I talked about the course and reviewed the syllabus. If you missed this class, obtain (from me) and complete the student information survey, get a copy of the syllabus either from me or from Canvas..

Overview. The primary goal of the course is to introduce students to important aspects of scientific analysis by exploring earthquake science and in the process, to help develop student’s writing, speaking, and critical-thinking skills using individual and group activities.

How To Do Well In This Course. Attend class. Participate. Much of the material and a substantial portion of your grade depend on you participating in class. Start assignments early and ask questions if an assignment is unclear. Be thorough in your research and know when you need to summarize, and when you need to analyze. Keep track of the assignments and find out what happened in any classes that you miss. Complete missed work promptly for partial credit. Most of class time will be hands on. Complete the reading assignments. Reading assignments provide context and will help you to understand what and/or why we are doing a particular analysis in class. Ask questions at the start of class if you don’t understand something from your readings.

You should distinguish between getting a good grade and enriching your education. If you really want to learn about earthquakes, read more than is assigned, be active class discussions, try to formulate and then ask questions. Study earthquakes – you are required to contribute to a class-wide a journal of earthquake-related news during semester. Use the internet intelligently as a tool for research.

Something to Think About. Here’s an old, but relevant quote about college written by a former president of the University of Chicago:

“Because the colleges of the United States have allowed themselves to be used for purposes other than education, it has never been easier than it is today, for those who can afford it, to get into college. Nor has it ever been easier to stay in college and be graduated. The only thing that is really difficult to do is get an education. … You can get an education in college if you try. But you must bring three things with you: A certain minimum of intellectual equipment, habits of work, and an interest in getting an education. Without them, you can still get into college and stay there for four years. You can have a good time; you can keep out of trouble; you can get a degree and become a full-fledged alumnus with a proprietary interest in all subsequent football scores; but you cannot get an education.”

From: Robert M. Hutchins, “Why Go to College?” The Saturday Evening Post, 22 January, 1938, pages 16-17, 72-74.

You will break up into teams of two or three students to survey and summarize information about a select group of buildings on the University Park campus. Our particular interest is in information about how the building might respond during an earthquake. We are neither earthquake engineers nor architects, so much of the information that we would really need to make any recommendations will be beyond our expertise. However, we know enough to meet the educational goals of the activity:

Specifically to think about the consequences that seismic shaking may induce on the structures before such shaking occurs. Generally, to think about the consequences of construction choices.

Keep in mind that the likelihood of strong shaking in this part of Pennsylvania is low. But the 2011 Central Virginia Earthquake did induce shaking on the order of 1% of g in the region.

You may choose to investigate one of the following buildings: Deike, Hosler, Steidle, EE East, EE West, WIllard (old), Willard (new), The Alumni Center, Walker, IST, Schwab. 

I will provide a sheet (it’s on ANGEL) to help you gather certain basic information (you can access a copy of it below).

You must visit the building and include a few photos (a smart-phone camera is good enough) to help summarize your investigation. I will have to help you post the photos because of limitations on sites.su.edu.

Resources:

I placed an assigned, earthquakes-and-building-related reading on ANGEL. I also placed a copy of the building data sheet on ANGEL. Other useful material can be found at

• Click here for a reading on building designs (see the section called Earthquake-resistant structure).
• Click here for information on University Park building plans.
• Click here for information on classroom sizes.

What you must submit: Your group must submit a class blog post that is the equivalent of two-to-three page (including a sketch and photos – make them a reasonable size, not huge, not tiny) summary report on your investigation by the end of next week (06 November).  Keep in mind that this is the equivalent of two in-class activities and a homework, not a major assignment. I recommend working in google docs or an equivalent to ease collaboration.

We reviewed the course syllabus and students completed an information sheet summarizing some technological skills, academic background and academic interests. I discussed the overall goals of the freshman seminar as an introduction to science and to university study.

Midterm Exam.

The mid-term exam on 17 October will consist of

• A section of multiple-choice questions that will assess your appreciation of certain facts and your understanding of certain processes associated with earthquakes that were covered in the readings and/or the class lectures and activities.
• A section that assesses your data analysis skills. I will provide data and ask you to perform tasks similar to some of those that you performed as part of the in-class activities.
• A section of questions that you will answer with a concise ‘essay’.

I will load some practice questions for the multiple choice into ANGEL sheet this weekend so that you can review the readings and the material for the multiple choice assessment. You should study the in-class activities to review how you performed the various data analyses. I will provide equations as needed with one exception, I expect that you know that $$ time = \frac{distance}{speed}~.$$

The following is the list of potential essay questions. These questions should be answered with five-to-ten good sentences. I strongly encourage you to include a hand-drawn  cartoon or simple graphic, a timeline, etc. to help you explain the topic. You must support your answers with specific information from class notes or the readings. I will not ask all of these, but I may ask any of them.

1. What should you do before, during, and after an earthquake (try here)?
2. What is science and what is the relationship between science and mathematics?
3. Summarize the history of the Universe and the origin of the elements that constitute everything we know.
4. What is Plate Tectonics and what relationship does it have to earthquake occurrence (don’t forget to mention heat transfer)?
5. What is an earthquake?
6. Discuss the various measures of earthquake size and how they developed (historically) and how they are related (human impact, intensity, magnitude, moment).