The earthquake after shocks continue to rock us here in CHCH, but people appear to be getting on with things. For CORE staff in Christchurch, however, that means getting on with things from home, as our offices in Kilmore Street have been officially closed until further notice. While our building is simply awaiting a structural clearance, the Repertory Theatre directly over the road isn’t so lucky.

Proof that there’s a learning opportunity around every corner has been provided by some of my CORE colleagues in other parts of the country. Jill Hammonds and Tessa Gray have worked with others to create the “Earthquake Shakeup” wiki, containing loads of curriculum ideas, focus questions to guide inquiry, and resources to support the earthquake theme in the classroom.

Plenty here for educators who are planning to use the Canterbury Quake as a context for learning – in fact, I think I’ll point my own children to it as I now have them at home with me until the end of the week from the sounds of things.

While I’m at it, take a look at this animation showing six months of 2010 New Zealand seismic activity data picked up by the GeoNet sensors. The animation begins in April and ends a few days after the 7.1 quake that hit Christchurch on September 4. Keep in mind two things when you view the video.

• Blue circles represent seismic activity recordings.
• Each event leaves behind a small, pale red dot to show the overall pattern.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=14785341&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0
(via SciBlogs – Seeing Data)