Volcanism in the solar system
An action from
Secondary school: Collège Massenet-Fourneyron 42500 Le Chambon-Feugerolles
Grade: 4°2
Teachers: Brigitte Mondon Geology, Michel Cauchois Mathematics, Christine Bavuso Laboratory of sciences, Jean-François Garcia Arts.
Scientific partners
Astronef Planetarium, St-Étienne with Laurent Asselin
Lyon Observatory with Isabelle Vauglin
Lyon ENS with Pierre Thomas
Funding
CNRS Rhône Auvergne (projet passion recherche)
Jean-François Barnier, Conseiller Général de la Loire
Cartonneries de l'Ondaine
Foyer du Collège Massenet-Fourneyron
Approach
We're going to study five volcanoes:
1- Olympus Mons on Mars
2- Patera Tvashtar on Io
3- Puy de Dôme on Earth (France)
4- Piton de la Fournaise on Earth (France, Réunion island)
5- Herðubreið on Earth (Iceland)
We're going to work on the comparison of their shapes and sizes in building reasonable scale models of the five different volcanoes. The scale of building of each model will be different but we're going to show the different volcanoes' size with a profile fresco on the same scale.
Planning
1- Astronomic observation (mainly Jupiter and its satellites and the Moon).
2- Solar system presentation by Isabelle Vauglin, astronomer from Lyon Observatory.
3- Volcanism in solar system presentation by Pierre Thomas, geologist from Lyon ENS.
4- Documentary research by students who will work in five small groups on one of the five volcanoes and comparison between Earth, Mars and Io' sizes and aspects.
5- In a second part, students will choose a good scale for the model they have to do and draw a topographic profile of their volcano.
6- Students will build models with cardboard, coating and paint.
7- Exhibition of the models.
Arts work
At the same time, in Arts, students work about the fascinating theme of eruption.
The paintings can be seen on the right side of this page.
Building volcanoes models in pictures
Students at work
The topographic map of each volcano is placed onto cardboard and then the contours are poked through the map in the cardboard.
Team Piton de la Fournaise
Three teams at work
Cutting different pieces of cardboard
Team Patera Tvashtar
Gluing cardboard pieces
Team Herðubreið
Mounting pieces of cardboard of Olympus Mons
For Olympus Mons, the topographical profiles were drawn and cut.
After gluing the cardboard sheets, the relief is coated with plaster
Team Herðubreið
Volcanoes take shape
Sanding and dusting
Volcanoes are painted
Puy de Dôme
Laurent is looking at the students' work
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