Katha 2014: Science Track- Revisiting Geology

Minutes of the workshop transcribed. Speaker Dr. Eligio Obille Jr.

KATHA 2014 Batch 2: Day 7

Science Track: Geology

Dr. Eligio Obille Jr.

UP NISMED

University of the Philippines Diliman

September 6, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker first grouped the teacher-participants into nine groups and distributed globes for each group. The activity started with geography called “Where am I?” using the globes. The participants showed the parts of the globes like the equator, longitude and latitude. The speaker clarified that the equator should be shown as a line and not as a point for the students to better understand it. Then he asked some of the participants to define the equator in their own words. Most of the participants gave different and various answers. The speaker clarified one of the participant’s use of the word “imaginary” in the definition of the equator. He emphasized that it is important to put the definition in one’s own words and not read from a book henceforth. He still extracted the full definition of the equator from the teachers and said that it should be equally or midway that separates the North and South Poles. He also clarified that use of north and south hemispheres that one of the participants shared. It should be the line that separates the north and south hemispheres equally into two halves that is midway between the north and south poles.

2. Latitude and Longitude. He then proceeded with the definitions of the lines of latitude and asked the participants to define it in their own words and based on what they see. He clarified that there is no wrong answers and not every definition should be governed by what they read in textbooks. One participant said that latitude is a circular line that expands going from the north dimension which changes as it goes in the midway down. The speaker clarified that the teachers should define the terms as if they were teaching Grade 6 students. Another participant said that it is a circular line that goes around the globe. Another said that each latitude has a 15-degree separation from each other. The speaker said that all their answers were correct but the definitions they gave may only be understood not by everyone. He clarified that latitudes are parallel to the equator, which the teachers had not noticed. Another said that the circumference changes, but better use the word “change in size”. It is important to use very simple words that everyone must understand, especially the students. He also stressed that parallel lines mean the lines do not meet. He said that there is no top or bottom or north and south in space that’s why it is important to avoid the use of top or bottom in defining geographic terms. “Equation is at latitude 0”, was an advanced answer that should not be taught immediately to the students. It is not the job of the teacher to give the definition of the term, it is his job to let the student discover the answer, the speaker emphasized.

The next question is “What is the latitude at the South Pole?” Answers were raised—90 degrees south. It is important to say that South Pole latitude is 90 degrees south because north pole latitude is 90 degrees north. It is important that the teacher would let the students to define the other terms by themselves after they have guided them. The teacher does not do all the teaching, they should let the students discover the definitions and answers by themselves as well.

The speaker then let the teachers show him the different degrees of latitude in the globes. The teachers all got the right answers and said that it would be better if the teachers let the students find the estimation of the latitude degrees—as he coined—guesstimate.

The speaker then asked the teachers to define longitude. Vertical lines, circular lines, lines from north to south, parallel lines. The speaker asked if the longitudes are parallel lines, which are lines that do not meet. It means that lines of longitude are not parallel lines because they meet in the north and south poles. He also said that they are not vertical lines. He said that the way the moon is tilted into a diagonal line is the same way as the lines of the longitude, which all meet at the ends of the poles. It is important to describe these concepts instead of reading it in textbooks, the speaker emphasized.

He also discussed the Prime Meridian, the first longitude, which passes from the North Pole near London to South. He asked the participants to find the Great Britain in the globe. He also discussed the Greenwich in England. The Prime Meridian is at 0 degrees, and it is going both east and west and meets at 180 degrees in the globe. It divides the Eastern and Western hemispheres. He further discussed the Prime Meridian and Greenwich and further called these that as the Prime Meridian is farther away from one country, it is called far east; the closer to Prime Meridian, it is called near east. It means that the Philippines is far east from the Prime Meridian. He then asked the participants to locate 25 degrees and one teacher said there is none in the globe. He illustrated and emphasized the use of legends of W and E in relation to the Prime Meridian—that is West and East.

He also asked the participants to locate Manila to the nearest degree. Answers raised were all correct—15 degrees north and 120 degrees east. The speaker gave some more exercises and competitions for the participants. He asked the participants to locate certain countries using the latitudes and longitude degrees. He gave at least three problem sets of finding countries using latitude and longitude degrees.  He next gave the activity in reverse, the participants were to identify the latitudes and longitude degrees of certain countries like Tokyo, Melbourne and Singapore. The speaker emphasized that the first to locate is the latitude then the longitude degree.

