The objective of the project has been to incorporate seismology into the
curricula of the Santa Barbara City high schools utilizing the CUBE
(Caltech-USGS Broadcast of Earthquakes) system. This system displays a map of
southern California earthquake epicenters on a computer screen in real time. A
10-day seismology curriculum was developed that can be taught at different
levels in a high-school environment. There is a menu of activities from which
the instructor can choose depending on the level of the class, to reinforce the
concepts in seismology.
The pilot program started in the summer of 1994. The first CUBE display was
placed at Bishop Garcia Diego High School in the main corridor where it can be
viewed by the largest number of people. A remote keypad allows the inquiring
person to interact with the CUBE monitor. The first draft of the curriculum
was developed and used in both senior and freshman level classes.
Phase II of the project, completed during the summer and fall of 1995,
extended the project to San Marcos and Dos Pueblos high schools. CUBE systems
were installed and personnel were trained in the operation, usage and
maintenance of the systems. The curriculum was refined and introduced at each
school.
Funds were obtained from the UCSB Development Office to install CUBE computer
systems at three locations on campus; ICS offices in Girvetz Hall, the main
entrance of the UCSB Library, and outside the main office of Geological
Sciences Department. The displays are accompanied by an earthquake epicenter
map and an explanatory text.
The 1995-96 year has been a successful year in disseminating our research on
the earthquake hazards of Santa Barbara to local officials and citizens. The
audiences have ranged from city geologists and County planning staff to the
general public. The objective is to disseminate research results to the
scientific and consulting community as well as educate the general public on
the focus of the research and state of knowledge on earthquakes in general and
locally. ICS earthquake hazard exhibits have been well-received in all forums,
especially at the Spring 1996 Santa Barbara Earth Day and at the Fall, 1995
Coast Geological Society meeting. Keller, Gurrola and Valentine led several
well-attended field trips on the "Earthquake Hazards of the Santa Barbara Fold
Belt". They are currently revising their field trip guidebook to include
additional field stops and expect to lead a 2-day field trip in the Santa
Barbara area during Spring, 1997.
ICS maintains a World Wide Web home page (http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu) that
contains general information of public interest. It includes three items
concerning California earthquakes. One of these, entitled Up-to-the-minute
southern California Earthquake Map
(http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/scec/webquakes/; Grant Lindley), displays the last
approximately 500 earthquakes to be recorded by seismographs in southern
California. The map is automatically updated based on e-mail received from the
Seismological Laboratory at Caltech. These updates usually arrive within a few
minutes of the earthquake. A second site is called Understanding Earthquakes
(http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/~grant/understanding/; Grant Lindley). This site
contains an earthquake quiz, a rotating globe that shows earthquake locations,
famous accounts of earthquakes, and similar features intended to be of interest
to the general public. Finally, we have a Web site about the earthquake
history of Santa Barbara County. This site includes historical accounts and
photographs. The URL is http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/~grant/sb_eqs/ (Grant
Lindley).
ICS researchers and students made numerous presentations at public schools on
earthquake issues. These included UCSB, SBCC, Roosevelt Elementary School,
Monte Vista Elementary , San Marcos High, Isla Vista Elementary , Bishop Garcia
Diego High, and La Colina Jr. High.
We made public presentations on earthquake issues to the Santa Barbara City
Council, the City of Los Angeles, and to Ventura and Santa Barbara County
officials.
We also visited with senior citizens at Francisco Torres retirement home and
spoke to them about earthquakes. We had a display and booth at the local Santa
Barbara Earth Day event.
Grant Lindley continues to volunteer for the computer bulletin board system,
NEWTON, that is run by the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Using the
computer bulletin board, students and teachers from kindergarten through high
school can post questions about science. Responses are posted by scientists
working in the fields that the questions pertain to. Typical questions
include, When will the next big earthquake happen in California? What type of
volcano is Mauna Kea in Hawaii? How did the Richter scale originate? The
students who leave questions are enthusiastic and curious, and it is not
unusual for them to ask follow-up questions.