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Teacher:
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Rachael Bonkovsky |
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Subject:
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School:
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Grade(s):
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Project Connection:
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Underground Exploration using Ground Penetrating Radar Modeling |
Background
Information
This lesson
was developed as a follow up to the Fruitvale module (a SEPUP
kit). Students spent time figuring out the source of groundwater contamination
in the town of Fruitvale. Through this they learned much about environmental
science and the scientific method. I developed this lesson as an extension
to the Fruitvale module, and as a way of bringing the idea of Ground Penetrating
Radar into my curriculum. Before I did this lesson with my students I spent
several days explaining how radar works and having them do some "paper"
problems. They used formulas for speed, distance and time to figure out shapes
on paper etc. Only after they understood the concept of radar did I use this
lesson. It involves very little math thus it can be used for almost any level
of student. Depending upon the level of your students' math and physics background,
you could ramp up this lesson by having them figure out how fast the radar
would bounce back based on the distance it was to the buried objects and the
speed of radar. Conversely you could give them "coordinates" and
times, and they could predict locations of the buried items. They could then
check to see if their predictions were correct. Just about any approach would
work. My students had a great time with this and it is an inexpensive way
of making the concept of radar more concrete.
click on individual
photo see larger version
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Teacher
Sheet
(MS Word) |
Student
Sheet |
• sand (a 50 pound bag is about $4)
• plastic boxes ($1-2 per box)
• wood skewers ($2 for 50 at the grocery store)
• film canisters (free; save them yourself or ask at any one hour developing place)
• super glue ($3)
• masking tape ($3)
Preparation
Pick two or three spots in the plastic box where you plan to place your film
canisters. I put one on its side, one vertically and then I placed the film
canister top in as an especially hard object to find. You should either put
everything in the same place in all the boxes or you should number the boxes
and draw yourself a map to remember where you placed things. Once you've figured
out the placements super glue the film canisters to the plastic boxes. Let
them set overnight if possible and then pour in the sand. This can be a little
messy so lay down some newspaper if you pour the sand in your classroom, or
do it outside. Now
you are ready to go!