3. Latitude and Climate. The knowledge of latitude and longitude may be applied to climate. The speaker reviewed the climate of different points in the world. The relationship is that the closer the country is to the equator, the hotter the place is, and vice versa. There is a corresponding degree in climate and in the location of the place. Latitude 0 is called the equator. There is also a special latitude that is 23.5 degrees north—the Tropic of Cancer, in Tropic of Capricorn 23.5 south. Between these places are called the tropical areas. He also discussed the temperate zones and arctic zones. It is clear that there is a great correlation between the latitude and the climate. He also explained the cold climates due to the latitudes and longitude degrees in the north and south poles. Questions were raised on the long nights and long days in the north and south parts of the country.

4. Typhoon and Cyclone: Bottle Experiment. The speaker then distributed two bottles of water for each group and asked them to connect both bottles and shake them. He illustrated the correct use of the bottle experiment to illustrate the phenomenon of cyclone and typhoon. It is important to take off the label of the bottle and both bottles should be identical. It can be applied in different storms in the Philippines like the typhoon Yolanda. He discussed the entrance of storms in the Philippines using the bottle experiment to further explain how it is applied in climate. He also discussed the concept of the eye wall and tail of the storm that passes through different countries.

5. Tracking a Storm. The speaker also introduced how to identify and detect the eye of the storm and illustrated newspaper clippings during the worst typhoons in the Philippines. He also illustrated the storm approach of Yolanda in Leyte in a video. It could be noticed that the eye of the storm suddenly disappears once it lands in the place because it weakens. The speaker conducted an activity where the teacher-participants would plot the storm upsurge of Yolanda in a Philippine map given a set of data. He reviewed their answers which were measured in latitude and longitude degrees. He emphasized that such activity can be introduced to students where they can plot the Philippine area of responsibility and applying their knowledge on longitude and latitude. He also discussed the upcoming storms in PAR identified by PAG-ASA. PAR, which includes Taiwan is for the geography of storms only, the speaker emphasized. He also asked why the area in the east of the Philippines is a large part of PAR and rephrased the question. Answers raised were for PAG-ASA to be prepared in the upcoming storms in the eastern Philippine Sea. The speaker said that it is important to have a large part of the eastern area of the Philippines to be part of PAR because it would help PAG-ASA and the people to be prepared and this would become a warning for the people living near the coastal areas of the eastern Philippine Sea. He also pointed out the reason why Taiwan is included in PAR because storms may be strong enough for the people in one country to be prepared. He also pointed out that the teachers don’t have to give all the answers to the students and let them think it over to accomplish critical thinking. Questions were raised on the limited time for the teachers to extract the answer to the students in which the time may not be enough for them to do it. The teachers may adjust to their strategy relative to the time limit. Giving the answers to the students in an instant is not teaching at all, the speaker pointed out. Inquiry process is important for the students to be developed; even though it may kill a lot of time, but can be done. The speaker checked the answers of the participants and most of them got the right answers.

He also presented questions: 1) Where did Yolanda fall? The participants said it was outside PAR. He said there are three ways to answer the question: the Pacific Ocean, the longitude and latitude and outside PAR given one has full knowledge of the geography of the country. 2) When did Yolanda enter the PAR? November 6, between 3pm and 6pm, where it depends on where it overlapped in the boundary of the Philippine area, according to the participants. 3) When did Yolanda leave PAR? November 9 and between 12am and 6am. 4) In what direction did Yolanda move? The participants answered from Southeast to Northwest. They may also say it moved westward. It can be observed that the question can all be answered based on the activity. Other different questions may be added given another set of data. The speaker illustrated the long path of the origin of Yolanda to the participants from far east to westward in China.

