Sonar Demonstration -- Human Sound Wave
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: Jun 3, 2013
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
How the activity is situated in the course
Content/concepts goals for this activity
- Learn the different parts of a working sonar device.
- Use two-way travel times to calculate water depth.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
- Evaluate sources of error associated with the demonstration and then consider the implications for a real sonar device.
- Predict how water density changes with depth and how this will impact the velocity of sound.
Other skills goals for this activity
Description and Teaching Materials
Sonar Demo -- Human Sound Wave (Acrobat (PDF) 129kB Jun3 13)
Teaching Notes and Tips
My questions during the demonstration are used to determine if the students are able to calculate water depth and evaluate the sources of error.Exam questions are used to determine if students know how a sonar device works and the significance of sonar for the understanding of the world's oceans.