Telemetry · Free data lesson
Can one week show an earthquake trend?
A 35–45 minute data lesson for grades 9–12, using a fixed week of real USGS catalog records. Students count events, change a magnitude cutoff, and test a headline. No account, special hardware, or student data is needed.
AI-assisted draft for teacher review; not classroom-tested.
Take it to class
The question
After counting the events in this selected week, what can you conclude? What would you need before saying earthquakes are becoming more common?
Read one catalog row
- time
- The event timestamp in UTC; use its first ten characters to group by day.
- mag
- The reported magnitude; this file includes records with mag at least 4.5.
- id
- A distinct catalog event identifier, useful for checking duplicate rows.
- status
- The review status at download time; all 155 rows were marked reviewed.
Ask students
- What does one row in the CSV represent? What does the 4.5 cutoff leave out?
- Which UTC day has the highest count in each column? State the selection rule with your answer.
- Why is every 5.0+ count less than or equal to the 4.5+ count?
- Does this one-week snapshot establish a long-term trend? What longer comparison would you need?
Teacher check
The 155 rows have distinct event IDs. August 5 is highest in this seven-day snapshot: 42 records at magnitude 4.5+ and 11 at magnitude 5.0+. The 5.0+ filter keeps a subset of the same events; it does not change what happened. Seven selected days cannot establish a long-term increase.
Checked daily counts
| UTC date | Magnitude 4.5+ records | Magnitude 5.0+ records |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 1 | 28 | 8 |
| Aug 2 | 28 | 8 |
| Aug 3 | 12 | 3 |
| Aug 4 | 15 | 2 |
| Aug 5 | 42 | 11 |
| Aug 6 | 14 | 3 |
| Aug 7 | 16 | 4 |
For a later coding project
This lesson works entirely from the downloaded USGS file; it does not send the earthquake records to Telemetry. Telemetry is a hosted tool for storing structured software events and querying them with SQL. If a teacher later wants to show how software reports events, the first-event guide uses a synthetic example. The $0 plan includes 1 GB of storage and needs no credit card. Have a teacher review any cloud use before students participate.
Telemetry’s current terms require account creators to be over 18. Younger students can use the printable activity without creating an account. Terms of Service
Read the first-event guideSource and limits
The CSV is a fixed September 25, 2026 download of reviewed USGS catalog records worldwide for August 1–7, 2026 UTC, with reported magnitude at least 4.5. Smaller or uncataloged events are absent, magnitude methods vary, and USGS can revise records later. Do not infer a cause, local risk, or a global trend from these counts.
JR, founder of Telemetry, prepared this independent draft with AI assistance. It has not been classroom-tested. A teacher should review it before use. Telemetry is optional; USGS supplied the data and has not endorsed this activity.
USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog · FDSN event API · USGS on earthquake-rate fluctuations
Teachers: found an error or tried this in class? Email your notes without student work or personal data.