The epicenter is the point on the ground above the initial point of rupture. The 10th lesson in a series of 20 encourages scholars to learn to triangulate the epicenter of an earthquake based on the arrival times of p waves and s waves. The teacher walks through the process step by step in order to facilitate mastery.

Concepts

earthquakes, epicenters, compasses, map scales, p waves, s waves, seismic waves

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• View recent earthquakes throughout the world https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

Classroom Considerations

• It would be helpful if students have prior experience with using a compass to measure and draw a circle
• Some of the questions required on the conclusion worksheet were not covered in the lesson as written, but they should be answered in all standard text books

Pros

• Uses a 5E lesson format to provide familiarity throughout the series
• Includes cross-curricular connections to math and science

Cons

• Finding the Epicenter worksheet is fuzzy and difficult to read

Common Core

RST.6-8.4