in it. The bell got turned into a cup which
became a bowl
made
out of play dough. We put a marble in the bowl. Tested it on table
and it wiggled
some.
Then we tested it on the map.
How
it works:
Calm
means no earthquake.
Wiggles
a little bit - no soldiers are sent - small earthquake
Wiggles
a lot might send soldiers - look where the marble goes first inside
the bowl
Wiggles
all around and falls out - send the soldiers in the direction the
marble rolled
The
marble rolls towards where the earthquake is.
Tested
on map of Japan - it worked first time!
Materials:
dominoes, paper tube, marble
The
Experiment: Lining up dominoes around the tube with a marble in one,
two and
three
directions.
Result
of tests: It failed because the dominoes fell over easily. Tested
many times
Conclusion:
We need to start over.
Honshu
Materials:
dominoes, cardboard, marble, tape, string
How
we made it: made a bell in two parts from a paper tube, we folded the
tube,
attached
a marble with string and tape. We made a square of dominoes taped
together
for
the marble to hang inside of from the tube and hit the sides. The
tube was weighted
with
dominoes to make it stand up.
How
it works: Works when the bell hits inside the dominoes when thereʼs
an
earthquake.
The bell moves in the direction of the earthquake [epicenter]
Tested
the direction of earthquake detector by moving the epicenter of the
earthquake
on
the map of Japan.
Conclusion:
If you had more time, increase marbles for louder sound, hang the
outer
part
of bell, move bell.
6. Share results
7. Wonder more, change something; science is a cycle and it never stops!
