Musical Plates is an Internet-based multidisciplinary project which will enrich a student's learning experience through "unique and compelling" applications of instructional technology. In particular, this project taps into some of the exciting new applications of the Internet in education by having students access real time earthquake data, interact with experts online, and publish their own work to the project web site. Students will tap into these fantastic resources all in the context of an authentic real world problem which they will need to solve using science and mathematics.

By analyzing real-time data over a set time frame, students will produce formal results akin to the requirements of the business world. This project encompasses such general career skills as handling numbers, responding to problems, working in teams, using equipment, critical thinking, and communication.This activity could be an ongoing component of an Earth Science unit covering earthquakes and plate tectonics. The educator could point out the correlations to business performance and general career skills.