You will need the following materials to build the model:

1 piece of card stock, 8 inches × 11 inches
1 sheet of printer paper, 8 inches × 11 inches
1 piece of cardboard, 8 inches × 11 inches
a long, shallow plastic container, around 30 inches long, 15 inches wide, and 5 inches deep
tape or glue
a small plate or tray
water
a ruler
a small bag of sand, about 2 pounds
Note that you will need these same materials for task 2. Hold on to them after completing task 1.

Hypothesis and Data Collection
Part A
Select one sheet of card stock, one sheet of printer paper, and one sheet of cardboard.
Use a ruler to draw two rectangles on each sheet. The first rectangle should be 1 inch × 6 inches. The second rectangle should be 2 inches × 3 inches.
Cut out all the rectangles.
Follow the diagram to fold the pieces into houses. Each 6-inch piece will form the walls of a house, and each 3-inch piece will form the roof.

two pieces of paper folded to form the roof and walls of a house
Secure the walls and roof with tape or glue. You should have three houses: one house made of printer paper, one of card stock, and the last of cardboard.
The rest of this activity can get messy. If possible, set up your model outdoors.
Next, use the sand to make a slope on one side of the plastic container. Shape the sand to resemble a sea coast.
Place your houses on the flat surface of the sand. They should be parallel to each other and positioned at the same distance from the end of the slope.
Fill the other side of the plastic container with water.
Place your plate or tray vertically in the water as shown in the diagram. Answer the question below.

a tank containing water and sand and a plate being pushed downward

What will happen to the sand and houses when you push the plate in the water? Do you think one type of house will change more than the others? Write down your prediction.

Now push the plate down and observe what happens on the shore. Repeat the action three to four more times, and watch the sand and the houses. Write down your observations.
Were your predictions about the sand and houses correct?

People standing by the shore often describe a tsunami as a wall of water. Explain why your experiment supports this description.

People standing by the shore often describe a tsunami as a wall of water. Explain why your experiment supports this description.

Two causes of tsunami waves are landslides and earthquakes in the ocean. Based on your past knowledge of these events, explain how they can cause a tsunami.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a real-time Tsunami Warning Center. Read the map FAQ section on this page to learn what the different icons on a tsunami map represent. Why is it important for the center to have three categories: no watch, warning, and advisory?

Protecting shoreline communities from tsunamis is a struggle, especially in less developed regions of the world. Explain why your experiment supports this statement.