Sound studio
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- identify variables that need to be controlled.
- make predictions about how the medium may affect the transfer of sound.
- conduct a fair-test investigation.
- analyse data and draw conclusions about sound waves.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- use oral, written and visual language to record and analyse investigation results.
- record data in a table.
- discuss findings to reach consensus about how changing the medium through which sound travels affects its loudness and clarity.
In this lesson, assessment is summative.
Students working at the achievement standard (science inquiry) should have:
- contributed to the planning of a procedure to investigate to answer a question, including safety considerations.
- followed investigation procedures and made and recorded observations.
- used informal measurements to record observations, and/or digital tools where appropriate.
- compared their observations with others, recognising similarities and differences.
Refer to the Australian Curriculum content links on the Our design decisions tab for further information.
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Demonstration copy of the Variables grid Resource sheet
Demonstration copy of the Muffled sounds investigation planner Resource sheet
Each group
1 x device that can be set to make a sound after a delay, for example, a kitchen timer, iPad timer etc.
1 x container large enough for this device to sit in
3 x ‘muffling’ materials, enough to fill the container, for example:
- fabrics such as towels, clothes, blankets, felt etc.
- paper products such as paper, newspaper, magazines, paper towels etc.
- foam—including polyurethane and styrofoam.
- plastic materials such as bubble wrap, soft plastic, etc.
- assorted classroom materials, which might include maths equipment.
Optional: To measure the volume of sounds accurately, groups might use a:
- web-based decibel meter such as this sound meter, the Applause Meter
- decibel measuring app downloaded onto a smart device
- digital sound level meter
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Muffled sounds investigation planner 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
Review the investigations that students have participated in so far, tracking the journey of sounds from their source to the students’ ears:
- Lesson 2: Sound travelling through a balloon, their arms, a coat hanger, and potentially a string telephone or desk.
- Lesson 3: Sound created at the sound stations travelling through the air to our ears.
- Lesson 4: Sound travelling through the air to our ears, but getting softer over larger distances until it cannot be heard.
Also review the ideas explored around loud and soft sounds, and how adding more energy into an action can result in a louder sound. Demonstrate this again by tapping two objects, such as spoons, together with more and less energy.
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 FrameworkControlling the noise
Discuss with students how they can control the loudness of the sounds they create (for example when they were at the sound stations, or when they are talking). Also discuss how they might control the loudness of sounds that they don't make themselves.
- If you wanted to make a soft ringing sound with two spoons, how would you tap them together?
- With less energy, more softly, smaller movements.
- And how would you tap them if you wanted to make a louder sound?
- Use more energy, move your arms/hands more quickly, and start with them further apart.
- How can you control the loudness of the sounds you make?
- Can you control the loudness of the sounds around you, that you don't make? How?
- You can ask people to be quiet, you can turn down the volume on devices, you can move away from loud sounds, and you can wear earplugs.
Send two students to stand just outside the closed classroom door, or into a separate enclosed section of the classroom, and ask them to talk with each other at a ‘normal’ volume. Ask those remaining in the classroom if they can hear the students' conversation. Have two students inside the classroom talk to each other, so that the two students outside get the same experience.
Once all students are back inside, discuss if the people outside the classroom (or inside) could be heard, how loudly and clearly they could be heard, and why they could not be heard clearly.
- Could you hear the two students on the other side of the door talking?
- How loudly and clearly could you hear them?
- Why do you think you couldn't hear them loudly/clearly?
- They were not talking loudly enough, they were further away, or there was a door/wall in the way blocking the sound.
Optional: Repeat the demonstration, but with the door open, and see if the students’ conversation can be heard more loudly/clearly.
Introduce the term ‘muffled’ to describe sounds that can still be heard, but that we might not be able to hear clearly or as loudly as they actually are.
Brainstorm a list of situations where you would want to stop outside sounds from being able to be heard. For example, when you're trying to sleep, when you're watching a movie, or when you're trying to record someone speaking or singing.
Pose the question: What things might affect how loudly we can hear a sound, without being able to control the sound itself?
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 FrameworkMuffle that sound
As a class, list things that might affect how loudly we can hear a sound and record them on a variables grid. Not every section needs to be filled and more can be added if the students identify lots of variables. Variables may include: the loudness of the sound, other sounds being made nearby, where the sound is coming from, anything that might get in the way of the sound wave (like a wall for example), how the loudness of the sound is measured, the distance between the sound source and the listener, students’ ability to hear sounds (one ear or both ears) etc.
Note that for this investigation students will be measuring the loudness of the sound. Mark that part of the grid with a M to indicate it will be the measured variable.
Discuss fair-testing principles, and how only changing one thing and leaving everything else the same will help us figure out how much the thing we changed had an impact on what we measured. In this investigation, the thing students will change is what might be blocking the sound waves (mark that with a C on the variables grid), and everything else will stay the same (mark with an S on the variables grid).
Use the sentence stem on the bottom of the variables grid to determine that students will investigate to find out what happens to the loudness of a sound when we change what's might be blocking the path of the soundwaves.
Show students the equipment for the investigation and use the Muffled sounds investigation planner Resource sheet to discuss and clarify the process for the investigation. You might like to jointly construct the responses for each section of the planner.
