SCEC CEO staff member Robert de Groot assisted with an earthquake education field trip at the California Science Center on January 18th. Forty 6th grade students from Sun Valley Middle School (LAUSD) accompanied by their teacher Stephen Franklin learned about earthquake basics in the Creative World Gallery. The students first visited The Earthquake Experience, a human size shake table with a video presentation. After being "shaken up" the students fanned out to learn about liquefaction, plate tectonics, the response of buildings to earthquakes and how to construct an earthquake survival kit.  Pictures from the visit are below.

After lunch the class walked over to the University of Southern California campus where Franklin wanted to provide his students with a glimpse of college life. Franklin's concern for his students ranges from their safety during natural disasters to their careers, a mark of a fine teacher. The day concluded with a short lesson about the faults of Los Angeles and a question and answer session about the recent El Salvador earthquake. Franklin commented that several of his students were from El Salvador and their families had not been able to contact relatives in that country.

Upon return to the classroom, Franklin planned to teach his students how to do a home hazard hunt. He is eager to have his students share the information with their families and friends. SCEC CEO provided a copy of Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country for each student so that Franklin can conduct follow-up lessons at school. Soon after, he will send Roots home with the students so they can teach their families about earthquakes and hazard preparedness.

For more information about the California Science Center please see their website http://www.casciencectr.org/. The Science Center offers workshops for all ages and also has affordable weekday school programs. If you have specific questions about the earthquake education programming at the Science Center you may also contact Robert de Groot at degroot {at} usc.edu.

Students from Sun Valley Middle School listen to instructions before touring the earthquake exhibits at the California Science Center

The California Science Center is a $250 M facility that was completed in 1998. The Science Center has two main galleries, Creative World and The World of Life.

A student learns about different plate margins in this interactive exhibit.

In this display the house is sitting on the sand. When the student turns the crank the house sinks.

The Science Center is connected to the CUBE system. Here a student tries to locate the most recent earthquake in southern California.

In this interactive display the students are building different structures and testing how they respond to shaking. There is also a human size shake table with a video program in this gallery.