Imagine molding sand to create landforms like buttes, peaks, and valleys, making it rain on command, and then watching the water flow on the landscape — all in the library! Students are now able to experience this with our updated Augmented-Reality (A-R) sand table. The A-R system was designed, fabricated, and donated to our school by parent and local University of Colorado geophysicist, David Mencin. Stapp Toyota donated the funds for the 300 pounds of Kinetic Sand!
How it works. A 3-D topographic map is projected on the sand and adjusts with the changing landscape. Students practice making landforms and then predict where water will flow and the resulting consequences to the land mass. Finally, rainfall is projected onto the sand and students can visualize how the landforms affect the flow of water and compare this to their predictions. The goal is to enable students to develop more realistic environmental awareness, to foster curiosity about the interaction of water and land, and to be able to apply it to the community in which they live. Ultimately, students will be able to recreate our watershed and learn through our academic standards about the weather events leading up with the flood.
