I imagine strategies for the unit will include reading for information, cooperative learning, researching, and persuasive writing. Students will complete background reading that defines basic earthquake terminology. In addition, students will read and discuss primary and secondary accounts of the New Madrid Earthquakes. I imagine students viewing some film clips of earthquakes. I have some footage of the 1964 Alaskan quake. In addition the USGS has a number of photographs, documentaries, and correspondence about earthquakes in the United States and abroad.
Students will also complete a significant task for the unit. The significant task would be to write a persuasive letter to FEMA that recommends a course of disaster prevention action that will help prepare a defined and populated area for future earthquakes. The letter will take into account the history of earthquake activity in the New Madrid region, the potential for future quakes in the region, an assessment of risk if no preparedness is undertaken and concrete steps that could be done to significantly reduce the potential damage of earthquake activity in the region.
