Sound Energy Lesson Module

The Sound Energy module allows students to experiment with energy that can be heard when matter is present to carry the vibration. Students learn about pitch, volume, and vibration as they explore and watch different methods of making sound.

Core Concept

Sound energy travels in waves and can be described by volume and pitch.

Essential Vocabulary

Sound energy, generate, matter, particles, pitch, require, vibrate, volume, wave

Lesson Plan

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Interactive Demos

Engage

The Engage session activates students’ prior knowledge of sound energy. In this session, students use their digital Notebooks to record their thoughts and then listen to different noises that get them thinking about sound. Students also participate in a teacher-led discussion of the different ways to make sound. To complete the session, students collaborate with peers offline and continue to unpack their prior knowledge.

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Explore

The Explore session promotes interest in and curiosity about sound energy and how it is made. In this session, students explore how instruments make sound. Students also participate in a teacher-led discussion that encourages them to wonder about the properties of sound. To complete the session, students work collaboratively offline and further explore sound and how it can be changed.

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Professional Development

Science4Us provides the essentials that teachers need to confidently and effectively lead a classroom in any science lesson. This demo shows:

One section of the "Teacher Explain"
One of the 40 teacher support documents

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Additional Information

Hands-on activities allow students to experiment further with sound. At the end of the unit, students complete an evaluation in which they test their new knowledge of sound energy.

These hands-on activities can be found in the printable teacher guides available as part of professional development. In addition, you’ll also find questions to help activate prior knowledge and follow-up discussion questions to help review information. Teacher guides serve many purposes. To name a few, they help you prepare for each activity, engage your students and feed their curiosity.

Teacher lessons provide that extra information specific to each lesson. You can find suggestions to help students make vocabulary connections, content extensions to help you answer questions and best practices for extending the knowledge beyond the lesson. For instance, you can have students generate their own sound energy and have them connect their action to the sound, such as tapping on a table or clapping their hands, because without the action, there isn’t any sound.

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