6. Tropical Cyclones. The speaker discussed the different categories of tropical cyclones, namely tropical depression, tropical storm, typhoon and supertyphoon, which all differ in their speed. It can be interpreted in the Filipino language in the way vehicles move in speed. Tropical storms mainly rely on their wind speed, not on the amount of rain it produces. He described the different types of position of the storm especially when one is located in the eye of the storm. He also gave and illustrated examples of different storms and emphasized that storms all come from seas and are formed in bodies of water. Temperate and warm water ranging from 26 degrees celsius is also one point to form a storm. The direction is also westward for it to become a storm. Therefore the eastern parts of Luzon are always affected. 5) Where do tropical cyclones die out? It dies out during its landfall because there is no temperate water anymore. Landfall in water areas may also be low in temperature that’s why it dies out. He illustrated the inquiry teaching by letting the teachers answer the questions themselves, which can be applied to their students. 6) Why is the Philippine prone to typhoons? The teachers said that it is because the Philippines surrounded by large bodies of warm and temperate waters. Also, there is no other country near the Pacific ocean where storms can land, except for the Philippines. This entails disaster preparedness. Observations were raised on the clockwise movement and rotation of the Earth relative to the movement of storms being westward. The speaker said it is the Coriolis Effect, but it was too advanced for the lecture. Convention box—when there is a storm in the country, the wind above is warmer, where warm air rises. The air around will replace the warm air, which is called the low pressure area. All storms have low pressure area according to the speaker. It may advance to tropical depression. Wind then, which is the horizontal movement of the air then rises and creates the low pressure area. Typhoons are always pushed by wind currents that are bigger than the current itself, and are always attracted by low pressure area. When the air rises in a certain area, the strong winds and low pressure area are attracted in that direction, that is why it is westward. Another question is raised on whether the storm moves in a clockwise or counterclockwise. In southern hemisphere it is clockwise and in northern hemispher it is counterclockwise. This is due to the Coriolis Effect. He briefly discussed the topic on the Coriolis Effect using the globe. This is why there is a rotation of the storms because there is the rotation of the earth.

A final question was raised if there is a possibility of the occurrence of a storm from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. The speaker said there is a possibility, but most probably it weakens because there is the equator that stops the storm from passing by. Tropical storms in convergent and intertropical convergent zones give rise to diagonal rises of storms where warm air rises.

7. Earthquakes and Faults. The speaker then gave an activity called Break and Shake. He recalled the 1990 earthquake in the Philippines where 201 people died. The use of intensity 8 was wrong; it should have been magnitude 7.8, where there was a simple miscommunication. He illustrated a map of the world and all the black areas are the ones in which earthquakes occurred. It means earthquakes do not occur in any place. There are only certain places where earthquakes occur and are confined in certain places. It occurs in boundaries below plates. The activity involved the use of sand and two pieces of paper where the participants would replicate the occurrence of an earthquake. The activity showed a similarity of a road in which it was displaced when an earthquake occurred. The crack is called the fault, according to the speaker. He then asked what the definition of a fault based on the activity. The participants said that it is the place where two plates meets, collide, crack, breaks, separates along which there is movement. He illustrated a real fault and asked why there is a fault in that place. It is because there is a crack and displaced movement of the plates or in the ground. The fault should be big enough to be called one, the speaker pointed out. He illustrated more examples of faults.

The speaker illustrated a model of a fault in an activity, which involved carton boxes, paper clips and rubber bands. He emphasized that the movement of the ground is sudden, not slowly. He illustrated the pull of force of the rubber band with the taped boxes of carton and showed an earthquake in action. At first the pull of the rubber band is the only force exerted in the movement until there is a strong force of pull and the ground shakes and turns into an earthquake. All the groups were able to illustrate the phenomenon using the materials given. The longer the rest period of the force, the stronger the earthquake would be, and vice versa. An earthquake therefore is a big fault made by a sudden movement of the earth’s crust. The other groups tried to tape a paper house in one box and tested the result of the house’s destruction with the earthquake in action. He also shared some websites on earthquakes. A question was raised on aftershocks. There are three kinds of shocks, foreshock, the shock itself and aftershock, where aftershocks are the small minimal earthquakes due to the aftermath of the vibrations of the ground.

8. Heat and Earthquake. The speaker then proceeded with heat, as in heat in the lava of a volcano. Heat temperature is relative, depending on the layers of the earth and the place. Excessive heat causes the plates to move above. A question was raised on the concept of trenches and plate tectonics, but the speaker did not further discuss the complicated topic. He also clarified the use of tectonic plate and plate tectonics—one is the place itself while the other one is the theory. He also slightly discussed convergent and divergent boundaries where all earthquakes occur. A teacher clarified the complicated topic which is taught in Grade 6, and asked the speaker to further discuss it. More questions were raised by the participants regarding analogies on earthquake. Another teacher asked the correlation of the earthquake and the volcanic eruption, but the speaker said they are not.