Sound studio
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- explore the difference between high- and low-pitched sounds.
- compare pitch to loudness.
- identify that pitch is directly related to vibration speed.
- explore the direction and distance sound waves travel.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- contribute to a class PROE chart to record their predictions, reasoning, observations and explanation.
- develop and draw a labelled diagram of a model showing how sound waves travel outward in all directions.
In this lesson assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- students’ annotated drawings. How have they represented sound travelling? Have they shown that louder sounds travel further? Are they using reasoning when making predictions and explanations after making observations?
- students’ observations when plucking the rubber band. Have they recognised that different sounds (pitch or loudness) were made when the band was stretched?
- students’ understanding of pitch. Are they able to identify that loudness and pitch are different and distinguish high and low pitch sounds from variations in volume (loud and soft)?
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
1 x story book
A big space to use for the investigation, such as the school hall, library or oval
Sound source such as tapping sticks, bell, speaker, popping bubble wrap (optional)
The video What does sound look like? (0:13-0:30 seconds)
1 x balloon
1 x hex nut
Demonstration copy of the Playing the band Resource sheet
Optional: Xylophone or glockenspiel
Each group
At least 2 elastic bands of the same thickness and (ideally) the same colour, but different lengths (so that one can be stretched further than the other)
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Playing the band Resource sheet
Lesson
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkRe-orient
Recall the previous lesson, focusing on:
- the variety of different sounds that can be made with everyday objects.
- how using more energy causes the vibration to have more energy and produce louder sounds, and using less energy causes vibrations with less energy and produces softer/quieter sounds.
Revisit the term ‘vibrate’: something continuously and rapidly moving back and forth.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkHow far does sound travel?
If students have asked questions during the question generation task in Lesson 1 in relation to how far sound travels, or what enables it to be heard from a long distance away, use these questions as a starting point for the investigation.
Otherwise, or additionally, pose the question: What makes a sound travel further?
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkTravelling sound
Explain that we are going to investigate which direction sound waves travel, and how far they travel, by listening to the sounds of a story being read.
Consider the space where the investigation will be conducted, and if there will be enough room for all students to get far enough away from the sound source for it not to be heard. You may need to use the school hall, library or oval to find a space large enough.
Students stand in a circle around the teacher, who will be the sound source. Explain that you will read a story, and as soon as they cannot hear the sound of the story, they should sit down wherever they are standing. Discuss what it means to be able to ‘hear’ the story and decide if being able to ‘hear’ the teacher’s voice is enough, or if you need to be able to understand the words being said.
Begin reading the story in a normal speaking voice. Pause at the end of the first page and ask any students left standing to take a step backwards, further away from the sound source. Continue reading the story and repeat this process at appropriate intervals until all students are sitting down because they can no longer hear the sound of the story.
It’s important to keep the sound source at the same, or as close to the same, loudness as possible, so that eventually all students will reach a distance where the story can no longer be heard.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkSee the waves
Return to a typical classroom discussion seating arrangement and discuss which direction the sound travelled and how well they could hear it as they moved further away.
- At the start, could everyone hear the story being read?
- Do you think you could all hear it as clearly?
- Students behind the teacher might not have heard it as loudly as those in front.
- What direction were the sound waves travelling? How do you know?
- The sound was travelling in all directions because students standing in different positions of the circle—in front and behind the teacher—could hear the story to start with.
- Did the sound get louder or softer as you moved further away?
- Why can’t we hear the story when we get further away?
- To hear a sound the sound wave needs to reach our ear with enough energy to vibrate our ear drum inside our ear—the sound wave loses energy and gets smaller the further it travels.
- How might the location have affected how well we could hear? What might happen if we repeated the investigation in a different location?
- For example, if the investigation was carried out on the school oval then outside noise such as wind, traffic and animal noises, might have impacted how well the story could be heard. On the other hand, the school hall might be specially designed so that sound carries well during school assemblies and performances, so it might be easier to hear in the hall.
Discuss how more energy would be needed to read more loudly and less energy to read more softly. Experiment in different ways, reading more loudly or softly to see if the sound travels a further or lesser distance.
Discuss when the sound seemed to travel the greatest distance, and what factors caused that—did louder sounds travel further than softer sounds? Jointly construct a sentence to answer the question What makes a sound travel further?
Students create an annotated drawing to show what they thought was happening in the science journal. Remind them that it is not necessary to represent every student in the class, only key locations, such as students behind the teacher versus students facing the teacher etc.
Optional: Repeat the process using a different sound source in the middle of the circle (tapping sticks, bell, speaker, popping bubble wrap etc.) then compare how far the sound wave travelled.
