1. Kwan Arayathanitkul, Passakorn Pananont2
Suttida Rakkapao1
Kwan Arayathanitkul, Passakorn Pananont2
Institute for Innovation and development of Learning Process, Mahidol University1
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University2
Good afternoon, professor and all participants, I am Suttida Rakkapao
Today I would like to present my dissertation proposal on the topic of a novel teaching module for earthquakes by a simple seismometer.
April 2, 2008 , Institute for Innovation and development of Learning Process, Mahidol University, Bangkok, THAILAND.

2. Introduction Pilot study Research objectives Research questions
Research methodology
Expected outcomes
I will talk follow these topics.. Introduction, Pilot study, Research objectives, Research questions, Methodology and Expected outcomes

3. Do you remember the great disaster in Thailand 2004 ?
First of all, I would like to show you the video. Do you remember this event? It is the great disaster in 2004.
That is the huge sea wave called Tsunami. And do you know about the main course of Tsunami. It occurs from the big earthquakes
at the sea floor.

4. Earthquake Facts and Statistics(
And from the record we found that in this year 2004, there are more than two hundred thousand deaths from Tsunami and earthquakes
This figure shows the worldwide earthquake fact and statistic from The blue and white bar show the estimated deaths from different magnitude of earthquake. The red bars show the total estimated deaths in each year. We found that in last 9 year there are almost 400,000 people die from earthquakes and their effect.
And just only the big earthquake that can kill people and damage the building.

5. What is the probability that an earthquake will occur in Thailand ?
What are the earthquake risks in Thailand ?
And how about the earthquakes in Thailand, What is the probability that an earthquake will occur in Thailand? And What are the earthquake risks in Thailand?

6. Active faults in Thailand
We know that earthquakes is a sudden movement of the crust at the plate boundary or active fault. And the position of Thailand does not locate on the plate boundary. But do you know there are more than 10 active faults in Thailand.

7. How about their effects. In 1994 , the 5
How about their effects? In 1994 , the 5.2 Richter magnitude scale of earthquake damaged some parts of the hospital in Chiangrai province. Its epicenter is in the Payao fault.
(From

8. Three Pagoda Fault
Kanchanaburi province is the highest earthquake risk area in Thailand, Because there are two main active faults which pass through the reservoir of the damp. That is the Three Pagoda Fault at Khaolam damp
The red line show the direction of the fault.
เกิดแผ่นดินไหวขึ้นบรเวณอ่างเก็บน้ำของเขื่อนเขาแหลมและเขื่อนศรีนครินทร์ มีรอยเลื่อนตากและรอยเลื่อนเจดีสามองค์ผ่านผ่าน
จากข้อมูลสารสนเทศภูมิศาสตร์ ของสำนักงานคณะกรรมการการอุดมศึกษา กระทรวงศึกษาธิการ (2546) พบว่าประเทศไทยมีรอยเลื่อนกระจายตั้งแต่เหนือจรดใต้ นับร้อยรอยเลื่อน มีความยาวตั้งแต่ไม่ถึงสิบกิโลเมตร ไปจนนับร้อยกิโลเมตร ในอดีตได้เกิดแผ่นดินไหวบริเวณรอยเลื่อนเหล่านี้ บ้างก็ทำให้ประชาชนรู้สึกสั่นสะเทือน บ้างก็ก่อให้เกิดความเสียหายแก่อาคารบ้านเรือน แผ่นดินไหวที่มีขนาดใหญ่ที่สุดในประเทศไทย เกิดขึ้นเมื่อวันที่ 22 เมษายน 2526 มีศูนย์กลางที่อำเภอศรีสวัสดิ์ จังหวัดกาญจนบุรี วัดขนาดได้ 5.9 ริคเตอร์ แผ่นดินไหวนี้ทำให้รู้สึกสั่นสะเทือนเป็นบริเวณกว้าง มีความเสียหายเล็กน้อยบริเวณศูนย์กลางและกรุงเทพมหานคร
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9. Three Pagoda Fault Sri Sa Wat Fault
This is Kanchanaburi map. The orange color represents the land, the blue color represents the water, and the red line represents the direction of active faults. This is the Three Pagoda fault at the edge of reservoir of Khaolem damp. The second main active fault in Kanchanaburi is the fault that has the direction across the reservoir of Sri Sa Wat damp called Sri Sa Wat fault.
And on record, we found that the biggest earthquake in Thailand occurred at the Sri Sa Wat fault with 5.9 Richter magnitude scale in 1983.

