Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 1

“Seismograph Models”
Standard
8.ESS2.2 – Evaluate data collected from seismographs to create a model of
Earth’s structure.

Tennessee Academic Standards for Science: Page 56

Three-dimensional Learning Performance for Lesson

Students will develop and use a model* in order to show that Earth’s inner
structure is a system of concentric layers of differing composition ** highlighting
that patterns in data collected from seismographs can provide evidence of
changing layers or mediums. ***

Science and Engineering Practice for Lesson

Developing and Using Models*
The goal of this three-dimensional learning performance is for students to
develop a model of the Earth’s layers that is not only representative of features
not visible to us, but leads students to use data to make predictions and develop
explanations for what distinguishes one layer from another within this system.

Disciplinary Core Idea for Lesson

Earth and Space Sciences 2: Earth’s Systems **
“Evidence from deep probes and seismic waves, reconstructions of historical
changes in Earth’s surface and its magnetic field, and an understanding of
physical and chemical processes lead to a model of Earth with a hot but solid
inner core, a liquid outer core, and a solid mantle and crust. “

A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Page 181

Crosscutting Concept for Lesson

Patterns***
When students are able to make explicit connections between patterns observed
in empirical data derived from seismographs and “the development of a
mathematical representation” of Earth’s layers, they are developing an
understanding that differing composition of Earth’s layers causes these patterns
to occur.

A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Page 86

Prior Knowledge
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 2

Location Within Instructional Unit

Beginning Middle End

● Concepts that should be covered before this lesson:

○ 8.PS.4.1 Develop and use models to represent the basic properties
of waves including frequency, amplitude, wavelength, and speed.
○ 8.PS.4.2 Compare and contrast mechanical waves and
electromagnetic waves based on refraction, reflection,
transmission, absorption, and their behavior through a vacuum
and/or various media.
● This lesson covers portions of standard
○ 8.ESS2.2 Evaluate data collected from seismographs to create a
model of Earth’s structure.

Note: In order to meet the standard, it is recommended that students have

previous understanding of wave types and behaviors (specifically refraction and
reflection) in different media in order to properly interpret seismographic data
as per the grade-level physical science standards regarding waves and wave
behavior. Students may not have a working understanding of P (primary) and S
(secondary) waves, so the focus would then be on the changes in patterns and
not the causes of those changes as far as wave reflection and refraction are
concerned.

Materials
● Balloons
● Small objects such as marbles, small blocks or beads, erasers, paper clips
● Handouts when needed

Lesson Sequence and Instructional Notes

Part 1: Teacher Demonstration of modeling and check for prior knowledge

For students to create a model of Earth’s structure using seismographic data,

they must understand the basic behavior of P and S waves, especially their
speed and interactions in different media, (i.e., reflection and refraction). There
should also be a focus on the need for models not only due to the size of Earth
and the lack of accessibility to its inner layers, but because the model we create
can help us understand the structure of the inner system of the Earth. It is
therefore helpful to begin with a teacher demonstration model that will reinforce
and check for prior understanding of wave behavior, as well as the need for
models of the system.
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 3

A. What is inside the balloon?

Students will record their thoughts in their scientific notebooks or a
handout, documenting their answers to the engage questions. The
teacher will give partners (or groups of four, if necessary) an inflated
balloon with a small object inside (i.e., marble, small block, eraser, paper
clip). Inform students that they cannot pop, deflate, or squeeze the
balloon. Students should be encouraged to discuss and write down
several ideas for each question, not just stop with one answer. The
teacher should also circulate around the room asking guiding questions to
groups that are struggling and extended questions to groups that need
further challenge.
1.) Why is it difficult to identify the object inside the balloon?
● Students cannot see inside or have access to the inside of
the balloon.
● It is difficult to interpret the observations they can make
about the object.
There should be encouraging dialog about the many things
we/scientists can’t access but know much about in part through the
development of models. Move forward in their thinking by asking
the next question.
2.) How could you determine what the object is? (What methods would
you use?)
Prompting question: Can you use your senses to help you identify
the object?
○ Students will shake the balloon. Encourage them to
interpret sounds and behaviors of the unidentified
object. Does it roll? Does it feel round or have angles?
Is it heavy or light?
○ Students will likely follow this direction and make
observations such as “it bounces” or “it stops and
falls,” “it is heavy” or “it is light.” These are
opportunities to make connections to the upcoming
discovery of changing behaviors through different
media due to the energy and properties of the the
object or source of the energy. Students may use prior
knowledge to relate to the behavior of the object
within a contained environment, such as the balloon.
3.) What do you think the object is, and why have you come to that
conclusion?
Answers will vary and often be incorrect including “I don’t know,
because I can’t see the object,” but most likely there will be various
guesses based on weight and behavior of the object. It is important
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 4

that students include in their answers what the object is and an

explanation for why they have made their conclusion.