Discuss safety considerations, such as not putting electronic devices in water, or using dangerous objects in order to muffle the sounds.
Students will:
- Select three materials they think might effectively muffle, or quieten, a sound.
- Using a device that can be set to sound after a delay (such as a kitchen timer, or a timer on a digital device like an iPad), describe and/or measure the ‘sound starting point’—that is, listen to the sound without muffling it and describe/measure its loudness.
- Place the sound measurer (a person or device) somewhere, and do not move it until the investigation is complete.
- Place the container in a specific spot (and take care to place it back in the same spot after each test).
- Start the timer on the device and place it inside the container.
- Place the muffling material around the device, up to the top of the container.
- Wait for the device to make its sound after the set timing interval has elapsed.
- Measure how loudly/clearly the sound can be heard.
- There are multiple ways students might measure the loudness/clarity of the sound, and the measurement method might impact whether you use the term ‘clarity’ or ‘loudness’. See below and the embedded professional learning on Measuring sound for further information.
- No Tech: Students determine their own scale for how well they can hear the sound. In this case it might be helpful to have a recorded word or phrase the students are listening to. You might also refer to the 'Noise meter' developed by the class earlier in the sequence.
- Low Tech: Use a web-based decibel meter such as this sound meter, the Applause Meter, or download a decibel measuring app onto a smart device.
- High Tech: Use a specialised digital sound level meter to measure, and thus record, accurate and detailed decibel readings. These can be purchased quite easily at hardware and electronic stores, or downloaded onto a mobile device.
- There are multiple ways students might measure the loudness/clarity of the sound, and the measurement method might impact whether you use the term ‘clarity’ or ‘loudness’. See below and the embedded professional learning on Measuring sound for further information.
Allow teams time to complete their investigation and record their observations.
Measuring sound
What needs to be considered when measuring sound in the classroom?
Using our own judgement to determine the loudness of a sound is a valid, albeit subjective and inaccurate, way to determine the loudness of a sound. This form of measuring 'loudness' is probably the most commonly used one! However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of this method, particularly when it comes to the scientific collection of data.
You might discuss with students how people might have different perceptions of what makes a sound 'loud', and that no two people are going to hear the exact same thing—what is too loud to one might not be too loud to another. Establish methods of using a loudness scale in the ‘most fair’ way possible. Teams might decide to select only one student to be the ‘official measurer’, or they might all listen to a sound, rate it on a pre-determined scale (such as the class volume meter created earlier in the sequence) and use this to reach consensus about the sounds loudness.
Alternatively, a decibel meter can be used to more accurately measure the sound, and since it is a scientific measurement of the sound's amplification the term volume could be used here. Decibel meters (also known as digital sound level meters) can be purchased relatively inexpensively at hardware and electronic shops, or online. There are also apps available for download through your relevant app store.
Using our own judgement to determine the loudness of a sound is a valid, albeit subjective and inaccurate, way to determine the loudness of a sound. This form of measuring 'loudness' is probably the most commonly used one! However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of this method, particularly when it comes to the scientific collection of data.
You might discuss with students how people might have different perceptions of what makes a sound 'loud', and that no two people are going to hear the exact same thing—what is too loud to one might not be too loud to another. Establish methods of using a loudness scale in the ‘most fair’ way possible. Teams might decide to select only one student to be the ‘official measurer’, or they might all listen to a sound, rate it on a pre-determined scale (such as the class volume meter created earlier in the sequence) and use this to reach consensus about the sounds loudness.
Alternatively, a decibel meter can be used to more accurately measure the sound, and since it is a scientific measurement of the sound's amplification the term volume could be used here. Decibel meters (also known as digital sound level meters) can be purchased relatively inexpensively at hardware and electronic shops, or online. There are also apps available for download through your relevant app store.
Writing questions for investigation
How can a general question be turned into one that can be investigated scientifically?
In this task, students have an opportunity to consider a general question about what things might affect how loudly they can hear a sound. A variables grid can be used to turn a broad question into an investigable one.
Investigable questions are characterised by their clear identification of what is being changed and what is being measured in a fair test, supporting students to investigate a specific physical phenomena.
This enables them to plan a fair-test investigation. The question they have devised can be answered empirically, and data can be collected to support and justify claims made.
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 FrameworkWhat makes a good ‘muffler’?
Students share the results of their investigations, including which materials (if any) muffled the sound and how effectively it was muffled.
- What materials did you choose to muffle the sound?
- Did any of your chosen materials muffle the level of sound really effectively? By how much?
- Why do you think that material helped muffle the sound?
- How/where do you think the sound waves were moving when they were muffled by the material?
Use the results of students’ investigation to place the tested materials in order of most to least effective at muffling the sound. Discuss the characteristics of the materials that muffled sound most effectively, identifying similarities and differences.
Discuss how and when this type of knowledge is used in real-life.
- When do you think people need to know how to block out sound?
- If you were a singer and you were recording a song, what might you have to do?
- If you're recording a video, what might you need to consider?
- When else might it be important to know?
- When might you hear 'muffled' sounds in movies, TV shows, ads etc.?
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- explore the sound table and see if you can/would muffle the sounds of the items on it.
- update the word wall with words and images. For example, 'muffled'.