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Teacher: Sean Bedell Subjects: Cross Curricular (STEM, Communications, ELA) Grade Level: 6th Grade School: Eddyville Charter School, Eddyville, OR The Challenge The Tsunami Structure Challenge: Design and construct a wooden evacuation tower model that can withstand three different sizes of tsunamis waves, including one generated by a magnitude 9 earthquake using the materials provided by the Hinsdale Wave Lab at Oregon State University. The structure must keep people safe and dry. The Problem Living in Oregon, most students never really think about earthquakes and tsunamis because there haven’t been very many in recent recorded history. But scientists warn that the potential threat to the West Coast exists. Unfortunately, time erodes community awareness and preparation. However, students’ attitudes can change when they explore and discover the potential of it actually happening where they live. In teacher Sean Bedell’s case, the reality of an actual tsunami threat happened. On March 11, 2011, his community awoke to an early morning tsunami warning stemming from a powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan. News broadcast the videos on TV showing the devastating tsunami sweeping across the Japanese coast, reaching miles inland including the fate of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This generated tsunami warnings for all of North America. Knowing the potential threat that a wave could be heading towards the Oregon coast, the community sought higher ground and waited. |
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Fortunately there wasn’t much local damage, but other nearby areas were affected and had some minor damage. Depoe Bay, Gold Beach, and Brookings suffered some damage to their harbors and marinas as seen from these home video clips:
This event awakened the community to the potential tsunami threats lurking just off their coast. Lincoln County coastline has the same kind of subduction zone fault line that caused the 2011 Japan tsunami. That means the fault zones, where the oceanic plate is, dives under the continental plate. As the oceanic plate collides with the continental plate it can stick and build up pressure. When the pressure is released, it results in an earthquake. When an earthquake happens on the ocean floor, water is displaced above it due to rebounding of the plate, and a potential result is a tsunami. Teacher Sean Bedell shared how this event impacted his teaching: “I felt the responsibility to teach my students about this sleeping threat that could very possibly be building pressure in our backyard. Scientists believe that Oregon has a one in four chance of an earthquake 9.0 or greater in the next fifty years. If a magnitude 9.0 earthquake were to occur within twenty miles off our shores, a large tsunami could impact the Oregon coast. I realized the necessity of bringing this knowledge into my classroom. My goal was not to scare my students, but to challenge and empower them to explore, examine, and discover ways to help people and their community who might find themselves in a tsunami situation.”
Meeting the Standards While the project idea stemmed from this real world event, Sean cross-referenced it against the state standards. He found it tied perfectly into several state standards. For example, in Oregon, there are specific engineering standards and physical science standards dealing with the earth’s interior processes and how waves interact with matter. Additionally, Sean identified several math standards incorporating ratios and proportions when working with scale and modeling. The Design Challenge The Hinsdale Wave Lab at Oregon State University has a program offered to all age groups providing kits for students to design and build and test tsunami evacuation tower models. Once the student design structures were complete, Sean scheduled time at the wave lab for the students to test their structures. The structures themselves were only a small part of the unit, but aptly saved to the end for them to employ their newly gained knowledge on plate tectonics and apply it in a fun, real and relevant way.
Resources & Timeline Introductory Resources and Activities
The Tsunami Structure Design Challenge
Extension: Community Action This project challenged Sean’s students to gain a hands-on and realistic understanding of the local tsunami threat, and empowered them to investigate how they would design a safety plan based on what they have learned. Sean would like to extend this project in the future: “I’d like to have the students think about how they might help people be better prepared: a PSA to build awareness, designing survival kits, water filters, etc. Students could come up with ways to help tourists be better informed of evacuation routes. There are many different possibilities that I can't even think of, the only restriction was the school year ending!” Here at the Model Classroom, we also see many possibilities. Teachers and students could extend their work through community action and outreach initiatives. Students might poll their local community (family, friends, neighbors, community leaders, and the general public) to determine awareness about tsunami preparation and evacuation, and whether there is a need to take action. If the students determine their is a need for community action, they could reach out to to local organizations (public library, town boards, Rotary Clubs, their local cable and radio stations, and their local newspaper). This provides the opportunity to extend student learning, from make this subject matter real and relevant, to empowering the students to take their knowledge and understanding to the next level, making an impact in their own community. |
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