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Self-developed Low-cost Shaking Table and Other Educational Tools as an Itinerant Laboratory for Seismic Engineering Educational Purposes: The Case of the LabIt

Description: 

Educational tools to encourage highschool and engineering students to study seismic engineering should be flexible, attractive and fun. This should not prevent the use of high-level knowledge and technology to develop such tools. However, a compromise between cost and quality must be faced because the financial resources are usually limited, especially in developing countries as Mexico.
As part of the activities in a sabbatical year in the Institute of Engineering (IINGEN) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the corresponding author and presenter of this presentation is involved in helping to promote the LabIt (itinerant laboratory as its acronym in Spanish) developed by the LabIt members, which includes researchers from the IINGEN and undergraduate and graduate students. It includes the development of a low-cost shaking table test and other educational tools, such as physical models of structures built with a 3D printer, the use of social networks and traditional media and the fact that the laboratory can be easily moved directly to schools, universities and other entities to carry out educational presentations to promote seismic engineering as a potential future career for young highschool and engineering students. This project has proved to be very encouraging, effective for young audiences and fun. Moreover, it encourages interdisciplinary engineering tasks.
The main objective of this presentation is to describe the development of a low-cost shaking-test table and other tools through interdisciplinary engineering collaboration, and the implementation of an itinerant laboratory for seismic engineering educational purposes, as seen by an external invited researcher during a sabbatical year. It is concluded that the implementation of the LabIt as an educational seismic engineering strategy leads to encouraging results and should be supported and extensively promoted.

Session: Adventures in Social Seismology: Ethical Engagement, Earthquake Early Warnings, Operational Forecasts, and Beyond [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/15/2025

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Adrián-David

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Poster Number: 123

Authors