Earthquakes Lesson Plan: Earth’s Systems

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Earthquakes Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Earthquakes, and supports the standard of analyzing how geoscience processes change Earth’s surface. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

• What do you know about earthquakes?
• How do you think earthquakes affect people and communities?

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read the description on the Earthquakes topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “The Final Frontier” or “Way Back When”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: ENGAGE 

Students express what they learned about earthquakes while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.  

• Make-a-Movie: Create a video journal from the pov of a geologist that answers this question: What can scientists learn from measuring and recording earthquake events? (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences from explicit details)
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying the relationship between plate tectonics and earthquakes. (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
• Creative Coding: Code a learning game challenging players to sort earthquake-related vocabulary terms into self-selected categories. (Essential Literacy Skill: Acquire and use domain-specific words and phrases)

Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS 

Apply: Students complete the Earthquakes Worksheet, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Earthquakes Quiz. 

Step 5: EXTEND LEARNING

Time Zone X: Earthquakes: This interactive timeline game challenges players to put historical events in chronological order.

Earthquake Game: Apply triangulation strategies to predict the strength and timing of an earthquake.

Earth System Unit: Continue to build understanding around Earth’s systems with more BrainPOP topics.

Additional Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students  to stop, think, and express ideas.
• Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.