Hands-on Activity Echolocation Experimentation:
Can You Hear It?

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain how echolocation works.
• Describe how different surfaces sound when impacted and how this relates to echolocation.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

State Standards

Materials List

• scissors, tape and marker, for the teacher
• 1 shoebox per group
• 6 different textured fabrics cut into coaster-size pieces for each group; example materials: fur, sandpaper, cloth, wood, plastic tiles
• 6 wooden blocks or other small, flat objects of different heights
• 6 marbles or other small balls per group
• (optional) paper cups or small containers, to hold the marbles for each group
• paper and pencils for each student

Pre-Req Knowledge

Knowledge of data collection, calculating fractions/proportions, analyzing data.

Introduction/Motivation

If you had to figure out the location, shape, size and texture of an object without using your sense of sight, how would you do this?" (Let them brainstorm different ideas while you take notes on the board. Then, lead them in a discussion of how dolphins and other animals use echolocation as a tool to do this.)

(Proceed to conduct the activity to illustrate the importance of surface composition on a dolphin's ability to sense it using echolocation.)

Procedure

Before the Activity

• Gather materials. You may want to ask students to bring in shoeboxes from home.
• Prepare the shoeboxes by cutting six holes distributed evenly across the lids. Make the holes small, but large enough to put marbles inside the box easily. Use a marker to number these holes. Use tape to adhere the variously textured fabrics to different sized wooden blocks or similar objects. Tape the six blocks to the bottom of the interior of each shoe box, under each of the six holes. Cover each box with its lid.

With the Students

1. Divide the class into groups of four students each.
2. Distribute a prepared shoebox and six marbles to each group.
3. Have students get out paper and pencils to take notes and observations. Have them number their papers to correspond to the number of holes in their shoeboxes (1 through 6).
4. Have students drop each marble into one of the holes anduse their senses to make observations on the height and texture of each surface a marble falls onto. As students conduct the activity, direct them to write down observations about what materials and heights they think pertain to each hole. Also have them note what techniques and senses work best when trying to determine depth and texture. Once completed, have groups lift the box covers to see if their guesses were correct, and discuss in their groups why they were correct/incorrect.
5. After the groups complete the activity, lead a class discussion to share and compare techniques, what worked best, and why it was/was not difficult to determine depth and/or texture.
6. Conclude by assigning students to write reflective summary journal entries, as described in the Assessment section.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Concept Review: Following the echolocation lesson, make sure that students understand the basic principles of echolocation. Encourage them to discuss their opinions on bycatching and how echolocation might be part of the solution.

Post-Activity Writing: Assign students to write journal entries that describe their reactions to this activity and what they discovered. Have them write about why they thought what they predicted was right and how it compared to the results. Also ask them to write about how this information could be used to protect dolphins from fishing nets.

Investigating Questions

• How far do you think the marble fell before hitting the surface? Why do you think that?
• Did you find it easy or hard to determine the depth of each hole?
• What would have made the process easier?
• Were certain surfaces easier to identify (hear) than others?

Safety Issues

• Give students paper cups to hold the marbles so they do not spill onto the floor.
• Watch that students do not throw the marbles.

Troubleshooting Tips

If students use all six marbles and want to try the activity again, remove the marbles for the students so that they do not touch or see the surfaces before completion of the activity.

Activity Extensions

Another online echolocation activity is "Echolocation and SONAR: Sound Rather Than Sight" at https://exploresound.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Echolocation-Indoors.pdf.

References

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

This content was developed by the MUSIC (Math Understanding through Science Integrated with Curriculum) Program in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University under National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. DGE 0338262. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the NSF, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.