SCEC InstaNET News
	Earthquakes: Seismic Sleuths to air on the Discovery Channel

A new educational video, Earthquakes: Seismic Sleuths, will air on the Discovery Channel's Assignment Discovery on April 4, May 9, and June 13 (9 am et/pt, check local listings). This new video was produced by Summer Productions with SCEC consultation and generous support from the California Earthquake Authority and the Institute for Business and Home Safety. Earthquakes: Seismic Sleuths serves as a supplement to the Seismic Sleuths earth sciences classroom curriculum package for grades 7-12. The video can be used by teachers as an excellent advance organizer, or viewed by interested citizens who want to learn more about earthquakes, the destruction they can cause, the scientists and engineers who study them, and what they can do to prepare. Assignment Discovery is available on cable television to more than 76,000 schools. Assignment Discovery is used by more than 200,000 teachers in high school and middle school classrooms across the country. Background Seismic Sleuths was produced in 1995 by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) with financial support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In early 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided funding to the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) to update the Seismic Sleuths materials. Robert de Groot, special projects consultant for SCEC Outreach and a University of Southern California Ph.D. candidate in Science Education began the update in June 1999. He has been working with a cadre of experts to update the materials: scientists and educators at SCEC, AGU, FEMA, and others who created the original curriculum. The revision includes alignment with the National Science Education Standards, with changes or updates made where necessary. Resources found at the end of each unit have been updated and in many cases, new items have been added. Each unit will be streamlined and can stand alone in order to be used in a variety of environments. How the Video Augments the Seismic Sleuths Curriculum The video serves as a supplement to the curriculum by providing those aspects that the printed word cannot convey. This is not merely a human interest video with some science thrown in -- the viewer is very interested in the human experience from the standpoint of victims of the destruction caused, and also students and researchers in the Earth sciences. The drama and passion serve to keep viewers' attention. Students may watch the video even before starting the curriculum as an advance organizer and to help them think about and become personally involved with the issues -- and, it will give them a reason to study the material. The video is an overview of the entire curriculum and serves as sample for all of the units. Unit 1 is explored by having people from all aspects of society (real people with real concerns) comment on the earthquake experience. Conditions in other countries are explored (like in Turkey) and the video shows how scientists responded to the disaster. SCEC/USGS scientist Ned Field discusses Unit 3 and its focus on waves. The issue of slip rate (Wallace Creek, San Andreas fault) is well presented by Kerry Sieh of Caltech. The Parkfield, CA experiment \featured in the video is a wonderful way to discuss Unit 5 and provides material on earthquake prediction and forecasting.

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