Sound - Friday Feedback Session

1. Sound - Friday Feedback Session Team Leader: Marta Datwyler Team Members: Raminder Dua Manjula Bunyan Alex Moran This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. EEC-0502174. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

2. Friday Feedback Session Engineering Activities - Work as Team - Keep a journal as they go through the development process - Integration of math and science - Application of math and science principles - Design an actual instrument

3. Scientific Inquiry • Begin with open-ended questions • Hints to help get students started • Using prior knowledge individually and as a group • Development of hypotheses • Experimentation • Collection of data • Mathematical calculations and analysis • Present and defend conclusions • Discussion of error and improvements

4. Ethics • Choice of materials in creating instrument Toxicity, disposal, pollution • Limitation on volume output for health reasons • Who should determine these limitations • Ownership of sound/music Artistic vs. commercial Personal vs. profiteering

5. Modifications to Module • Simplify introduction (High school usually will already have some physical science background) • Eliminate discussion of pressure and replace with focus on movement of particles. • Stick to longitudinal waves and cut out transverse (Eliminate Activity 2) • For Activity 3 be sure to give each group PVC pipes that with greater difference in length to make calculations more interesting.

6. Modifications – Lower Elementary • Pizza Pie analogy for the inverse relationship between frequency and wavelength. Even though these are younger students we would like to introduce them to mathematical equations and how they describe relationships. F = v/λ (Frequency = velocity of sound divided by wavelength) The pizza would represent the wave. If we cut the wave a few times (frequency) then each individual slice is larger (wavelength). If we make many slices of pizza (increase the frequency) then each slice is smaller (decreased the wavelength).

7. Modifications- Lower Elementary continued • Design Project: Give the students a choice of materials (boxes of different sizes, different rubber bands, cans, “clangers”, cups, etc.) They then need to choose materials and design an instrument that will make the loudest or most musical note.

8. Modification – Upper Elementary and Middle School • Not much modification needed for these grades. • Students from 5th grade on should be able to handle the math with some simplification of the equations (provide them with speed of sound rather than having them calculate it) • Eliminate activity three and have them use straw oboes to explore the relationship between length of the straw and pitch. (A reed is created by cutting and flatting one end of a straw. The student blow through and create a sound. They then cut the straw and note how the sound changes. Apply math depending on grade level.)

9. Modification – Elementary and Middle School continued • Elementary teachers may want to retain activity two since they teach both math and science. • Design activity can be simplified by using water filled bottles to look at the relationship between volume and frequency/pitch.