10. NO !!!!!!! Are earthquakes really on the increase?
From facts and statistic about earthquake. Do you know about the understanding of people about it.
The USGS in the USA used to survey the people understanding about earthquakes with the question: Are earthquakes really on the increase? ....How about your answer? ……they found that most people believe that earthquakes are really on the increase.
Actually the answer is NO, but nowadays get more scientific data of earthquake because of the increasing in the number of the earthquake detector, and the improvement in global communications.
So if we want to understand about the thinking and understanding of people, we should back to their studying and learning in high school or collage.
From

11. The education about earthquakes
Misunderstanding
Evaluating Tools
Teaching Processes
In 1991, E.S. Oberhofer [1] pointed out a common misunderstanding of “magnitude” term when applied to earthquakes. For Richter magnitude scale, it is believed that for each increase in one magnitude there is 10 times more energy being released.
In 2005, Libarkin, J.C., and Anderson, S.W., [2] constructed a multiple-choice assessment instrument for using in the Earth science called GCI (The Geoscience Concept Inventory). These test items cover topics related to general physical geology concepts, as well as underlying fundamental ideas in physics and chemistry, such as gravity and radioactivity, these are integral to understanding the conceptual Earth.
In 2003, C Fazio et al. [3] constructed an activity-based teaching unit that aimed to improve the understanding about properties of seismic waves focusing on analyzing the properties of very small earthquakes produced through mechanical shock waves in slabs of different materials.
And from the literature reviews, I found that most countries always have a course for learning and teaching earthquakes. And in the education researches we found that normally there are 3 main groups of work about earthquakes.
That are 1) the misconceptions 2) The tools for evaluating and 3) the teaching processes
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12. The education about earthquakes in Thailand
Subtopics of earthquakes on the 6th strand of science following foundation education curriculum Buddhist Era 2544 (
Causes of earthquakes
The seismometer
Seismic waves
Mercalli and Richter scale
Earthquakes in Thailand
Safety procedures from earthquakes and Tsunami
How about in Thailand? The earthquake is a core concept in science following foundation education curriculum Buddhist Era 2544
It is divided into subtopics namely :
Causes of earthquakes
The seismometer
Seismic waves
Mercalli and Richter scale
Earthquakes in Thailand
Safety procedures from earthquake and Tsunami
This topic is set for all Thai high school students. And as you know, it is the new topic in science teaching and learning,
How about the students’ understanding of earthquakes in Thailand. So my pilot study starts.

13. Explore students’ understanding of earthquakes after finishing the 6th strand of science by means of traditional teaching.
Method :
The earthquake conceptual survey
I used the earthquake conceptual survey as open-ended questions to explore students’ understanding of earthquakes after finishing the earthquake classes. I collected data from 171 high school students and all of them were taught by traditional method
Sample :
171 student participants ( from 6 high schools )

14. Percentage of Students Yes
Question: Are zone of rainy countries more risky to occur earthquakes than that of dry countries? Why?
Percentage of Students
Yes
No, depend on plate boundary
I will show some result to you,
For this question about the causes of earthquakes.
70 % of students believe that amount of rain affect to earthquakes. The others accurately explain that the main cause of natural earthquakes is the rupture and sudden movement of crust at plate boundaries.

