Sixth graders get to design with earthquakes in mind

LEAVENWORTH – A tabletop earthquake simulator has been testing students’ balsa wood structures for years at Icicle River Middle School (IRMS). Earthquake resiliency is a favorite unit because it’s hands-on, utilizes Minecraft, the 3D crafting and building videogame, and ends with a potential spectacle of destruction.

Over a couple weeks, students, in groups of four, develop a project that includes two architectural products—a balsa wood structure to test on the earthquake simulator, and a building in Minecraft using earthquake resistant features—as well as a project budget and marketing materials. Each student leads one aspect in their role as architect, structural engineer, marketing director or chief financial officer.

For the past several years, the unit has been taught by sixth grade science teacher, Shannon Fallon, and sixth grade math teacher, Jessica Hoiland, who currently has a long-term substitute, Carson Rieke.

There was nervous excitement in the IRMS library as one class of sixth graders filtered in to stand near their projects. Some felt the stress of last-minute construction—gluing, pinning or adjusting—the day before, or for a few, mere minutes before. One by one, each group brought their structure up to the earthquake simulator, where Rieke and Fallon helped attach the bottom board to the simulator. The structure had to follow building specifications, including a height of five stories, intentional gaps to insert a metal plate on each floor to see how added weight affects a structure’s resiliency, and budget limitations to limit how many raw materials could be “purchased.”

When Rieke turned on the simulator, the foundation underneath the test unit shifted back and forth, and Rieke could slowly or quickly ramp up the speed of the vibrations. The students’ creations, on the whole, survived quite well in these simulations, with the vibrations maxing out at 30 per second. A few lost a poorly glued bracing, and one seemed to be slowly coming unglued from its base, but, on the whole, the structures survived with only minor damage. Several of them tolerated the high-speed vibrations even after adding metal plates.

As a build up to the group project, students learned from Fallon about plate tectonics, the causes of earthquakes, and how the earthquake consequences can vary depending on the energy released, the distance from the earthquake’s epicenter, and the type of soil or rock at a location. STEM concepts that were integral to the project included geometry and scale drawings, and the properties of shapes in architectural design.

The real-life application of science units like this one holds the students’ attention. For instance, while the simulator could not simulate a real earthquake’s 3D terrestrial tremors—in all directions and including roll, pitch and yaw—students could better appreciate the next level of resiliency design such as seismic isolators and tuned mass dampers. One student, Everitt Duffield, even added those elements to his Minecraft structure, incorporating them underground. Another student, Aidan Tucker, displayed his prowess in Minecraft by fully incorporating his group’s brand, Locos Camperos, into his earthquake-proof taqueria.

“This unit is also about working together,” explained Fallon. Students gain practice in communication skills and being accountable to team deadlines and goals. Fallon said she was pleased with how enthusiastic the marketing directors were in terms of designing the brand and tracking down information from their teammates. She helps ensure there’s team cohesion because each person needs to learn about the other roles and contribute to the different aspects of the work. There are opportunities for peer-to-peer teaching, which is a great way to learn something deeply.

Fallon has well planned the earthquake simulation testing to happen right before winter break. There’s a festive atmosphere in the library at the culmination of this group project. The students will then take the surviving structures home, which might just fuel eagerness for more STEM challenges in the new year.