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Module 4:
Light and Sound Show
A special partnership between the
Georgia Department of Education and the
Educational Technology Training Centers in
support of the 8th Grade Physical Science
Frameworks.
Georgia Performance Standards Framework for Physical Science – Grade 8
Unit: Light and Sound Show
General Task
The Sound of Music
Standards
Content
S8P2. Students will be familiar with the forms and transformations of energy.
a. Explain energy transformations in terms of the Law of Conservation of Energy.
S8P4. Students will explore the wave nature of sound and electromagnetic radiation.
a. Identify the characteristics of mechanical waves.
e. Relate the properties of sound to everyday experiences.
f. Diagram the parts of a wave and explain how the parts are affected by changes in
amplitude and pitch.
Characteristics
S8CS5. Students will use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and
technological matters.
a. Observe and explain how parts can be related to other parts in a system such as the role of
simple machines in complex machines.
b. Understand that different models can be used to represent the same thing.
S8CS6. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
a. Organize scientific information in appropriate tables, charts, and graphs, and identify relationships
they reveal.
S8CS9. Students will understand the features of the process of scientific inquiry.
Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:
a. Investigations are conducted for different reasons, which include exploring new phenomena,
confirming previous results, testing how well a theory predicts, and comparing different theories.
b. Scientific investigations usually involve collecting evidence, reasoning, devising hypotheses, and,
formulating explanations to make sense of collected evidence
c. Scientific experiments investigate the effect of one variable on another. All other variables are
kept constant.
Enduring Understandings
• Wa v e l e n g t h a n d a m p l i t u d e d e t e r m i n e t h e
characteristics of waves.
• Energy is neither created nor destroyed; it can be
c h a n g e d f r o m o n e f o r m t o a n o t h e r.
• Wa v e s c a r r y e n e r g y.
• Mechanical waves are created when a source of energy
causes a medium to vibrate.
• The pitch of a wave is related to its frequency and its
intensity is related to its amplitude.
Essential Questions
How do musical instruments make
sounds of different pitch and
intensity?
What is the best way to decide which
sounds are music or noise?
What is the best way to describe the
relationship between pitch and
amplitude?
Which way of producing sound-analog or digital--produces the
best listening quality?
quiz
Click the
piano to
take a
music
quiz!
Make a Guitar!
shoe box
rubber bands
ruler or stick
Remove the cover from the box. Stretch the rubber bands
around the box. Attach the ruler or stick to the back of the
box on one end to act as the arm of the guitar. To play, strum
or pluck the rubber bands.
Xylophone
How can you make a water glass xylophone that has different pitches?
Make a Flute!
Activity 1
• Definitions of amplitude, frequency, wavelength, trough,
crest, rarefaction, compression, intensity, decibel, echo and
medium.
• Draw and label a sound wave.
• Explain how sound travels
• Allow time for students to interact with the site. Then have
students complete the following in their journals.
• Draw a sound wave with high and low pitch. Label the
diagrams.
• Draw a sound wave with soft strike (low amplitude) and a
hard strike (high amplitude). Label the diagram.
• How does the energy you put into producing a sound affect
the wave produced?
Activity 2
• Have students visit the following site.
• http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/play_a_
piano.html
• Allow time for the students to interact with
the site. Have the students complete the
following in their science journal:
– Draw a sound wave for notes CDEFGAB.
– Compare/contrast the waves.
Activity 3
• Have students apply what they have learned
about pitch and intensity by creating their own
homemade instruments to play a simple tune.
Have students share their tunes and then have
students explain how different pitches and
amplitudes are achieved with their instruments
using the language of the standards in their
journals.
• This is a website that offers an example of how to
play a few tunes.
http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/shockwave/jar.html
Activity 4
• Have students visit the following site to compare
the information they have learned about pitch,
amplitude and waves formation to a discussion
on music verses noise.
• What is music?
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow2/apr99/soundv
ib.html
• Have students explain the difference in noise and
music using the language of the standards in their
journals.
Activity 5
• In this activity students will have an opportunity to
make the content relevant to their own lives in our
digital world by using the properties of sound to
create/mix their own music/mp3's. Students should be
allowed and encouraged to make connections between
the content of the lesson (the properties of sound
waves) and their own topics (i.e, mp3s for an iPod or
music listening device), questions (i.e., What must I
learn in order to make my own mp3s?), or information
needs (i.e., What is pitch and how will it affect the
music I am making?) and their prior knowledge (i.e.,
What do I already understand about sound?).
Click the piano to visit the website and
find definitions for these terms:
amplitude
frequency
wavelength
trough
crest
rarefaction
compression
medium
Do you know now?
How musical instruments make sounds of
different pitch and intensity?
What is the best way to decide which
sounds are music or noise?
What is the best way to describe the
relationship between pitch and
amplitude?
Which way of producing sound--analog or
digital--produces the best listening
quality?
Teacher Reflection
What were the “Big Concepts” in each activity?
How will students make sense of these concepts?
Discuss real-world examples that may reinforce students’
understanding.
Homework, accommodations for students with disabilities, gifted
students, ELL
What other standards and elements might one introduce at this
time to unify the concepts?
What are some common student misconceptions and how can
these activities facilitate the student’s proper conception and
understanding?