Teacher’s guide and tools for the classroom#
Some things in this section might also be of interest to hobbyists, though the focus is on teachers. Teachers- much of the rest of the manual, especially How to visualize the waveforms in real time & Beginner’s guide to reading seismograms will also be of interest to you.
For teachers interested in using the Raspberry Shake as a teaching tool in the classroom, this SciStarter article is a good place to start.
See also What’s inside a geophone?
Contents
Classroom computer science tools like Mu, Node-RED & Scratch#
Mu#
Mu is a simple but powerful Python IDE that is on its way to becoming the default editor for primary school classrooms. It is a good choice for really simple data analysis without the need to get bogged down in matplotlib stuff too early.
Instructions for Raspberry Shake coming soon!
Node-RED#
Plot real-time waveforms from your Raspberry Shake and more in the classroom! Raspberry Shake is Node-RED compatible.
Node-RED is a classroom-ready programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways. It provides a browser-based editor that makes it easy to wire together flows using the wide range of nodes in the palette that can be deployed to its runtime in a single-click.
Example “Flows” and Instructions
Raspberry Shake’s node is available at Node-RED’s npm.
Scratch#
Scratch is a visual programming language for children which uses a block-like interface. The service is developed by the MIT Media Lab, has been translated into 70+ languages, and is used in most parts of the world. It is a great introduction to programming and computational thinking, and it forms the core of our clubs and projects for primary school children.
Instructions for Raspberry Shake coming soon!
Booklets#
Seismology: Innovations in Practical work this is a STEM booklet with a nice background science summary
Websites resources#
IRIS Education and Public Outreach: We especially like IRIS’s “Teachable Moments” and they have stellar Twitter and and youTube accounts. See also: the IRIS Curriculum and this video that summarizes the teaching resources available.
Introductory Earth and Earthquake-science lectures/ videos
Some University-level resources from IRIS
BGS: Discovering Geological Hazards
Some general Earth Science classroom activities (user contributed). Includes translations into 12+ different languages.
THIS IS REALLY FANTASTIC!: Understanding P and S wave propogration through Earth.