BEVERLY -- Since it was installed in 2017, the seismograph in the middle school science classroom at Saints Academy in Beverly has picked up many seismic disturbances.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit the Caribbean in January 2020. Volcanic activity in Italy, Iceland, and Australia. And, strangely enough, the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert at Gillette Stadium on May 19, 2023. The sound waves from the concert were intense enough for the seismograph to detect.

"When all the fans at the Eras Tour were jumping and screaming the song, we picked it up on our seismograph," said seventh grader Katherine Oliver.

Saints Academy purchased the seismograph from Boston College's Weston Observatory. A family member affiliated with the school, which has 206 students from pre-K to eighth grade, worked at the observatory and arranged the purchase of the machine.

"It's a hands-on way of learning science," said middle school science teacher Marilu Pomeroy.

Simulated earthquakes don't make waves, so to speak, the way real tremors measured on the seismograph do.

"I've had kids come in and say, 'Oh my goodness, what's happening right now on the screen?'" Pomeroy said. "And they all flock to it, and they look to see."

In January 2025, Katherine was in geography class when a 3.8 earthquake in Maine traveled down to Beverly.

"The class all perked up, and we were all so excited," she said. "What was that? What happened? And soon, later that day, we heard that another class had come up here running and looking at the seismograph to see what had happened."

"It's a great teaching tool," Pomeroy said.

The seismograph can detect earthquakes that are over 5.0 on the Richter Scale. Earthquakes less intense than that, and mass vibrations like the Taylor Swift concert, will register if they happen nearby. The device consists of a spring encased in oil to prevent excess movement. When the earth shakes, the spring vibrates, and the information picked up by the spring is uploaded to a computer, where it is processed as a graph. Each line on the graph represents one hour. The longer the line, the more intense the earthquake. The darker the line, the harder the vibrations. All data from the seismograph, which is kept in a glass case so it is not disturbed, is sent to the Weston Observatory.

"It's a very sensitive device," Pomeroy said.

With data coming in from all over the world, the seismograph is a way for students to become global thinkers. They are responsible for recording the data and determining what it means. Sixth graders learn engineering by making Play-Doh and toothpick structures strong enough to withstand miniature earthquakes. Students also use a website operated by the U.S. Geological Survey that records every earthquake and volcanic eruption worldwide. The website also chronicles casualties and recovery efforts. It's a way for the students to understand the human toll of such disasters.

"We get to see how a bunch of different types of earthquakes, like different levels of earthquakes, affect places," said seventh grader Sadie Wheway.

"They have to learn how to analyze," Pomeroy said. "And those are skills. Those are critical thinking skills, research and analysis, reasoning, deduction."