The teacher can then choose whether or not to identify the objects in the
balloons to either validate the students’ reasoning skills or leave the
identity of the object in the balloon a mystery to propagate the concept
that we can’t see the layers of the earth, emphasizing that we/scientists
are not absolutely sure of their composition.

After balloons are collected, there should be classroom dialogue about

how students determined the object (whether right or wrong). The
discussion should lead to the conclusion that the behavior of the object in
the balloon is what provided evidence for the identity of the object. The
teacher should then pose the following questions to the students,
allowing time for private reasoning and recording of individual answers.

1. How would the behavior of the object in the balloon change if the balloon were
filled with water?
2. How would the behavior of the object in the balloon change if the balloon were
filled with jello?
3. How would the behavior of the object change if the balloon had a large solid
object inside?

Students should make inferences that if the substance the object is

moving through (the medium) changes, the behavior or motion of the
object changes.

The teacher should give time for classroom discussion and students
sharing of all the ideas as well as recording of those collaborative
conclusions on chart paper, the board, or student notebooks for students
to refer to later.

B. Can the behavior and patterns of waves help us understand what is inside the
Earth?
1. Students should be given private reasoning time to answer the following
questions in their notebook. Note that variations in answers are not
declared incorrect at the time. This is a time of cognitive awareness and
development of ideas, not a time to note whether the student is correct or
incorrect.
What do you think is inside the Earth? What do you think the interior of
the Earth looks like?
The teacher should observe, by formative assessment:
Misconceptions:
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 5

● Earth’s interior is hollow or is one solid mass.

● Earth’s interior has layers but they are all types of solid rock
or other materials.
Preconceptions (prior knowledge):
● Students may recall all or some of the four layers of Earth:
crust, mantle, and inner and outer core.
● Earth’s interior is made of rock, magma, and minerals.
2. To transition from objects moving through changing media to energy in the
Form of waves experiencing these changes, ask the students a series of
questions that they will record answers to in their science notebooks or
an
activity sheet. Remind students that the balloon model demonstrated how
the motion or behavior of the object can change in its speed and possibly
direction as the medium it is traveling through changes.These questions
could be done through a round robin table talk or using productive
discourse in classroom discussion, depending on the time available.
*Depending on whether wave types and behaviors have been taught
(8.PS4.2), these questions will either encourage recall of wave behavior or
inform students of these phenomena.
● How do sound waves change in different media? How does the
sound change when it travels through air, water, or a solid, such as
a wall?
● Can you hear voices in the hallway while you are in the classroom?
(refraction)
● Can you hear sounds that bounce off of a solid surface? (reflection)
● How does light (Electromagnetic waves) change in different media?
Can you see a pencil on a desk? Can you see the pencil if it is
behind a sheet of paper?
● How does your view of the pencil change if you put it in a glass of
water? (refraction)
● Can you see the reflection of the pencil on the sheet of paper?
(Reflection of light only occurs on certain surfaces.)

Conclusions: Changes in a wave’s behavior (speed and direction) indicate

that the wave has reflected or refracted due to a change in medium.

3.) Finally, introduce analyzing seismographic data from P and S Waves to

develop
a model. Remind/inform students that seismic waves consist of energy
that is released from earthquakes and originates from a focus, traveling
out in all directions through the Earth’s layers. Seismographs, placed in
different locations all over the surface of Earth, record the time it takes
these waves to travel and reflect back to the surface or travel through the
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 6

Earth to be detected by another seismograph at a different location. When

and where a seismograph receives the signals of a seismic wave can tell
us if its speed changes and if its direction changes.

The following visuals might be helpful for students’ understanding of seismic

waves.

Figure 1. Seismic waves traveling from the Figure 2. Locations of seismograph stations
Origin or focus of the earthquake through around the world.
the earth.

Ask the students to suggest reasons for a change in speed or direction of

a seismic wave and record these reasons in their notebook.

Also remind students that these changes in a wave’s behavior (speed and
direction) indicate that the wave has reflected or refracted due to a
change in medium. For the context of this lesson, direct students to focus
on two types of seismic waves: the P wave and the S wave. P waves
should be defined as mechanical waves that travel through solid and
liquid media, whereas S waves are transverse waves that only travel
through solid media.

Part 2: Student Modeling

Students should be given the student activity sheet. The teacher should
introduce the activity by telling students that the currently accepted theory of
the structure of the inside of Earth is that there are four concentric layers: the
crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. Students will work in
groups of two to analyze and interpret the provided data in the form of a chart
as well and a graph in order to develop a model/graphical diagram to represent
the inner structure of the Earth. As both forms of evidence provide the speed of
the P or S wave as it travels deeper into Earth, students will use both forms of
evidence to confirm their reasoning as they construct their model.
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 7

A. Analyze the data in the table, and draw lines between depths where you
see changes in the pattern of the speed of the wave.
Lines should be drawn between the depths of 50 km and 2900 km for
both S and P waves. Another line should be drawn for P waves between
depths of 5200 km, 10 km/s and 5200 km, 11 km/s. Students may need
prompting to compare graph to chart data here, as the data can be
confusing that the speed changes in the same depth range. It becomes
clearer on the graph when the increase in speed is more noticeable.