15. Question : Which country Thailand or Japan that has the most
Question : Which country Thailand or Japan that has the most probability to occur earthquakes? Why?
Percentage of Students
Others
Plate boundaries
Islands
Topography
Volcano eruption

16. To determine high school students’ misunderstanding of earthquakes.
To construct a novel teaching module for earthquakes (related to the cause of earthquakes and the principle of an earthquake detector).
To increase students’ conceptual understanding of earthquakes by using a novel teaching module.
These results convey some ideas to me, to my research, so the objectives of my research are

17. What concepts of earthquakes do students misunderstanding?
2. What is a novel teaching module for earthquakes?
3. Does a novel teaching module increase high school students’ conceptual understanding of earthquakes?
In order to answer these question:…I set up the methodology

18. Survey students’ understanding
Construct the earthquake conceptual test and a questionnaire
Design a new teaching module
The methodology of my research starts with …..
Use the new teaching module
Analysis and conclusions

19. Purpose : Methods : Sample : Survey students’ understanding
To find out students’ misunderstanding of earthquakes
Methods :
- The document reviews
- The earthquake conceptual survey
The interviews
Sample :
High school students

20. Results : 1) The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
1) The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
Most students believe that :
The amount of rain affect to earthquakes.
All earthquakes create visible cracks on the Earth's surface.
After interpreting the research data, the students’ misconceptions can be summarized into 4 groups such as
The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
2) The basic principle of seismometers
3)The seismic wave velocity
4)The Richter magnitude scale

21. Results : 2) The basic principle of seismometers
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
2) The basic principle of seismometers
Most students believe that :
Seismograms are used for measuring the magnitude of an earthquake, not for locating its epicenter.
The mass of a seismometer will move when earthquakes occur.

22. Results : 3) The seismic wave velocity Survey students’ understanding
Most students believe that :
The seismic waves of the 8 Richter magnitude scale propagate faster than those of the magnitude 6 because of its violence and vibration.

23. Results : 4) The Richter magnitude scale
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
4) The Richter magnitude scale
Most students believe that :
The ratio of the ground vibration amplitude of 8 Richter magnitude scale to that of 6 Richter magnitude scale is 2:1.
A change of one magnitude on the Richter scale corresponds to a difference in released energy 10 times.

24. Results : 4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
1) The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
2) The basic principle of seismometers
3) The seismic wave velocity
4) The Richter magnitude scale
I my work I will focus on two group that are
I will construct activity to correct two group of misconceptions, and I will talk later

25. Construct the earthquake conceptual test and a questionnaire
Purpose :
To construct the evaluating tools used in the teaching module.
Students’ conceptual understanding
The earthquake conceptual test (a multiple choice test)
Students’ satisfaction to the teaching module
A questionnaire

26. Purpose : Materials : Design a new teaching module
To construct an active based teaching module on the topic of earthquake.
Materials :
Seismograms
A Simple Seismometer
A Convection Cell set
Today I will show you some activity in a new teaching module which based on the students’ misunderstanding from the survey. By using these materials

27. Results : 4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
1) The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
2) The basic principle of seismometers
3) The seismic wave velocity
4) The Richter magnitude scale
I my work I will focus on two group that are
I will construct activity to correct two group of misconceptions, and I will talk later

28. An example :
The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes

29. Activity 1 : What happened beneath the earth?
Purpose:
To demonstrate the convection cell phenomena as the cause of plate movement.
Materials :
A convection cell set
A worksheet
Fact and fiction videos

30. How to use this instrument?
Papers
How to use this instrument?
Seeding particles mixed water
A filter
an alcohol lamp
A laser pointer
A convection cell set

31. Results : 4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
Survey students’ understanding
Results :
4 Groups of the students’ misconceptions
1) The characteristics and cause of natural earthquakes
2) The basic principle of seismometers
3) The seismic wave velocity
4) The Richter magnitude scale
I my work I will focus on two group that are
I will construct activity to correct two group of misconceptions, and I will talk later

32. Examples :
The basic principle of seismometers

33. Purpose: Materials : a rope 3 seismograms a pair of compasses
Activity 1 : Locating the epicenter of an earthquake
Purpose:
To locate the epicenter of an earthquake by using online seismograms.
Materials :
a rope
3 seismograms
a pair of compasses
a worksheet

34. Procedure :
1) Students discuss and share some idea for finding the position of the gold by using the three intersection point method.
There are two main steps in the procedure;
Step 1 Each student was supposed to be a detective, and all of them receive the clue to find out the position of the gold
They use a rope for constructing a circle and use the three intersection point method for finding the gold position.

