Science
SCI.IV.4.1
Grade: 5
Strand IV:
Using Scientific Knowledge in Physical Science
Standard 4:
Waves and Vibrations - All students will describe sounds and sound
waves
Benchmark 1:
Explain how sound travels through different media.
Constructing and Reflecting:
SCI.I.1.1 - Generate scientific questions about the world based on observation.
• Construct questions for each of the investigations suggested below to guide the design of the investigation.
SCI.I.1.2 - Design and conduct scientific investigations.
Vocabulary / Key Concepts
Context
Media:
• solids
• liquids
• gases
• vacuum
Sounds traveling through solids:
• glass windows
• strings
• the Earth
Sound traveling through liquids:
• dolphin and whale communication
Sound traveling through gases:
• human hearing
• sonic booms
Resources
Knowledge and Skills
Explain how sound travels through different media. Coloma Resources:
Scott Foresman Science – Discover the wonder
– Module E pgs E34-39
Other Resources:
•
•
Scope Unit – Now Hear This (fifth grade)
Michigan Teacher Network Resources
•
Primarily Physics. AIMS.
• Sound/Light & Color. Bill Nye Video. Disney
Educational (800/295-5010).
• “Bells in Your Ears” – sound through solid
Resources
Other Resources: (continued from above)
• “Straw Oboes” – sound through gas
• The Soundry – ThinkQuest!
• BSISD web resources for light and sound
• Science Explosion: Waves and Vibrations
• Super Slinky, Laser Pointers
•
AIMS – Echoes
Videoconferences Available
For more information, see
www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl or call Janine Lim
471-7725x101 or email jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us
IV.4.MS.1
Science of Sound from the Cleveland Institute of
Music (transformation of energy)
Sounds of Science from COSI Toledo
Wave Watch from the Louisville Science Center
Amazing Sound from the National Science
Center
Quiet Aircraft Technology: Hear the Latest Buzz
from NASA Live!
5th Grade Science Curriculum
Technology Resources
IV.4.MS.1
Vernier probes available: Microphone
Instruction
Focus Question: How does sound travel
differently in solids and gases?
Place a watch in the center of a table and try to
hear its ticking from a meter away. Next, rest
one end of a meter stick on the watch and let
students take turns placing an ear against the
other end. (The students should hear the ticking
more clearly.) Next, have students place their
ear on top of a table to listen to the watch
ticking. The teacher might also let the students
experiment by holding the watch (or tuning fork)
against the various parts of their head (e.g. chin,
teeth, jawbone) to discover that sounds may
reach the ear through solid parts of the body
(e.g. bones).
Discuss why (historically) Native Americans
(Indians) put their ears to the ground to listen for
hoof beats. Discuss possible advantages for
animals that live under ground.
Assessment
Optional Assessment:
After students have described the differences in the
particles composing solids, liquids and gases, and
have examined several musical instruments they will
make a cup phone consisting of two plastic cups, and a
piece of string held between the cups.
As one student speaks into one cup another student
listens for the first student’s voice in the other cup. The
students should be able to explain how the sound
transmitted from one cup to the other and why it is not
transmitted when the string is held by one of the
students.
Each student will complete a lab report that includes
answers to the following questions:
1. How is sound transmitted from one cup to the
other?
2. Why is sound not transmitted when the string
is held by one of the students?
3. What is the difference in transmission
through different mediums such as air vs.
string?
Have the students explain in writing how the sound
was transmitted from one end to the other. They
should include these terms: particles or molecules of
matter, vibration, and collisions between particles.
(Give students rubric before activity.)
Scoring Rubric
Criteria:
Correctness of explanation:
Apprentice Explains how a cup phone works
using the term “vibration” but does not connect
particles and collisions to that vibration.
Basic - Explains how a cup phone works using the
term “vibration” and connects particles or collisions to
that vibration.
Meets - Explains how a cup phone works using the
three criteria (terms from the assessment).
Exceeds - Explains how a cup phone works using the
three criteria (terms from the assessment) and explains
conditions that would prevent the cup phone from
working and the reasons why.
Teacher Notes:
Sound energy is transferred from molecule to molecule by cascading collisions within the medium.
“Vibrations in materials set up wavelike disturbances that spread away from the source. Sound and earthquake waves
are examples. These and other waves move at different speeds in different materials” (BSL). These waves transfer
energy by setting the material (medium) in vibrating motion. The strength of the motion is in the amplitude of the wave;
the speed of vibration is its frequency.
Focus Questions
•
•
•
•
How does sound travel through solids, liquids and gases?
What is a vibration?
How do vibrating objects move?
How do mechanical waves transfer energy?
Notes
The state benchmarks are very deliberately constructed to take students through these topics sequentially and
developmentally. For example, students do not talk about sound and light as waves until the high school benchmarks –
they only look at vibrating objects and mechanical waves such as those in slinkies or on water in middle school. They
recognize sound as produced by vibrations at the elementary level; they study the motion of vibrating objects at the
middle school level; and they apply the concepts of vibrations to sounds at the high school level.
• Students are not expected to know the speeds of sound in different media.(JCISD)