Advice for teachers
GEOGRAPHY
Detailed example VOLCANIC ENVIRONMENTS Background/Introductory exercises 1. Introduce volcanic environments as a natural system emphasising the interaction existing between lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
Multimedia presentation 5. Using specific websites, monitor the changes to a natural landscape, for example Mt St Helens, and present research on change to a natural landscape using presentation software.
2. Describe and map the global distribution of active volcanoes and correlate with the distribution of crustal plate boundaries. Note exceptions to the pattern such as Hawaii. This task can be completed as an overlay map.
Some starting points for websites include:
3. Look at the type of landforms commonly associated with volcanic landscapes, such as cones, craters, fissures, maars, lava flows, tumuli, caves and describe the events and/or processes that have led to their formation. This can be attempted as a small group activity with students collecting information on a specific volcanic landform and reporting back to the rest of the group.
vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/framework.html
4. Explain using diagrams or photos why certain types of eruptions such as pyroclastic flows can be related to the type of plate boundary where they are located, for example violent eruptions on destructive plate margins as compared to the relatively gentle ones on constructive margins.
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www.learner.org/exhibits/volcanoes/ www.agso.gov.au/urban/factsheets/volcanoes.jsp www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/
Fieldwork activities 6. Conduct fieldwork at a site or sites where volcanoes have had a major role in the formation of a particular landscape. In western Victoria there are many locations where fieldwork could be conducted. For example, Tower Hill is an example of a nested maar, Mt Eccles is an example of a fissure eruption, Mt Napier is a scoria cone and the lava flow from this volcano created the Byaduk caves. Prepare a written report on the geographic characteristics and natural processes and factors that create the volcanic environment.
VCE STUDY DESIGN
October 2009