This plot is several weeks of average ground displacement from Los Angeles. Generally speaking, plots like this show a common trend… there is roughly 30% less anthropogenic ground motion now, than there was just a few weeks ago. The response to the stay-at-home order is quite visible (and one can see how it was adopted over time).
Included are two NGSS Performance Expectations, one at middle school and one at high school, that are closely related to one another and could be tied to this unique data set. Neither PE is completed fulfilled by the attached activity, but it could be a good start for you and your students to do some exploration. In a nutshell, the seismic data verifies that lots of people's behavior have changed and we can use this change in behavior as a proxy for a reduced per capita consumption or decrease in human population.
It isn’t a fully fleshed out lab, but we hope its enough to give some of you some ideas for using this data to engage your students!