35. Procedure :
2) Students use 3 seismograms to locate the epicenter of an earthquake
Result :
Most students can draw and write to describe the idea about locating an earthquake epicenter.
And then by the same method, students draw a circle with a pair of compasses and discus for locating the epicenter of an earthquake.

36. Students’ satisfaction responses to the activity 1
They can really do it.
There are the teaching media that help to easily and quickly understand.
They can practice to interpret the data

37. What is a seismometer and how does it work?
Activity 2 : An earthquake detector
What is a seismometer and how does it work?

38. HANDHELD SEISMOMETER (constructed by Larry Braile et al
HANDHELD SEISMOMETER (constructed by Larry Braile et al., Perdue University, 2000)
Nowadays, simple seismometers play a major role in the learning and teaching of earthquakes. such as in 2000 , Larry Braile from Perdue University USA constructed HANDHELD SEISMOMETER which uses to demonstrate the magnitude of earthquake by holding and shaking it.

39. REAL Datalogging seismograph (constructed by Dave Dobeson, UniServe Science at Sydney University, 2005)
which can catch the real earthquake and his ongoing work is the improving this seismometer including encouraging both teachers and students to build and use this instrument in science laboratory

40. A frame A motor A frequency control box A mass A recording part
And this is my simple and inexpensive seismometer for teaching about the basic principle of this earthquake detector. It consists of three parts such as
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A frame
A motor

41. A box with bearing balls
How to use in the demonstration ?
This instrument can use to demonstrate the basic principle of seismometer by placing on a box which contains a large number of bearing balls for moving freely
Normally, when earthquakes occur, the released energy will transfer from the focus to the seismometer through the ground by the seismic waves. And when this wave propagates to the seismometer, the base frame of seismometer which attached to the ground will vibrate in the direction of ground movement.
This seismometer will show the horizontal movement of the medium or ground.
And I will show how does it work?
When we shake the base frame of the seismometer which refer to the coming of seismic waves.
A frame and a mass are moving in relative each other.
And the pen draw on the rotated paper. This paper called the seismogram
A box with bearing balls

42. The seismograms The waveform show in this seismogram.
Moreover, we can use the simple seismogram to illustrate about the magnitude of earthquake.
This seismogram refer to the small magnitude
And this one refer to the big magnitude

43. What topics can be taught by this seismometer?
The main parts of seismometers and their properties.
The recording earthquake signals.
The characteristics of seismograms.
Anatomy of a wave (amplitude, wave length, period, frequency, crest, trough).
The relation between magnitudes of earthquakes and amplitudes of waves on seismograms.
Anatomy of p waves, s waves and surface waves on seismograms.
The coming order of seismic waves.

44. Analysis and conclusions
Assess students’ concepts
Assess the teaching module
- The earthquake conceptual test - Interviews
- A questionnaire - Interviews

45. The understanding of students’ misconceptions of earthquakes
A novel teaching module for earthquakes (related to the cause of earthquakes and the principle of an earthquake detector)
The increasing of students’ understanding of earthquakes

46. TIME TABLE

47. That is all for my research plan Do you have any questions?
[1] E.S. Oberhofer. (1991). Different Magnitude Difference. The physics teacher, May,
[2] Libarkin, J.C., and Anderson, S.W., Assessment of Learning in Entry-Level Geoscience Courses: Results from the Geoscience Concept Inventory; Journal of Geoscience Education; v. 53. p
[3] C Fazio, R M Sperandeo-Mineo and G tarantino. (2003). How did Roman buildings survive earthquake?. Physics Education, November,
[4] Bernard J. Feldman. (2004). The Nimitz Freeway collapse. The physics teacher, 42,
[5] Perter W. Hodder. (2001). “Earthquake!”- A cooperative learning experience. Journal of Geoscience Education, 49(3 ),
That is all for my research plan Do you have any questions?