Do you hear what I hear?

We started the STC sound unit yesterday. 

What fun!  The children began by brainstorming a list of questions they have about sound:
“What makes sound?”
“Is silence a sound?”
“Does thinking make a sound?”
“How is thunder made?”
“How does sound get louder?”
“How do sound waves travel?”
“Do sound waves get pulled by gravity?”

Next, they explored two tuning forks--one long and one short. They observed in what ways the two tuning forks are similar and in what ways they are different. 

For each lesson, the children record their questions and observations, along with scientific illustrations and claims (what they think is going on) and evidence (their experiences and observations that support this claim) in their science notebooks.

Today, we explored how sound travels through different materials: an aluminum "meter stick," a meter-long piece of nylon line, and a wooden meter stick.

 

Our school is fortunate to be a site for the Smithsonian Science Education Center (formerly National Science Resource Center)'s Laser i3 Initiative to promote excellent and equitable science education.  For us, this means we receive outstanding professional development and high-quality, inquiry-based science modules with all the materials necessary to execute them successfully.