What does the fox say?

Short description

We use the viral video to raise a serious question: can we understand animal talk? ‘Bowlingual’ detects a dog’s emotions by analysing a bark’s sound waves. Students look at emerging research to decide what else the technology can do. Can we translate the sound waves into human speech?

Learning objectives

• Apply knowledge about sound waves
• Construct an argument supported by evidence and reasoning to support the claim that a device can interpret dog barks

Blueprint curriculum link

• Unit: Sound & waves
• Concept: Longitudinal & transverse: Some waves travel with particles vibrating perpendicular to the wave direction, others where particles move parallel to it 
• Skills: Explanations: Argue for a claim with data and reasons
• Learning stage: Analyse

 Activity contents

• pdf file

The activity is delivered as a zip file. After you checkout, you will be sent an email with the link to download it.

Weblinks 

Viral video What does the fox say?
A humorous video from Ylvis of Norway.

Video Bow-lingual
News report showing the Bow-lingual device in action.

Bow-lingual inventor
An interview with Bow-lingual’s inventor

Amazon reviews
Humorous reviews of Bow-lingual