IRIS Earthquake Browser Receives Best of Show Award in Earth Science from NSTA

The IRIS Earthquake Browser, a freely available online interactive application to explore recent and historical global seismicity and tectonic plate boundaries, was awarded the National Science Teaching Association’s (NSTA) 2020 Best of Show in the Tried & True Technology Teaching and Learning: Earth Science category.

This user-friendly but powerful application retrieves near real-time earthquake locations from a database of over 5 million events. It allows students of all ages to display these locations on a map of the world, rotate the map in 3D to show earthquakes at depth, and discover for themselves the existence of tectonic plate boundaries. By applying easy-to-use controls, earthquakes can be selected by magnitude, depth and date. Other features include the ability to view earthquake locations in pre-defined regions, draw a customized region, and ‘play’ the earthquakes as they occur over time. Try the IRIS Earthquake Browser and discover for yourself why this application is a winner!

The Best of Show program was developed by Catapult X in collaboration with the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). More than 50 product entries were evaluated by a panel of science and STEM experts. Additionally, approximately 250,000 readers of NSTA’s weekly e-newsletter, NSTA Express, were invited to vote on products and services that they felt had an impact on student learning. They also had the opportunity to vote on companies who consistently go above and beyond to deliver remarkable customer service. This year’s awards program was held virtually, highlighting companies who planned to exhibit at NSTA’s national conference.

View the NSTA press release.