Module IV

Essential Question: How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

Explain: It is one thing to explain to students about the Richter scale or P and S waves when teaching about earthquakes. It is makes a much bigger impact to show a video or a survivor account of the Alaskan 1964 earthquake. Alaska is in a unique position of having experienced many cataclysmic events in recent history- earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes- that can bring the geology alive to students.

Reading about them in textbook is no where near as powerful as learning about the destruction that happened to your home firsthand. I know I'll always remember reading in my 7th grade social studies class about a kid during the '64 earthquake who jumped up in his living room while the ground was shaking and landed in the opposite corner of the room. Going for a walk in Earthquake Park also had new meaning. Whereas before it was just a fun place to ski, after learning about the earthquake it became a lesson in geology and the people who had lived there. After that I became interested in learning about bootleggers clay and how Alaskans have learned to build around our earthquake, permafrost, tsunami, and volcano ridden landscape.

Extend: Cultures are definitely shaped by stories of cataclysmic events. One of the best known myths regarding volcanoes, the goddess Pele was worshipped as the Hawaiian goddess of fire. I have traveled to Italy several times and stood in awe of the power of Mt. Vesuvius. To walk down the empty streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum is truly awe-inspiring. The volcano itself was thought to be sacred to the hero Hercules. The culture of those resort towns was destroyed- people had to move and carried the stories of the eruptions with them. Pliny the Younger is responsible for writing numerous primary source letters recording the 79A.D. eruption for posterity.

Evaluate: Teaching students about cataclysmic events is extremely important. First, they help teach students about the geological occurrences that impact their environment. When students in Alaska go to Seward and hear the noon tsunami drills and see the tsunami evacuation route signs, they understand why such precautions are necessary. However, students should also be aware of the phenomena that impact other places on Earth. I remember hearing a story of a little girl in Thailand during the 2004 Christmas Tsunami who was present on the beach during the surge of water out to sea before the water broke on land. She had just learned about tsunamis in school and screamed, "Tsunami!" Due to her warning, the people on the beach had several extra seconds to make it off the beach. As stated in the module, everyone experiences a geological event sometime and it is important that we understand them.

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Photo of Herculaneum.