teaching - Earth Science Teachers' Association

WINTER 2001 ● Issue 35 ● VOLCANOES – BAD AND GOOD?
Published by the Earth Science Teachers
Some of the advantages
● Soils that form from weathered basalt lava and ash fragments are normally very fertile. Crops grow
very well. Many people choose to live on the flanks of the volcano to take advantage of such soils.
● Lava flows that enter the sea build new land. This has happened in Hawaii, for example.
● Fragments often make good building materials
● Useful mineral deposits such as diamonds and opal are associated with volcanoes.
● In Iceland, water heated by molten rock is used for heating homes or for making electricity.
● Volcanoes such as Mount Vesuvius in Italy are important tourist attractions.
● The earth’s atmosphere and the water on it evolved from gases produced by volcanic eruptions.
● Volcanic eruptions that happened over millions of years created the earth’s atmosphere that
enabled life to evolve on Earth.
Suggested Activities
Raising awareness of Hazards Associated with Volcanoes
It would be topical to look at volcano hazards at the time of a volcanic eruption that was being
regularly reported in the news. Many less spectacular volcanoes don’t make the news. However you
can obtain relevant information on current eruptions from the Internet. Look at information on Current
Eruptions on the following sites
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/
Class exercise:
Use a World Map poster to locate and mark the volcanoes that are currently erupting. This might be an
ongoing exercise that can be updated throughout the school year. Also mark onto the World Map any
volcanoes that the children actually know about or have visited.
Class exercise:
Encourage the children to bring in any mementoes from their holidays- photos or rock specimens
relating to volcanoes. Make a class display.
Class exercise:
Start a class scrapbook of articles from newspapers and magazines about volcanoes.
Use video clips to illustrate how volcanoes can be dangerous.
Source of good video footage and commentary may come from News reports from the Main News or
from BBC Children’s Newsround. Alternatively record programmes and documentaries relating to
volcanoes.
Obtain information from the Internet describing the hazards of an eruption.
The following site has a very detailed account of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo:
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/fact-sheet/fs113-97/
A class exercise using ICT Skills for older children:
Using resources from the Internet, newspaper articles and video information word process a
newspaper report about a volcanic eruption with attention to the dangers volcanoes present to people.
For younger children:
Read the following (above right) extract to the class to emphasis the dangers of volcanic eruptions.