(Click on the Pic to view a short video)
NCSU Sand Table
supports
4th Graders' learning about Landforms
What are the 3 major landforms found in North
Carolina? What causes erosion? Why does rain in one location cause flooding
in another? These are just a few of
questions our eighty 4th graders investigated while playing in the
sand - the sand that comes in the Augmented Reality (AR) sand table on loan to
Northside Elementary School from The Center for Aquatic Ecology Department of
North Carolina State University. The AR sand table is used as an education
outreach tool built and supported by a grant awarded from Burrough’s Wellcome
Fund.
The sand table uses a computer projector and a
motion sensing input device (a Kinect 3D Camera) mounted above a box of
sand. As a visitor interacts with the sand in the box, the Kinect detects
the distance to the sand below, and a visualization of an elevation model with
contour lines and a color map assigned by elevation is cast from an overhead
projector onto the surface of the sand. As visitors move the sand, the
Kinect perceives changes in the distance to the sand surface, and the projected
colors and contour lines change accordingly.
Rainfall occurs when an object like a hand is sensed at a
particular height above the surface of the sand. The virtual rain appears
as a blue, shimmering visualization on the surface below. The water
appears to flow down the slopes to the lower surfaces. Real models of
have been used to base the depiction of water flow.
The AR sandbox’s strongest appeal is the fact
that it entices young and old to get involved. While the concepts and
scenarios are kept simple for the younger kids, one can still discuss contour
lines, mountains, piedmonts, valleys, damns, watersheds and basic water
flow. The learning experience can include discussions of landforms,
elevation, and best land management practices such as retention ponds and
swales. Processes such as erosion, tectonics, and glaciation can even be
visualized. These elements are all principles of geomorphology, hydrology,
earth science and environmental studies.
