ScienceMakers Toolkit Manual - The History Makers

Earth Science
10. Dr. Person talks about young people today. Where does he see their focus going in terms of career goals?
Do you think this is accurate? In your class, what do people want to do when they grow up? Tally the
results and discuss how these numbers match up against statistics. What other opportunities do you
have? What kinds of things do you like to do? What kinds of things are you good at? What kinds of jobs
can you do with these likes and these skills? (See Clip #8)
Science:
11. What do you think a geophysicist does? Would you like to be a geophysicist? Why?
12. If you were a seismologist, what kinds of questions would you study?
13. The USGS handles earth science. What kinds of things are studied in earth science? Are there more
subjects involved than Dr. Person mentions? What are they? What are the areas of earth science that are
most appealing to you? (See Clip #5)
14. Dr. Person discusses his early earthquake detection system. What is it that it does? What are the
procedures in the event of an earthquake? What are the differences between an earthquake in the U.S.
and one in a different country? Dr. Person talks about sharing data. What do you think he means by this?
Be specifi c. Why would you share scientifi c data? (See Clip #6)
15. Have you ever been in an earthquake? Where? When? How did it feel? Share your experience with the
class. How do you think Dr. Person’s earthquake detection system helped you?
16. Why do you think that we can’t predict earthquakes? What causes earthquakes? Are there areas of the
world that are more likely to have earthquakes? Why? Where are they?
17. Dr. Person talks about the Richter scale classifi cation of earthquakes. How does the Richter scale work?
Research some historic earthquakes. What was their magnitude? Why did certain types of damage
occur? Is there anything we can do to minimize the damage done by an earthquake? What kinds of
things can you think of to do that? (See Clip #7)
Experiment - Liquefaction
This experiment was developed by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA.
What happens to sandy or fi ne-grained soils when an earthquake shakes them up? Try this simple activity to fi nd
out.
What do I need?
• Metal or heavy plastic pan—full-sized loaf pans work well
• Sand
• Water
• A smooth brick
• A rubber mallet
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