Schools Study Earthquakes

The specific project focuses on the study of a physical phenomenon with great societal impact andproposes pedagogical practices based on inquiry-based methods that are more effective in scienceeducation. The objective of this combination is on one hand to increase children’s and student’s interest in science, on how science is made and how it affects everyday life, and on the other to stimulate teacher motivation on up-taking innovative teaching methods, subjects and practices to enrich and renew the science curriculum. The key is to provide increased opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between schools across European countries (mainly countries of the European South that experiencing seismic activity) and encourage relationships between stakeholders of both formal and informal education by establishing a network of schools that will study real data, do real analysis of real seismic activity in real time and will present their results to their communities.

The specific project engages students in employing real-problem solving skills, handling and studying situations, and participating in meaningful and motivating science inquiry activities. The RRI component of the project lies in the fact that students deal with real seismic data that they have acquired themselves while they have to communicate their findings to the local communities. In countries like Greece, Italy and Bulgaria the phenomenon is rather common. Surveys in the field demonstrate that the general public is not well informed on the necessary measures that have to be applied to minimize the impact of the natural phenomenon. A complicated geophysical phenomenon like the earthquake is possible to be studied in the classroom with the use of a simple instrument and results can be obtained with the combination of data from the collaborating schools. The aim of the activity is to create a network of OSOS schools (Hubs and connected schools) that will be active in citizen seismology.

Age: 14 to 17