Becoming a Seismologist

Becoming a seismologist was engaging and educational to my students.  Being able to use the

virtual lab http://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/ was very interesting and a

useful tool.  My students enjoyed the interaction of what a seismologist does to find the epicenter

and magnitude of an earthquake.  This lesson allowed the students to not only learn about

earthquakes, they were able to incorporate mathematics, analyzing data, technology and reading

in their learning.  Piercy stated, “kids learn best by participating—using all their senses,” (2009).

I have to agree with this, students learn more efficiently if they are able to hands on activities.

I used several techniques to teach my students about earthquakes.  As an introduction on a

previous day, the students learned the terms that they would encounter during their exploration

of the virtual lab.  To ensure that the student understood the vocabulary that they would be

encountering with, we discussed the meaning of the terms and watch the video, “Living with Violent

Earth: We Live on Somewhat Shaky Ground” (25 min) - Earthquakes, seismic waves, earthquake

prediction.  As they explored and learned what a seismologist needed to know when looking for the

epicenter of an earthquake. I allowed the students to pick from four locations of an real earthquake.  I

allowed the students to pick, this allowed them to understand not all earthquakes are the same.

 On the next screen, the students would see three graphs, by using the S-P formula and analyzing each

of the graphs the students determined estimated the interval for each of the recording stations. This

screen triangulated the information that each of the students inputted.  If they had came close or put

into the correct information the three circles would intersect at a point.  Several of the students

received as oops on their estimation (while other students receive a very close.  I had only one student

that got an excellent. Those students that received an oops, went back to reanalyze the data

that was shown on each of the graphs.  Those students that received the message very close

helped their peers re-evaluate the data. Revision of students work and then reflecting on the

learning process engages all the students (2009).

 The students’ next objective was to determine the maximum amplitude of the S wave correctly.  This

number then allowed the students by using the Richter’s nomogram  to estimate the magnitude of their

earthquake. If done correctly, the virtual lab gave each of the students a certificate of accomplishment

Each of the students were excited about getting their certificate.  The conclusion of this lesson included

a discussion of what they learned, what they thought was the hardest, and how we can improve the

lesson for the next class. 

As educators we need to know what we are teaching.  I know that I do not do as good of a job when I

am teaching with a subject that I haven’t really studied. I need to go to workshops, explore different

web sites and even go to my colleagues that have more experience in this field of study.

References

Article: Smith, A. (2009). The Art of Possibility: Creating More Successful Learners. Retrieved from Use the Education Research Complete Database, and search using the article’s title.

                        Coulter, D. (2009). School kids track LCROSS. Retrieved from
                          http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-                                   nasa/2009/21sep_gavrt/

Geology On-line Virtual Earthquakehttp://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/

Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). (2007). Animations and movies. Retrieved fromhttp://www.scec

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). (2009). Animations for earthquake terms and concepts. Retrieved from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/

Here is a link to my lesson plan, though, this one was done at my home with students that I gathered from school.

https://www.yousendit.com/download/UnlERE9yTERreEJjR0E9PQ