Seismic P and S Wave Data

Wave Depth Speed Wave Depth Speed

Type (km) (km/s) Type (km) (km/s)

P 0 6 S 0 3.5

P 50 9 S 50 5

P 200 8 S 200 4

P 500 9 S 500 5

P 1000 11 S 1000 6

P 2000 13 S 2000 7

P 2900 14 S 2900 7.5

P 2900 8 S 2900 0

P 4000 9 S 4000 -----------

P 5200 10 S 5200 -----------

P 5200 11 S 5200 -----------

P 5500 11 S 5500 -----------

P 6000 11 S 6000 -----------

P 6400 11 S 6400 -----------

 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 8

B. Analyze the graph and draw vertical dotted/dashed lines through the
graph where you see changes in the pattern of the speed of the waves.
Take note of the depth at which these speeds change.

Vertical lines should be drawn similar to the following graph.

C. Pairs of students should agree on a design for a model in the form of a

two-dimensional diagram on paper for the composition of the Earth’s
layers. They may draw their diagram on a plain sheet of paper. Layers
should be drawn proportionally correct (within reason and estimations)
and each layer should be labeled. The teacher’s role should be to travel
through the class, observing the discussions taking place and the models
being developed.
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 9

Scaffolded suggestions in verbal or visual form, such as the diagram

below, can be given to students to assist in their interpretation of
evidence or the development of their model.

Figure 3

Scaffolded questioning to help students develop their model:

● Where is the first change in velocity seen? Draw a dotted line vertically to
show a change in layers. (These questions should lead the student to the
first vertical line drawn in the graph above.)
● Why might the depth be so thin before the first noticeable increase? (The
crust is very thin compared to the other layers.)
● In what way is the P wave speed different from the S wave speed between
the Earth’s surface and 2900 km? (The P wave is traveling faster.)
● In what way is the P wave speed similar to the S wave speed between the
Earth’s surface and 2900 km? (The P and S waves are both showing the
same pattern of change in speed as they approach different depths.)
● What happens to each type of wave at 2900 km? (The P wave decreases
dramatically in speed, but the S wave disappears entirely.)
● Draw a dotted line on the graph at 2900 km to show the next change in
layers. (Again, lead them to ignoring small changes in patterns and look
for the next obvious change at 2900 km. in this case, the S wave
disappears.)
● Where is the next change in the speed of the P wave seen? (At 5200 km,
the change should not be too hard for students to notice and mark once a
pattern has been established.)
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 10

● There are four distinct sections that represent the “crust,” “mantle,”
“outer core,”and “inner core. Ask any students who need further guidance
if they see evidence of changing patterns that show these sections.

Part 3: Formative Assessment Using Seismologists: Determining the Layers of

the Earth

Teacher Evaluation Notes:

Item 1: Should resemble the diagram below as to labels and proportions of

layers.

Item 2: P waves travel faster than S waves. There is an increase in speed for
both types of waves until 50 km. There is another increase in speed for both
waves until 2900 km when the speed of the P wave decreases dramatically. At
2900 km, the S wave stops. At 5200 km, the P wave speed increases by 1 km
and stays constant as depth increases.

Item 3: Both types of waves change speed when they change the medium they
travel through, so changes in speed would mean there is a new layer the wave is
traveling through. The S wave stops at 2900 km showing that S waves do not
travel through liquids so this layer is probably a liquid. When the P wave speeds
up again at 5200 km, there is probably another layer.

Item 4: Students should choose model A but give reasoning supported with
evidence that the depths at which the waves changed speeds are not equal and
are better represented by model A.

Item 5: Students may suggest representative models, such as a hard boiled egg,
a birthday cake, etc., that have similarities in layers to Earth’s layers. They may
want to create a clay model or draw the model again more three-dimensionally.
 Teacher Guide for Grade 8 - Page 11

Citations and Resources

8th Grade Science Unit: Earthly Waves. Columbus City Schools Curriculum
Leadership and Development. Science department. June 2103. Retrieved from
http://www.ccsoh.us/Downloads/8ESS1B_Earthly%20Waves.pdf

Structure of the Earth: the story of the waves retrieved from

http://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/jesei/waves/home.htm
(Questions for graph interpretation are taken from this source.)

Seismic and the Earth’s Structure retrieved from

http://www.indiana.edu/~geol105/images/gaia_chapter_3/seismic.htm

NGSS@NSTA Determining and Measuring Earth’s Layered Interior

http://ngss.nsta.org/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=40

Figure 1:
http://www.bu.edu/synapse/files/2012/10/eq004.jpg
Figure 2:
https://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/gsn/maps/GSN_topo_20March2017.jpg
Figure 3:
There are many sources for this image but copyright is Pearson Prentice Hall Inc.
2005