High-tech sandbox makes science fun
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
RONAN — Students at K. William Harvey Elementary School got to play in a very different type of sandbox Nov. 8.
Using 3D visualization applications, topographic contour lines projected onto the sand recreate colorful mountains and valleys in real time as hands shift the sand, and landscapes, in the box. The project helps explain watershed science and freshwater lake ecosystems.
Researchers at the University of Davis developed the Augmented Reality Sandbox software about three years ago as a teaching tool to raise public awareness and stewardship of watersheds.
Chauncey Means, Non-point Source Coordinator working with the tribes’ Natural Resource Department, built the physical sandbox out of a wooden bedframe and suspended a Kinect 3D camera and digital projector on a frame above the box, then took it to the Ronan elementary school Tuesday.
After the students identified mountains, valleys and rivers, Means sifted his hand through the sand and the landscape instantly transformed before the children’s eyes.
Means held his hand above the topography and virtual blue rain seeped down the hillsides, flooding the valley below. A wide, shallow pond was redirected into a meandering stream as Means drew a wavy line through the sand.
The students nicknamed him “The Wizard.”
“It amazes me the way their eyes light up when they first get to see the sandbox,” Means said. “And when they first get to interact with the sandbox and understand some of the concepts that I’m trying to convey such as topography, hydrology, geology, they understand that science is fun. That’s the biggest point that I’m trying to get across — science is not just in books, it can be fun.”
