EARTHQUAKE HAZARD EDUCATION TO MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS NEAR THE NEW MADRID SEISMIC ZONE

The central United States experienced significant earthquakes in the last two-hundred years along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers. Extensive educational outreach is conducted periodically; however, very little assessment of this effort has been attempted. Effects of earthquake instruction on students’ earthquake knowledge and preparedness in the New Madrid seismic zone were assessed. Earthquake content and concepts were provided with an inquiry-based group activity on earthquake safety followed by an earthquake simulation and preparedness video to help middle school students understand and prepare for the regional seismic threat. A convenience sample of 384 sixth and seventh grade students at rural schools in southern Illinois was used. Qualitative data was gathered using open-ended questions, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was collected using a 21 item questionnaire to test students’ General Earthquake Knowledge, Local Earthquake Knowledge, and Earthquake Preparedness Knowledge before and after instruction. A pre-test and post-test survey Likert scale with 21 items collected students’ perceptions and attitudes. Qualitative data analysis included quantification of responses to open-ended questions and thematic analysis of observation notes and interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed using inferential statistics, such as t tests to evaluate differences in means scores between paired groups before and after interventions and one-way analysis of variance to test for differences between mean scores of comparison groups. Significant differences between groups were further examined with Dunnett’s C post hoc statistical analysis. Integration of qualitative and quantitative results revealed a significant increase in general, local and preparedness earthquake knowledge after the interventions. Findings indicated that students felt most aware and prepared for an earthquake after an intervention that consisted of an inquiry-based group discussion on safety, an earthquake content presentation, and an earthquake simulation video presentation on preparedness. Variations of the intervention, including no intervention, were not as effective in significantly increasing students’ conceptual learning of earthquake knowledge.