Warning Signs

About this resource

In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo — quiet for about 500 years — blasted out the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 1900s. Yet tens of thousands of people had already left. How did scientists know it was coming — and why can’t they do that for earthquakes? Some hazards give warning signs. Scientists read the data, warn people in time, and help engineers build safer places. In this one-week, 6-level Natural Hazards & Forecasting unit for middle school science (NGSS MS-ESS3-2), students investigate a real mystery, then use their evidence to crack the case.

Warning Signs is part of Science Unlocked, a series of mystery-driven lesson sets. Every set opens with a real, surprising phenomenon, builds the science one level at a time, and ends with students solving the mystery in a claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) write-up.

Topics: natural hazards, claim evidence reasoning (CER), science phenomenon, review games.

What's included

• Teacher Deck (98 slides, PowerPoint). Answers are highlighted on the slides. Speaker notes tell you what to say and do, what to watch for, and how to support students or push GT students further. Prep slides and answer keys are hidden, so they skip during a slideshow.
• Interactive Student Deck (61 slides, PowerPoint + PDF). Students type in boxes, drag cards and check marks, and rate their confidence. Assign one copy per student in Google Classroom or your LMS.
• Google Slides versions of both decks. Click a button in the Google Slides Links PDF to make your own copy in Google Drive.
• Teacher Guide (29-page PDF). The standard, a week at a glance, a materials list, misconceptions to watch for, a run-of-show for every level, answer keys and sources.
• Student Printable (21-page PDF + a low-ink greyscale copy). The same tasks on paper in 12 pt type, for students without devices, sub days, or anyone who learns better with a pencil. Slide numbers match the Student Deck.
• Self-grading digital activity. SCORM 2004 and SCORM 1.2 packages for an LMS that accepts SCORM uploads, a web package, and a single HTML file that opens in any browser. Notes, sorts, matches, tables and multiple-choice items grade themselves, and students get a copy-and-paste backup of their work. A 2-page teacher quick start is included.
• Two whole-class review games that open in any browser: a Jeopardy-style game (6 categories, 30 clues) and Trashketball, where teams answer on whiteboards and then shoot for points.
• Kahoot! and Blooket import files. 56 review questions, one file per level plus an all-levels file, with a printable answer key.
• Start Here guide, HTML & SCORM how-to guide and Terms of Use, so you know which file to open first.

The 6 levels (about one 45–50 minute class each)

1. Danger Zones. Kinds of natural hazards, where and when they happen. Key activities: Pinatubo mystery, hazard sort, tornado-season graph.
2. Warning Signs. Precursors, forecast vs. prediction. Key activities: Volcano-watch label, Pinatubo gas data, warning-time order.
3. Reading the Record. Hazard history leads to where and how likely. Key activities: Quake frequency data, New Madrid history, Data Detectives table.
4. Engineering Against Disaster. Global vs. local technologies, data drives design. Key activities: Global/local sort, hazard leads to technology match, hurricane forecast graph.
5. Shake Table Lab. Test designs that mitigate earthquake shaking. Key activities: Build and shake 3 towers, Lab Conclusion CER.
6. Crack the Case. Stretch HS-ESS3-1: hazards shape human history. Key activities: Hazards on the Move, Stretch CER, final Pinatubo CER.

Built for real classrooms

• Every level follows the same routine: "I can" targets with a confidence check, a warm-up, copy-it notes with a word bank, hands-on practice, a checkpoint students must pass to unlock the next step, and an exit ticket. A 10-item Mini Quiz wraps up the week.
• Level 1 opens with a Power-Up on the earlier-grade ideas this standard builds on (3-ESS3-1, 4-ESS3-2, 4-ESS2-2, 3-ESS2-1).
• The last level includes a high school Stretch (HS-ESS3-1) that every student tries and advanced students can take further.
• Hands-on lab (Shake Table Test). Student materials list: About 50 toothpicks, modeling clay (small balls for joints); Big cardboard square (the shake table), 2 small squares (tower base, isolator base); 2 rulers taped down as stops, one on each side of the table; 4 marbles, 4 bottle caps (the base isolator); Metronome app, masking tape, goggles. Safety notes are on the slides and in the Teacher Guide.
• Support is built in: word banks, sentence starters and support notes on the slides, plus GT extensions.

Standards

• NGSS MS-ESS3-2: Analyze and interpret data to forecast future catastrophic events to inform the development of technologies to mitigate the effects of natural hazards. (Kentucky 8-ESS3-2 uses the same wording.)
• SEP: Analyzing and Interpreting Data · DCI: ESS3.B · CCC: Patterns
• Stretch: HS-ESS3-1
• CCSS connections: MP.2, RST.6-8.7

Try the digital activity first

• Not sure the self-grading activity will work in your LMS? Download the FREE HTML & SCORM Sample and test it with your students before you buy.

Save with a bundle

• Human Impact on Earth (5 sets)
• Middle School Earth & Space Science (15 sets)
• Science Unlocked Mega Bundle (all 89 sets)

Teach next

• Earth’s Treasure Map (MS-ESS3-1)
• The Wrong-Way Turtles (MS-ESS3-3)
• Outweighed (MS-ESS3-4)
• Who Turned Up the Heat? (MS-ESS3-5)

More from Mystery Lab Learning

• See every Science Unlocked set, and follow to hear when new ones are added, at Mystery Lab Learning.

Good to know

• The illustrations in this resource were created with AI image tools, and AI tools helped draft the lesson text. Every slide, answer key and lab step was then fact-checked against the sources listed in the Teacher Guide and proofread.
• Kahoot!, Blooket, Jeopardy!, Google Slides and PowerPoint are trademarks of their owners. This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
• License: one teacher, for use with their own students. Please buy an additional license for each colleague who uses it.