Baymonte 6th graders are currently studying a unit on Earthquakes. In an effort to enrich the curriculum, they traveled to San Francisco to visit the California Academy of Sciences. The Academy has an amazing Earthquake simulator, The Shake House, which allows visitors to travel back in time to see, hear and feel the city’s two biggest earthquakes. This exhibit allows visitors to experience the sustained tremors of the 6.9–magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake and the 7.9–magnitude Great San Francisco quake of 1906.
In addition to the earthquake simulator, the Academy has an entire Earthquake Exhibit with earthquake preparedness information as well as photo albums of the 1989 earthquake and explanations as to why earthquakes occur. The students were also able to experience an IMAX movie regarding earthquakes. This tour around the world took them to earthquake fault zones where recent earthquake activity had occurred. The earthquake demonstration and IMAX movies provided enrichment to the unit taught in the classroom.