Ocean Depths Sonar Activity

I mentioned our second grade sonar activity in my post last week. Just like with real sonar technology used by submarines and many marine animals, kids at Brown Elementary used the depth of a spot on the "ocean floor" to get a sense of what could be there. We didn't have a sonar transducer, but we were able to use a dowel as a ruler to determine how deep objects were by poking through the holes in the lid of the box. This data was collected and analyzed to map out what we thought the inside of the box looked like.

As an example of how we analyzed our data, the reading in square 1A was 9 units away, but the reading in square 2A  was 6 units away. This told them that there must be something in 2A that is taller (or closer) than whatever is in square 1A.

The kids had a hoot, although they were rather anxious to open the box! If you'd like to learn more about sonar technology, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website through this link: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sonar.html

Til next time, friends!

-A. Judge