Seismometers in schools record earthquakes

Taiwan is over 9,500 kilometres from Switzerland, much too far for even strong earthquake tremors to be felt here. Nevertheless, the major quake on 3 April 2024, with a magnitude of 7.4, did not go unnoticed: waves from the earthquake were recorded not only by the seismic network of the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich but also by 17 Raspberry Shake seismometers installed at Swiss schools. These are small portable devices, each with three high-precision sensors (geophones) and an digitaliser. They were installed at the start of this year as part of the Seismo@School project. The SED is leading the project in close collaboration with the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the Centre Pédagogique Prévention Séisme (CPPS) in Sion. The aim is to raise pupils' awareness of earthquakes, promote the STEM subjects and strengthen collaboration between educational and scientific institutions.

Hands-on earthquake research in the classroom

Since they were installed, the seismometers at cantonal schools and high schools have been continuously recording the earth's movements. That also includes the tremors from local quakes such as the one on 27 February near Saignelégier (canton of Jura) with a magnitude of 3.4. Students can access the data recorded on their own devices as well as over 2,000 Raspberry Shake seismometers installed worldwide in real time via the Raspberry Shake website. The data is presented in an easy-to-understand way, making it easy to pinpoint the epicentre of an earthquake, for example, as part of a lesson. This allows pupils to gain practical insights into the world of earthquake research and deepen their understanding of various seismological concepts.

The Seismo@School programme

The Seismo@School initiative has its origins in a programme launched by the University of Lausanne and HES-SO Valais-Wallis in recent years, in which 22 schools in the cantons of Valais and Vaud are involved. Thanks to a two-year AGORA project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) entitled "Increasing earthquake awareness in Switzerland", the SED has now been able to extend this programme to the whole of Switzerland.

The long-term vision of the project is a Switzerland-wide Seismo@School programme that includes multilingual teaching materials, regular activities for teachers and international partnerships. This initiative is a major step in promoting earthquake preparedness and knowledge among young people, which will ultimately help ensure that society is better able to cope with earthquakes in the future.

Resources for teachers

In the coming months, the Seismo@School team will be developing, and making freely available, school materials covering specific seismology topics: earthquake hazard and risk, induced seismicity, misinformation and media literacy, and earthquake measurement and localisation. From spring semester 2025, geography teachers will also be offered an annual training day on the new teaching materials. There is also a digital learning hub "CoP Geography" on Microsoft Teams, where teachers can network and share helpful materials. Interested teachers can email the Seismo@School project team at: seismo_at_school[at]sed.ethz.ch.

For additional information

Project description
CPPS project web page: www.cpps-vs.ch/seismo-at-school