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SCEC has also partnered with JEP, USC Mission Science, USC Sea Grants and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) to create hands-on workshops for teachers at schools in the neighborhoods
surrounding USC.
Development of Educational Products
Earthquake Country - Los Angeles Video Kit. The video was produced by
Dr. Pat Abbott of SDSU. The video tells the story of how the mountains and
valleys of the Los Angeles area formed, including the important role of
earthquakes. The video features aerial photography, stunning computer
animations, and interviews with well-known experts. The video features 3D
fault animations produced by SCEC’s “LA3D” visualization system. In
addition to conducting several focus groups with teachers and preparedness
experts where the video was evaluated, SCEC developed an educator kit for
school and community groups. The kit is currently being used in several
schools in Los Angeles County, in an earth science education course at Cal
Poly Pomona, and is part of educational programming at two museums.
Plate Tectonics Kit. Debuting in fall 2008, this educational product makes plate tectonics activities
more accessible for science educators. SCEC developed a user-friendly version of the This Dynamic
Earth map used by many in a jigsaw-puzzle activity to learn about plate tectonics, hot spots, and
other topics. Feedback from educators indicated that the activity would be used more often if they
had maps that had the plate boundaries on the back so that the puzzle could be cut more easily. In
addition to designing the new map SCEC has also developed an educator kit.
Use of SCEC Community Modeling Environment (CME) Products in K-12 education. SCEC
has included CME animations in its teacher education workshops since 2002 with the initial
visualization of the Community Fault Model, and through 2007 with the latest Terashake
animations. Our “Earthquake Country – Los Angeles”
DVD and Putting Down Roots handbook are used by
teachers throughout Southern California, and both feature
CME products. A compilation of CFM visualizations have
also distributed on a CD, at teacher conferences such as the
National Science Teachers Association annual meeting.
Also, a supplement module to an earth science textbook
(being developed by a publisher) will lead students
through analysis of earthquakes using Terashake
animations.
Use of SCEC Community Modeling Environment (CME) Products in Higher education. SCEC
faculty (and many others) are using CME animations in there undergraduate and graduate courses.
Many graduate students have been supported by the CME project and have key in the
development of many CFM products. However, the major impact of the CME and related activities
however has been in the SCEC Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology
(USEIT) program, which has developed LA3D and now SCEC-VDO to visualize the SCEC CFM,
earthquakes, and other features. This has resulted in a very useful tool but more importantly
involved students from computer science, engineering, economics, film, and many other majors in
earth science applications of advanced computer science. Several have changed their career paths
and are pursuing graduate degrees with SCEC.
40 | Southern California Earthquake Center