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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

AM to FM - Lesson 4

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine different music styles played on AM radio versus FM radio. They compare a 1972 music hit from AM radio with a 1972 hit album on FM radio.
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Website
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: Techno Pop

For Students 9th - 10th
Feature series on "The Secret History of Technology and Pop Music," traced partly through the story of an Indiana company that stopped making pianos and started cutting 78 rpm records using the talents of famous jazz musicians and others.
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Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: How Is a Radio Wave Emitted?

For Students 9th - 10th
This illustrated essay from A Science Odyssey Web site explains the science behind radio waves, including the role of electrons and electromagnetic fields.
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Handout
PBS

Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Edwin Armstrong

For Students 9th - 10th
This brilliant engineer advanced both AM and FM radio, turning them into viable broadcast technologies, and innovated military radio uses in two World Wars.
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1930 1939

For Students 9th - 10th
New tools such as special microscopes and the cyclotron take research to higher levels, while average citizens enjoy novel amenities such as the FM radio.
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Handout
NASA

Nasa: Electromagnetic Spectrum: Radio Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. This NASA article discusses AM, FM, TV, cell phone, as well as radio astronomy, which all use this technology.