After School at Alvarez Elementary has been off to a great start this semester! The girls come each week eager to know what new activity they are going to do. Last week, they explored the strength of earthquakes, how they can cause landslides, and the effects on communities and the Earth’s surface. The girls built a model of a town at the bottom of a mountain, using a ramp as the side of that mountain. Then, they simulated an earthquake by shaking the model. They shook it several times, observing the damage to their town with various levels of strength, and used their observations to develop a scale measuring the force of their earthquakes. After developing their scale, the girls performed more earthquake trials, placing sand and gravel at the top of their mountains. They watched as the earthquake caused a landslide down the mountain and created more destruction to their towns. The Alvarez girls learned that they had just done the job of seismologists, studying the strength of earthquakes, and the effect on the Earth’s structure and surrounding areas.