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By John Marquis and Katrin Hafner
Caltech Seismo Lab, Pasadena, CA
On April 14th through the 16th, the National Association of Geoscience
Teachers held its Far West Section, Spring 2000 Field Conference
in the San Fernando Valley. SCEC Outreach was asked to present
some of its educational materials to the participants of the
conference. This proved to be a great opportunity for us to advertise
the availability of the recently completed SCEC educational module:
"Investigating Earthquakes through Regional Seismicity"
(http://www.data.scec.org/Module/)
to an eager audience of primarily community college and high
school educators.
On Friday, April 14th and Saturday, April 15th we set up our
display during the pre-dinner "Happy Hour". Participants
were able to view a large color poster illustrating the elements
of the module, as well as play with a standalone version of the
module on a laptop computer. Many of the participants were impressed
by the quantity and quality of the information and interactive
lessons available. A number of teachers informed us that they
were just beginning to look for educational materials on the
internet that they could use in their classrooms, and that our
product was just the kind of thing they were looking for. Several
of the participants in the teacher workshop led by Dr. Gerry
Simila on Sunday morning, we able to use selected activities
in the module as well.
For those of you unfamiliar with this product, the Regional Seismicity
educational module covers the basics of seismology using both
text and activities at a level appropriate for college and upper
high school levels. The material is divided into three sections
according to a storyline designed to give the lessons a logical
flow and make them integral parts of a coherent story. The module
has been developed over the last three years, with the third
and final section of the module, "Measuring Earthquakes,"
completed in December 1999 and presented at the AGU Fall Meeting
in San Francisco. As with previous sections, the material was
not made publicly available until it had been reviewed by SCEC
scientists. Since its final release, interest in and access to
the module on the WWW has been steadily increasing (see graph).
The module has already been used by a number of geology professors
in their classrooms and in teacher workshops. These include,
Dr. Lisa Grant, Dr. Gerry Simila, Dr. Michael Forrest and Dr.
Erik Bender. Because the module is available on the internet,
it is also being used in other parts of the country. Some selected
comments from our users are:
"My general comment on all of the
material that I have seen is extremely favorable. You have done
an excellent job of presenting a complex subject. Congratulations!"
Dr. Shea, Geology Professor,
University of Wisconsin
"Really like the activities - am always looking for (good)
ways to soup up the curriculum, especially when it involves using
computer images, models, and animations to illustrate geologic
principles. Even though we're in Missouri, many of the activities
are useful and applicable to us."
Carol Ross-Bauman,Kirkwood High School,
Missouri, Teacher for 11th & 12th grade
"I really enjoyed looking through the different sections.
I think this is a valuable resource for information on earthquakes.
Thanks for such a great tool."
Dana Knieriemen, Lancaster High School,
Grade 12, Age 17
We encourage you investigate this resource
as well!
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