New project aims to make science more exciting in the classroom - <em>News</em>

Monday 14 July 2008
By Naomi Weston

Fifteen seismometers are being given away to secondary schools by Imperial’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering as part of a new initiative to make science more exciting in the classroom.

The department is working with the British Geological Survey (BGS), which has launched the UK School Seismology Project, with the aim of teaching basic scientific concepts by linking them to events in the world, such as earthquakes. The project aims to improve participation rates in physical sciences, raise awareness of geoscience and influence curriculum development in the UK.

A training day, ‘Feeling the Earth Move’, was held at Imperial on Wednesday 9 July, by Paul Denton from the BGS. Twenty two physics, chemistry, geography and science secondary school teachers from a range of schools in the South-East attended the day. They learnt how to build a seismometer and how to record, download and interpret seismograms.

Phil Aspery learns how to use a seismometer

Phil Aspery, Head of Physics at Forest Secondary School in Snaresbrook, attended the training day. He said: “This project is a great idea, and provides hands on experience which I can feed back to my school and help train up other teachers. Today we learnt how to construct a seismometer and this will be a great resource for the classroom. It is a fantastic way of getting pupils interested through real life applications.”

The seismometer being used for this project is a simplified device capable of detecting minute vibrations caused by local earthquakes as well as large earthquakes on the other side of the world. Schools involved in the project will be able to place their data on a British Geological Survey database and compare their information with everyone else involved.

The Department of Earth Science and Engineering will use the project as a focus for outreach activities with local schools. Head of Department Professor Martin Blunt said: “We are delighted to be involved in this project and the department has decided to donate these school-friendly seismometers to fifteen schools in the area. I hope that by having these seismometers in the classroom, pupils will realise that science is not a set of abstract ideas but a useful tool for understanding how the world works.”

For more information please visit the website: www.bgs.ac.uk/schoolseismology