An averages and graphing exploration where students dig into volcanic data to predict when it will blow next!

Students will explore volcanoes and their atmospheric impact before diving into the data surrounding the best documented submarine volcano off the shores of the Pacific Northwest – the Axial Seamount. Teams will be tasked with finding the monthly averages of the vertical movement of the floor surrounding the volcano. They’ll then take those averages, graph them and explore why their plots are inconsistent and suddenly drop. Are their calculations incorrect? Is the sensor broken? Or is there something far more explosive (hint, hint, wink, wink) going on below the surface? This intel will then lead to the biggest question of all…. When will the Axial Seamount blow next?

Topics

Authors

 Vanessa Chisum

Next Generation Science Standards

Crosscutting Concepts
  • Cause and effect
  • Stability and change 
Core Ideas
  • ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
  • ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System
  • LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Practices
  • Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
  • Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Ocean Literacy Fundamental Concepts

  • 1: The Earth has one big ocean with many features.