Thinking about Volcanoes Mount St Helens Case Study

Thinking about Volcanoes

Mount St Helen’s Case Study • Context of the lesson: Year 8 introductory lesson on Mount St Helen’s • Final piece of work: Extended piece of writing as a volcanologist

Learning objectives • To use thinking maps to understand the processes involved in the Mount St Helen’s eruption • To create a case study of the eruption using thinking maps to aid you

Mt St Helens eruption (May 1980) Mt St Helens is located on the ‘Ring of Fire’.

Mt St Helens – causes of the eruption Mt St Helens is located on a destructive plate boundary where a continental plate (North American) meets an oceanic plate (Juan de Fuca) Juan de Fuca plate North American plate Using your causes and effects map – write down what the causes of the Mount St Helen’s eruption were

Why do they happen? A destructive plate boundary is found where a continental plate meets an oceanic plate The oceanic plate descends under the continental plate because it is denser. As the plate descends it starts to melt due to the friction caused by the movement between the plates. This melted plate is now hot, liquid rock (magma). The magma rises through the gaps in the continental plate. If it reaches the surface, the liquid rock forms a volcano Causes of eruption – write down on your map

Mt St Helens – consequences of the eruption N 0 10 km Write down the effects of the eruption

Mt St Helens – consequences of the eruption AFTER BEFORE

Using the describing maps on the sheet write down as many adjectives as you can concerning the eruption of Mount St Helens Remember to look at the frame of reference

Before the eruption

The eruption

Defining in context map • The map contains information about the Mount St Helen’s eruption Mount St Helens What happened

And finally… • Rally-robin • One minute think time • What have you learned this lesson about the eruption of Mount St Helens?

Extended Writing • Using the thinking maps you have created this lesson you will take on the role of a volcanologist • A volcanologist is someone who studies volcanoes • As a volcanologist you have to produce a report for the volcano society regarding what happened to cause the eruption, what happened afterwards and what it was like during the eruption • You may want to expand on what you include in your report by including other appropriate thinking maps

What having literacy/language skills means… • Ability to think and learn • Development of information processing, reasoning, enquiry, creative thinking, evaluation skills • Active participation in society, economy and culture: empowerment

Literacy across the curriculum • Every subject needs to focus on the features of literacy which are specific to them • Different subjects, different languages, different literacies

Towed over the line? • A significant minority of pupils entering secondary education on a Level 4 will be Level 4 c – a few marks into the Level as determined by the KS 2 NC tests • Suggests therefore that there is a higher number of Level 3 pupils than our data indicates

Learning traits of Level 3 pupils • • • Unable to remember previous learning Fear of risk taking Poor organisational skills Poor conceptual grasp/ understanding of big ideas Difficulty in explaining reasoning Reluctance to self check Easily distracted Not good at listening, following instructions Lacking in confidence and self esteem Unfinished work • Lack of perseverance Df. ES 2005: Moving pupils from Level 3 to 5

Students will…. . • Struggle with subject specific vocabulary/organisation of text/ complex sentences • Be unable to use different reading strategies for different reading purposes • Struggle with explaining and reasoning – Because of poor sentence construction, ideas will come over as being very simple • Find it difficult to make inferences and deductions • Still be largely writing as they talk

How do thinking maps help? • Offer students a recognised structure thereby improving – – organisational skills ability to follow instructions less unfinished work confidence and self esteem • By using and linking together maps, students find it easier to – make inferences and reasoned deductions – articulate more complex or sustained thinking • Describing – comparing/contrasting – making a judgement