Exploring Earthquake Hazards with GIS

Constantin CRANGANU

Brooklyn College, City University of New York

This activity has been reviewed by 2 review processes (view details)

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process. This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

Initial Publication Date: July 20, 2007 | Reviewed: January 19, 2015 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

This activity is a straightforward application of GIS to assessment of earthquake hazards. The students get more modeling skills with GIS and a better understanding of earthquake hazards.

Geophysics in other disciplines, Geophysics and Structural Geology, ...(more) | College Introductory

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Context

Audience

Introductory course in geophysics Designed for a geophysics course

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Basic knowledge of computer operation.
Familiarity with ArcGIS software is desirable, but not necessary.

How the activity is situated in the course

It is a part of sequence of exercises using GIS.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Students will be able, using GIS, to locate the largest and most destructive earth-quakes
Students will be able, using GIS, to compare the locations of large earthquakes with the locations of deadly earthquakes
Students will be able to investigate changes in the distribution of deadly earthquakes over time.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Exploring earthquake and tsunami hazards is a complex activity, including, among others,
examining earthquake data to locate the largest and most destructive earthquakes;
investigating deadly earthquakes patterns through history;
discovering which factors contribute most to an earthquake's destructive potential;
exploring the relationship between population, national wealth, and seismic risk.

Other skills goals for this activity

Description of the activity/assignment

Each student will load a database file into ArcGIS software during the class period. Following the written instructions, each student will work through various steps necessary to analyze the earthquake hazards. Uses online and/or real-time data Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

Determining whether students have met the goals

There are 18 questions spread throughout exercise that will assess students progress and meeting the goals. There are also two tables to be completed with data. Then, the data need to be graphically represented as histograms.

More information about assessment tools and techniques.