Smartphones as Earthquake detectors

MyShake is a free app for Android phones that has the ability to recognize earthquake shaking using the sensors in every smartphone. The app runs “silently” in the background on your phone using very little power – just like the step-tracking fitness apps. When the shaking fits the vibrational profile of an earthquake, the app sends the anonymous information to the central system that confirms the location and magnitude of the quake.
The app has now been downloaded over 200,000 times. Enabled phones have recorded hundreds of quakes all over the globe since then - some as small as magnitude 2.5.
The goal is to build a worldwide seismic network and use the data to reduce the effects of earthquakes on us as individuals, and our society as a whole. MyShake also provides users with information about recent earthquakes around the world and significant global historical earthquakes.
There are some very good earthquake-related Earthlearningideas - use the search engine or index on our website.

Folds and faults and sponge rolls

Today's new ELI is 'Swiss roll surgery; investigating geological structures and their outcrops using sponge rolls'.

This activity can be used in any science or geography lesson when folded and faulted rocks are discussed. By adapting the terminology, it can be used with any age group when explanations of folded and faulted rocks are required. It's popular because the structures can be eaten after investigation!
Many more activities related to folds and faults can be found by using the search engine or the index on our website.

Crochet or knit your own woolly fossils

'Get geo-creative; making your own woolly fossils' is an extension idea for 'What was it like to be there? – bringing a fossil to life'.

                                    Jessica Goddard                                   Laura Hamilton

Using one of the readily available patterns, pupils (and teachers) can crochet or knit their own fossils. They could then try answering the following questions about them:-
- What sort of place was this animal living in?
- What did it breathe?
- What did it eat?
- Was it a hunter? – or hunted? – or both?
- What could it have seen?
- What could it have sensed?
- How did it die? – can we tell?
- What happened after it died?
Lots more ideas related to fossils can be found on our website.

Continental drift

The new ELI today is 'The Earth time jigsaw puzzle; plot the moving continents, from the past to the future'.

This activity helps pupils to understand the great length of geological time and the movement of continents over time. You can find other Earthlearningideas about continental drift on the website.