Lesson Structure

When students go through this lesson in each section, the objectives they will learn are:

• Warm-up – Recognize what happens to the earth's tectonic plates when they shift.
• Imagine – Explain the causes of an earthquake and examine the destruction it brings to a city.
• Create – Simulate seismic waves with servo movement. 
• Build – Build a shake table simulating different amplitudes.
• Reflect – Reflect on creations and understanding of topics covered.
• Challenges – Opportunities to extend your creation to challenge your thinking.

After this lesson, students will be able to:

• Construct a lateral moving shake table that simulates the movements in the ground caused by an actual earthquake. 
• Adapt designs to reduce devastation by earthquakes (or natural hazards)
• Model the impact of natural hazards on structures such as houses and apartment buildings.
• Propose a solution for cities to reduce the impact of natural hazards on their infrastructure.
• Creatively code a servo motor’s starting and ending position to investigate different distances in ground movements, also known as amplitude.
• Explore how this ground movement can occur at various speeds by tinkering with the timing of your servo program.