SeisMac Seismogram Modeling
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as “Exemplary” in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review 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 http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/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.
This page first made public: Jul 20, 2007
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
How the activity is situated in the course
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Other skills goals for this activity
Description of the activity/assignment
- Teacher will demonstrate the SeisMac program.
- Shake the laptop in the three different directions, showing how the different directions are recorded on the three different components.
- Adjust both the vertical and horizontal scales to show how the same motions can be represented differently.
- Setting the vertical scales on -1 to +1, tilt the laptop 90 deg in each of the three directions to demonstrate that the seismograms are records of acceleration (accelerograms). When the laptop is oriented normally, the baseline of the vertical component is 1 g and the two horizontal components have baselines of 0 g. However, when the laptop is tilted the vertical component goes to 0 g and one of the horizontal components will go to 1 g.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (Microsoft Word 83kB Jul20 07)