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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding Waves

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students perform 3 hands-on activities to help them explain the terms "crest" and "trough" as related to sound, water, and light waves. All three waves types have troughs and crests. The activities use toys to demonstrate the properties...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders study sound waves and vibrations. They sing a silly round in three parts.
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Graphic
Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Auditorium Acoustics

For Students 9th - 10th
Home page for a hypertext physics course on auditorium acoustics and acoustical design.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12 Exploration Series: Simulations: Physics: Violin

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn about wave harmonics on a string by looking closely at the sound produced by a violin. Test string tension with harmonic number on violin strings in a simulated practice. Understand sound waves...
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Handout
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Radio Transmission

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive activity from A Science Odyssey tracks the journey of a sound wave from the moment a musician sings into a microphone until his voice reaches the vibrating speakers of an AM Radio.
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Unit Plan
University of New South Wales (Australia)

University of New South Wales: School of Physics: Physiclips

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Concepts of waves and sound are thoroughly presented in animation and film clips.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Outer Space, the Silent Frontier: An Experiment on Sound Waves

For Students 3rd - 5th
In outer space there is utter silence. There are no sounds of traffic jams or thunderstorms or crashing waves. No buzzing bees or babies crying. Just silence. In this experiment, you will discover why empty space is void of sound.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Frequency Dependent Sound Absorption

For Students 9th - 10th
Want to start a garage band, but Mom or Dad won't let you because it will make too much noise? This is a good project for someone who is interested in acoustics and likes to build things. The objective of this project is to determine if...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Measuring Vibrational Frequency With Light

For Students 9th - 10th
Strike a key on the piano, and you hear the string vibrating. Just about any object vibrates when it's knocked, but how much and how fast? This project helps you find out. You'll build a simple light-sensing circuit for measuring the...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Extreme Sounds: Lessons in a Noisy World

For Students 9th - 10th
Just how loud does a sound have to be for us to hear it? And how loud is too loud for our ears? Learn to measure levels of sound in this project, and discover the amazing auditory range your ears can detect in the noisy world around you.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Guitar Fundamentals: Wavelength, Frequency, & Speed

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a rockin' project for guitarists with an interest in the physics behind music. If you have ever wondered why the pitch of the note changes when you fret the string, this project will help you understand by applying basic...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How to Make a Piano Sing

For Students 9th - 10th
The renowned pianist Vladimir Horowitz once said, "The most important thing is to transform the piano from a percussive instrument into a singing instrument." In this lab, you will learn about sympathetic vibrations, a method used to...
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Unit Plan
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Sound

For Students 9th - 10th
This simulation lets you see sound waves. Adjust the frequency or volume and you can see and hear how the wave changes. Move the listener around and hear what she hears.
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Interactive
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Constructive and Destructive Wave Interference

For Students 9th - 10th
A physics course web page that features a Java applet in which visitors can observe the waveform resulting from the interference of two waves. The amplitude and wavelength of the interfering waves can be altered and the outcome observed.
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Unit Plan
University of New South Wales (Australia)

University of New South Wales: School of Physics: Physclips: Sound

For Students 9th - 10th
Physiclips thoroughly presents the concept of sound with animations and film clips. Learn about the properties of sound and the physics behind sound waves with this site.
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Website
PBS

Pbs: Rough Science

For Students 9th - 10th
Website companion to PBS show, "Rough Science," in which five scientists use their collective expertise to complete a series of tasks. Follow the scientists as they do things like generate electricity, make soap, make antibacterial...
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Website
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Human Genome Project: Unearthing Buckyballs

For Students 9th - 10th
Resource provides great information on buckyballs. Description of a process to identify and determine the size and type of fullerenes. Excellent movie on basic fullerene information. Pictures are also included for further information....
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Website
Canada Science and Technology Museum

Canada Science and Technology Museum: Background Information for Sound

For Students 9th - 10th
Sound! How does it work? All you need to know about it is found here through a series of Q&As. Educators will find useful lesson plans.
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Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Sound

For Students 9th - 10th
Through multiple animations and interactive activities, this module allows students to investigate the properties of sound.
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Musical Images

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students are introduced to the concept of the image of music. After listening to a song, they draw images of it by deciding where different musical instruments were placed during recording. They further investigate audio engineering by...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: String Telephones

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate how sound travels through string and air. First, they analyze the sound waves with a paper cup attached to a string. Then, they combine the string and cup with a partner to model a string telephone. Finally, they are...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Biomimicry: Echolocation in Robotics

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use ultrasonic sensors and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots to emulate how bats use echolocation to detect obstacles. They measure the robot's reaction times as it senses objects at two distances and with different sensor threshold...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Robot Sensors and Sound

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Using microphones connected to computers running Audacity software, student teams experiment with machine-generated sounds and their own voices and observe the resulting sound waves on the screen, helping them to understand that sounds...
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Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Sound and Light

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The Sound and Light unit provides students with an understanding of sound and light waves through the theme of the "Sunken Treasure," a continuous story line throughout the lessons. In Lessons 1-5, students learn about sound, and in...