Use Computational Thinking to Understand Earthquakes

For educators looking to integrate computer science projects into their existing earth science curriculum, the Hacking STEM team at Microsoft has added two NGSS aligned activities that use coding in support of scientific inquiry to supplement our Earthquakes and Tectonic Plates activity:

• The first one hour coding activity focuses on building scientific instruments that measure and assist in visualizing seismic activity.
• The second activity involves building a testing platform to model how engineers modify structures to mitigate earthquake damage.

Finally, there is a 5 minute Excel big data activity that maps 10 years of USGS earthquake data onto a globe revealing the relationship between earthquakes and the tectonic plate boundaries.