View 0:13-0:30 of the What does sound look like? video. Watch with the sound muted, and no captions. This video explains concepts outside the scope of the Year 2 curriculum, and is not appropriate for their level of conceptual development. To avoid confusing students (or creating or reinforcing any alternative conceptions) it is important to only watch the section of the video indicated, and to watch without sound.
Ask students to observe the video closely, describing what they can see. Watch the suggested section/s of the video multiple times as required.
- What can you see as the hands clap together?
- Students should have observed and describe the disturbance in the air around the hands, and the ripples/waves that move through the air as the hands clap together.
- How can you tell that the air around the hands is moving?
- It looks different to the air further away from the hands. You can see ripples/waves come out when the hands reach each other.
- In which directions do the waves move?
- You can see them clearly coming from the fingers and travelling outwards.
- Even though you can't see the waves of sound moving towards the person’s head/ear, do you think they are? How do you know?
- The waves must be moving towards the ear, because the person who is clapping would be able to hear the clap.
- You might like to get students to demonstrate, to prove that the sound waves will move in all directions, even if they can't see in the video.
- How many waves are there?
- You can see there is more than one wave, they follow each other—that's why they are called waves.
- Why do you think the waves stop? How could we make them keep going?
- How might we make the waves bigger or smaller?
- Putting more energy into the clap would make the waves bigger and the sound louder. Putting less energy into the clap would make the waves smaller and the sound softer.
Optional: Repeat the ‘sound waves in all directions’ task, making a louder sound in the middle of the circle to see if the sound travels further.
Remind students of the vibration role-play done in an earlier lesson, and how the students were in one straight line. Pose the question: If sound waves travel outward in all directions and not one straight line, how could we improve the role-play to represent this?
Discuss and trial different ideas to improve the role-play.
Ask students to draw their own representations in their science journal.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFaster and faster
If students have asked questions during the question generation task in Lesson 1 in relation to high/low pitched sounds, use these questions as a starting point for the investigation.
Otherwise, or additionally, pose the questions: Is a loud sound the same as a high sound? Is a soft sound always a low sound?
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe elastic ‘band’
Students work in pairs to investigate the different sounds that can be made when an elastic band is plucked with different amounts of energy, or when stretched differently.
Using a demonstration copy of the Playing the band Resource sheet as required, discuss the steps of the investigation with students. Students:
- Describe the elastic band.
- Stretch it out lightly between their thumbs.
- Have their partner pluck the elastic band slowly/with less energy.
- Have their partner pluck the elastic band quickly/with more energy.
- Record their observations of the sound that was made, and a comparison between the loudness when plucking it with more energy and less energy.
- Stretch their elastic band lightly between their thumbs, as before.
- Have their partner pluck it with an energy level of their choosing (more or less energy).
- Now stretch the elastic band out tightly. Remind students to take care not to stretch it so tightly it snaps.
- Have their partner pluck it with the same amount of energy as previously used.
- Record their observations of the sound that was made, and a comparison between the sounds when plucking a lightly vs tightly stretched band.
- Repeat this investigation with a second (differently-sized) elastic band.
Before you begin the investigation you might like to discuss the similarities and differences between the two elastic bands each group has been given. Discuss how the bands are the same thickness and colour but different lengths, so one can be stretched further than the other. Show rubber bands of other thicknesses and discuss why it wouldn't be fair to compare the sounds made using a short, thin band to a long, thick one: changing multiple things (the thickness and length) means that it's not fair to compare them, because you won't know which one had the most impact.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkVolume or pitch?
Students share the results of their investigation, including the different sounds made when plucking the elastic band with more or less energy, versus when it was plucked when stretched lightly, then tightly.
- What did you notice about the sound the elastic band made when you stretched it the same distance (looser) but played it with different amounts of energy?
- In this instance, the sounds should be the similar, but when played with more energy it will sound louder.
- What did you notice about the sound made when you stretched the rubber bands at different distances (loose versus tight)?
- In this instance, the pitch was different—when the band was loosely stretched the sound had a lower pitch and when tightly stretched the pitch was higher.
- There is no need to introduce this language yet. Allow the students to describe their observations using their existing vocabulary, such as high and low.
- Do you think that a sound that is high is the same as a sound that is loud?
- Consider demonstrating that the low and high-pitched sounds can be both soft or loud when played with different amounts of energy.
Introduce the term ‘pitch’ and ask students to describe what they think the term means. Provide a definition as appropriate: how high or low a sound is.
Ask students what types of vibrations they think would make high-pitched sounds and low-pitched sounds: fast or slow? Discuss how pitch is different to loudness.
