Ready for action?
Resources
Tangible Resources
Small bath of water x3, tuning fork, stone, paper cups, string, cardboard tube, PVC pipes, smooth cardboard box 50cm2, alarm clock, fabric/foam.
Preparation
Prepare resources for experiments.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To see and hear how sound waves behave in different situations, and recognise patterns.
Specific messages
- Understanding wave phenomena and their properties is important for understanding the essence of working with sounds.
Main terms
- sound
- wave
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Planning and carrying out investigations
Soft skills
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
-Course of activity
step 1
Students will work in groups on a series of different experiments to learn about sound waves. They will write down their observations to present to the class.
1. Tuning fork in the water
What happens when the vibrating tuning fork is placed in the bath of water? What can be observed? The wave travels in the medium (water) from the source.
2. Diffraction (wave deflection)
Place a stone into a bath of water. Make the water vibrate (with your hand or a tuning fork). What can be observed in the movement of water? How is the obstacle avoided? How do the waves behave?
3. Interference
Create two waves at once in a bath of water. How do they behave?
4. ‘Chinese whispers’
Connect two paper cups with a long string between the base of each cup. What will happen when we try to communicate through them? The wave travels in an elastic medium (string).
5. Examining sound in different rooms
Observe what happens when something is said in the classroom, in the school corridor, in the toilet or in the courtyard. Speak into a cardboard tube, how will the sound behave? How do these results relate to sound waves?
6. Sound reflection
Place a cardboard box vertically on a table and place 2 PVC pipes at an angle in front of it (leave a gap of about 6cm between the box and the ends of the pipes). Place a ticking alarm clock at one end of one of the pipes, put your ear to the end of the other pipe, and hear the sound reflected from the box. What is happening to the sound waves?
step 2
After performing these simple experiments, each group will present the experiment and conclusions to the whole class.