With the help of the University's geosciences department and the National Science Foundation, 80 high schools are using hi-tech science equipment as part of a nationwide project to help students better understand earthquakes.
Thanks to the Princeton Earth Physics Project — started in 1993 by geosciences professors Robert Phinney and Guust Nolet — high school students can collect seismic data and communicate with seismologists and students at other schools.
"The idea was that we would try to renovate the science curriculums in high school where teachers could collect real science information, and then be able to share and exchange this data with other schools across the country," Nolet said.
Nolet said he and other scientists developed the program because they were concerned about the large gap that exists between high school and college science curricula.
'Surprised'
"We were surprised that teachers in high schools were not keeping up with modern developments [in science]," Nolet said, referring to technical equipment and laboratory facilities.
The National Science Foundation provided a $2-million grant for the first phase of the project. The foundation recently had incorporated geosciences into the National Science Standard, which already included physics, biology and chemistry.
Nolet said geosciences is "interdisciplinary" because it "includes many subjects like mathematics, statistics and physics."
The federal grant was used to design curriculum projects, purchase and develop technical equipment and create workshops for about 200 high school teachers across the nation.
High school participation
The initial group of high schools chosen to participate in PEPP was selected based on teacher performance in the workshops. The National Science Federation budget funded research equipment for those schools.
High schools may join PEPP, though they must now provide their own seismic monitoring equipment because of limits in budgeting. Nolet estimated the necessary equipment — which includes a digital seismograph and timing equipment that is accurate to the millisecond — costs $2,500. Schools also must provide their own computers.
Century High School in Oregon is one of the 80 schools that serve as monitoring stations for PEPP.
Joel Matykowski, a Century High School physics teacher, said he is enthusiastic about participating in the project.
"The best thing about having real equipment like this is that it gives my students something to apply their wave mechanics knowledge to," he said. "Before, they could only look at water waves, now they can also experiment with earthquake waves recorded by the seismometer."
Nolet hopes that PEPP's educational research will help smooth the transition for students from high school to college.
"We want to learn how advanced technology influences the learning process," he said.
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