Sand table is a somewhat generic name for using constrained sand for modeling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table seems to be the abax used by early Greek students.
An abax was a table covered with sand commonly used by students, particularly in Greece, to perform studies such as writing, geometry, and calculations.
An abax was the predecessor to the
abacusThe abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Today, abacuses are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets...
.
Sand table is a somewhat generic name for using constrained sand for modeling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table seems to be the abax used by early Greek students.
Abax
An abax was a table covered with sand commonly used by students, particularly in Greece, to perform studies such as writing, geometry, and calculations.
An abax was the predecessor to the
abacusThe abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Today, abacuses are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets...
. Objects, such as stones, were added for counting and then columns for place valued arithmetic. The demarcation between an abax and an
abacusThe abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Today, abacuses are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets...
seems to be poorly defined in history, moreover, modern definitions of the word "abacus" universally describe it as a frame with rods and beads and, in general, do not include the definition of "sand table".
The sand table may well have been the predecessor to some board games. ("The word abax, or abacus, is used both for the reckoning-board with its counters and the play-board with its pieces, ...")
Abax is from the old Greek for "Sand Table".
Ghubar
An Arabic word for sand (or dust) is
ghubar (or
gubar), and Western numerals (the
decimalThe decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the most widely used numeral base.- Decimal notation :...
digits 0–9) are derived from the style of digits written on
ghubar tables in North-West Africa and Iberia, also described as the 'West Arabic' or 'gubar' style.
Military use
Sand tables have been used for
military planA military operation plan is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organisations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in achieving objectives before or during a conflict...
ning and
wargamingA wargame is a game that represents a military operation. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as a military exercise or war game...
for many years as a field expedient,
small-scale mapThe scale of a map is usually defined as the ratio of a single unit of distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. Although this is true for accurate large scale maps, covering a restricted area, it is not true for map projections of the curved surface of the Earth to the plane...
, for
planningA military operation plan is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organisations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in achieving objectives before or during a conflict...
and training for
military actionsGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others within the scope of a military campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force commitment.Wars and military campaigns...
.
Games
A Sand table is prominently featured in the
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
and
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
video game,
Mercenaries: Playground of DestructionMercenaries: Playground of Destruction is a third-person shooter video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published on January 11, 2005 by LucasArts for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game features a open world environment set in North Korea in the near future...
, in the Chinese Commanders Tent.
Education
A Sand table is a device useful for teaching in the early grades and for
special needs childrenSpecial education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
.
External links