Optional: It might be necessary to spend some time discussing and demonstrating the difference between pitch (different sound) and volume (louder or softer sound). A xylophone or glockenspiel, or glasses of different sizes filled with different amount of water, are effective ways of doing this.
Demonstrate this for students by placing a hex nut inside a balloon, inflating the balloon and tying it off.
- Hold the balloon by each end and spin it. It should quickly begin to make a distinctive whirring noise.
- Spinning the balloon/hex nut slowly will produce a low-pitched sound.
- Spinning the balloon/hex nut quickly will produce a high-pitched sound.
Ask students to turn around for this demonstration, or demonstrate from behind them. This is because, due to the nature of the demonstration, more energy is required to spin the balloon at a speed that makes the hex nut move quickly inside it, and less energy to make the hex nut move slowly. Students viewing the demonstration may then understand high-pitched sounds as needing more energy, which is not the case. By removing the students' ability to see the demonstration, alternative conceptions are less likely to be inadvertently formed or reinforced. Students should be able to hear that the hex nut is spinning quickly, and thus will be able to infer that faster vibrations lead to higher-pitched sounds.
Revisit the Disney sound effects video (timestamp 2:10) to see how Disney used a hex nut in a balloon to create sound effects.
Discuss what students could hear as the hex nut spun inside the balloon, and if the vibrations created by one of the sounds (high or low) sounded faster than the other. The vibrations of the higher pitched sound should sound faster.
Make a list of other high- and low-pitched sounds students might have heard before, for example a whistling kettle, squeaking a balloon, sneakers squeaking on a wooden floor (high-pitched) or a bass drum, a stereotypical cow's moo, thunder (low-pitched).
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- invite students to move around the room and choose a body movement that matches the vibration coming from the hex nut. For example, wiggling fast with their arms in the air for the fast vibration (high pitch) and moving slower with their arms drooping towards the floor for the slow vibration (low pitch).
- discuss which items on the sound table make high-pitched or low-pitched sounds.
- invite students to bring more items for the sound table that make a high- or low-pitched sound.
- update the word wall with words and images. For example, ‘high pitch’ and 'low pitch'.
- relate what students have experienced to the context of creating sound effects by discussing what other sounds the sounds students made during the lesson could represent. For example, you might tap several different pots to simulate the ringing of a collection of bells that all sound slightly different.
- record videos of the students’ new sound wave role-play to view themselves or share with others.
Pitch
What causes sounds to be different in pitch?
Generally, by changing the speed of the sound source vibration, we can change the pitch heard by the human ear. A faster vibration creates a higher frequency sound wave (more vibrations per second). This frequency can be measured using specialised equipment. The human brain perceives a higher frequency as a higher pitch, and a lower frequency (with fewer vibrations per second) as a lower pitch.
As students stretch the elastic band they make it tighter. This means the band can't bounce up and down as far, so it will vibrate more quickly, making a higher pitched sound. When the elastic band is looser, it can bounce up and down further, meaning it will vibrate more slowly, making lower pitched sounds.
In the hex nut demonstration, as the rotation speed of the nut increases so does the resulting vibration speed of the nut. This causes us to hear a higher pitch. As the hex nut slows down, the frequency of the vibrations lowers, and we hear a lower pitch.
Beyond the scope of this teaching sequence, there are other factors which can affect our perception of pitch including the intensity of the sound, and the direction the source is moving. A sound source moving towards or away from a stationary listener will change the frequency of the sound wave—this phenomenon is known as the Doppler effect.
Generally, by changing the speed of the sound source vibration, we can change the pitch heard by the human ear. A faster vibration creates a higher frequency sound wave (more vibrations per second). This frequency can be measured using specialised equipment. The human brain perceives a higher frequency as a higher pitch, and a lower frequency (with fewer vibrations per second) as a lower pitch.
As students stretch the elastic band they make it tighter. This means the band can't bounce up and down as far, so it will vibrate more quickly, making a higher pitched sound. When the elastic band is looser, it can bounce up and down further, meaning it will vibrate more slowly, making lower pitched sounds.
In the hex nut demonstration, as the rotation speed of the nut increases so does the resulting vibration speed of the nut. This causes us to hear a higher pitch. As the hex nut slows down, the frequency of the vibrations lowers, and we hear a lower pitch.
Beyond the scope of this teaching sequence, there are other factors which can affect our perception of pitch including the intensity of the sound, and the direction the source is moving. A sound source moving towards or away from a stationary listener will change the frequency of the sound wave—this phenomenon is known as the Doppler effect.