A volcano is an important geographic feature.
A volcano is an opening in the Earth that allows hot lava and gas to be released from below the Earth's surface. This release can be constant or through an eruption, which can occur with little or no warning. Volcanoes are found both on land and under the ocean. Volcanoes can be mountains or volcanic fields.
Volcano Research
According to Volcanodiscovery.com, there are approximately 600 volcanoes in the world that have erupted in recorded history. Furthermore, approximately 50 to 70 volcanoes erupt each year. This provides ample information for research papers. Teachers can have students choose a volcano that has erupted within a set period of time, such as the last five years, and write a well-researched paper on it.
Volcano Movies
Teachers can use movies in the classroom to help teach students about volcanoes. There is a film titled, "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" that shows images of underwater volcanoes and talks about them in detail. There are also a series of eruption videos that show footage of actual volcanic eruptions recorded in Hawaii. Finally, the Discovery Channel provides a wide variety of short clip videos, which show eruptions, aerial footage, famous volcanoes and other related images.
Making Volcanoes
Making a volcano is a project students can do to help reinforce the information they have learned. Creating a volcano model can be done in conjunction with writing a research paper or separately. For example, students could be assigned the task of creating a model of the volcano they researched, or all the students could just be assigned the task of creating a volcano.
Demonstrating a Volcanic Explosion
Use a small drink bottle or other container as the volcano. Pour 1/4 cup vinegar, some orange food coloring, and a couple drops of laundry detergent into the container. Then drop a tablespoon of baking soda into the mixture. The baking soda will immediately make the volcano erupt. This project can be messy and students should not do this without the supervision of an adult.
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