Rapid Earthquake Viewer Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to help you and your students become familiar with the Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV), an interactive website that provides access to earthquake data from seismograph stations around the world. REV gathers earthquake data from seismic networks around the Earth and posts information about recent notable earthquakes so you can see where they happened and view the seismograms from global seismograph stations. REV also lets you see if any seismic activity has registered on seismograph stations in your area or other areas around the world. It is recommended that you and your students go through this tutorial before initiating other lessons involving REV.

Concepts and learning outcomes	Students will understand that: Earthquakes occur at locations all over the world. Earthquakes occur every day Earthquakes vary in magnitude Ground motion is recorded by seismographs producing seismograms The further a station lies from the earthquake, the longer it takes for the seismic energy to reach that station	The amplitude of the seismic energy from an earthquake decreases as the distance increases from the earthquake's source area A seismograph measures the seismic waves in three directions to accurately capture seismic energy: vertical (up/down), north-south, and east-west Earthquakes can be recorded by seismometers where you live even if you can't feel the earthquake
Appropriate for	Grades 6-12 (see prerequisites for further detail)
Time requirements	One to two 45-minute periods to complete all parts of the tutorial.
Vocabulary	Amplitude Arrival time GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) Magnitude	P wave S wave Seismogram Seismograph Station
Prerequisites	Basic map reading and graph interpretation skills are helpful. Best suited for high school students, though the first half of the tutorial is also suitable for middle school students.
Background for teachers	The Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV) tool displays earthquakes which are greater than 5.5 magnitude for worldwide earthquakes and greater than 3 for earthquakes in the United States. Smaller earthquakes are not displayed in the tool. Note also that REV displays a subset of the hundreds of global seismic stations that might have recorded each earthquake. See more background information.

Materials / Preparation

Each student will need the following:

REV Tutorial Worksheet. (Word file) Extension questions (indicated with a **) are included for advanced students.
Computer with Internet connection to access REV. This site is also linked from the Student Webpage.
Computer with projector (optional) to demonstrate website features, and review material after tutorial completion.
Calculator

For the teacher: Answer key (Word file) for the student worksheet

Grouping

Individual or pairs, or as a projected demonstration (depending on number of available computers)

Teacher tips

Take time to complete the activity and familiarize yourself with REV before assigning the tutorial to students. The tutorial is quite detailed. You may want to select from the questions on the worksheet and create a custom version to meet your students needs and time constraints. Alternatively, you might work through the first 12 questions as a class and then have students work independently or in teams for the remainder of the questions.

It is useful to have students go through this tutorial before doing the other activities that will utilize REV:

Adopt a Seismograph Station
Comparing Ground Motion from Earthquakes

Procedures

Introduce the idea of using a computer to learn about earthquakes. Explain that students will be able to see where earthquakes have occurred worldwide for approximately the past year. They will also be able to observe how strong those earthquakes were and learn about how earthquakes are measured.
Using a computer projector, introduce students to the REV website. Point out the location of links to: Recent Earthquakes, Earthquake View, Station View, Glossary, Help, etc.
Students will now explore REV independently following the Tutorial Worksheet.
After students complete the tutorial, conduct a class discussion to check for comprehension. If possible, project the website and ask impromptu questions to check for understanding and retention of the tutorial-type questions.