MAKING CASCADIA GEOHAZARDS RELEVANT TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

Teachers on the Leading Edge (TOTLE) is a professional development program for Pacific Northwest middle school Earth science teachers focusing on plate tectonics and geohazards. After participating in the summer 2008 workshop as a community college team leader, I considered how TOTLE resources related to Cascadia geohazards could be effectively incorporated into my introductory Earth science and oceanography courses at a Southern California community college. To that end, I developed and implemented a map exercise on liquefaction hazards and a jigsaw activity on paleotsunami studies. In addition, a decision-making scenario project in which students consider geohazards in four major West Coast cities will be piloted this fall in a natural disasters course. Descriptions of these activities will be provided. Regardless of whether or not a student has visited the Pacific Northwest, using Cascadia geohazards in my curricula is especially valuable in prompting students to compare and contrast natural hazards in Southern California and Cascadia with respect to regional tectonics. Comparing Cascadia and Southern California hazards also allows students to engage in richer explorations of earthquake focal depths, fault types and behavior, causes of tsunami, and evacuation scenarios.