Oregon Sea Grant

STEM Learning Through Tsunamis:

Coastal Engineering Design and Watershed and Invasive Species Education (WISE) Education Module

This curriculum guides students' decision-making using Ocean Science Systems. Students will understand the causes and consequences of a natural disaster, such as a tsunami or bio-invasion, learn about their risks, and explore choices and consequences of responses to and preparation for tsunami hazards. 

In addition, students engage in critical thinking about the consequences of different responses. The goal is to provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) applications through natural phenomena, coastal engineering design, and the interaction of human systems as a conduit for teachers to apply, measure and motivate STEM learning.

The module includes three activities that address short- and long-term questions about tsunami risk.

If you would prefer to have the entire curriculum on a CD, contact Sam Chan.

Activities

(Select link to view or save a component, or download entire activity as a .zip-compressed set)

1) How long before the wave hits? Calculating the speed of a tsunami wave.

• NOAA Lesson: Waves – “Can you outrun a tsunami?” (MS Word)
• Teacher Activity Summary - adaptation of NOAA lesson (MS Word)
• Wave Speed Calculation (MS Word)
• Isolines Map - (PowerPoint slide)
• Tsunami impact model of Seaside, OR (YouTube video)
• Download entire activity  (.zip file)

2) How should we prepare? Tsunami and Sand Bins – a desktop tsunami and coastal engineering experiment.

• Lesson Plan outline (MS Word)
• Questions for a Guided Discussion (MS Word)
• Tsunami and Sand Bin Worksheet (MS Word)
• Costs Worksheet (MS Word)
• Download entire activity  (.zip file)

3) What are the long-term consequences of tsunamis, and what can I do? BioBlitz! What’s the Risk?

• Lesson Plan: BioBlitz: Tsunami Debris Species Risk (pdf | MS Word)
• Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris: Key Aquatic Invasive Species (pdf | MS Word)
• BioBlitz stations student worksheet (pdf | MS Word)
• BioBlitz suggested answers (MS Word)
• BioBlitz debrief student worksheet (pdf | MS Word)
• Download entire activity (.zip file)

Tsunami Debris Resources

• Oregon Geology tsunami clearing house
• DOGAMI Factsheet/Cascadia Newsletter 2011: “The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami: Lessons for the Oregon Coast”
• NOAA's Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris model, with updated predictions of debris movement across the Pacific
• An interpretation of the debris predictions (pdf)
• Pictures of Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris (and other marine debris) in Alaska
• Species found on the Agate Beach and ONP docks in Oregon in 2012. Note that there are 128 verified species, of which 117 were alive and of Japanese origin vs. pelagic.
  • http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/floatingdock/
  • Video of Lepas (Gooseneck barnacles) on tsunami debris
• Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 
• National Invasive Species Information Center 
• Walla Walla University – Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory 
• Global Invasive Species Database 

The following educational resource is useful for teaching K-12 students about invasive aquatic species:

• Nab the Aquatic Invader