Sounds’ module

Teaching module from Portugal

Sounds’ module includes seven activities, entitled: musical instruments, sound waves, sound level, acoustic insulation, microphones, speed of sound and audiogram.

Musical instruments

‘Musical instruments’ is a hands-on-activity. During the activity, students construct their musical instruments with everyday materials and they study the sound waves associated with their instruments. In the activity ‘sound waves’, students open a ‘Sound Waves’ simulator and using a ‘Listen from a single source’, recreate sounds and associate a musical instrument constructed.

Sound measure using an APP

In the activity ‘sound level’, students are invited to draw up a work plan to build a noise map of their city. Then, they collect data using Apps for mobile phones (e.g., phyphox, Science Journal, Decibel X, Sonometer, Decibel meter, etc.), they create their house plans in 2D and 3D, using: planner5d.com; sweethome3d.com/en; floorplanner.com; etc. and they build their noise map. During the activity, ‘acoustic insulation’, students have to solve the following problem: ‘How to Soundproof a room against noisy neighbors (e.g., noise-related with music)?’ For that, they have to design a room that will absorb the most amount of sound so that the music does not disturb and use a soundproof box (each group could choose a shoebox with a different dimension). Then, they select the soundproofing materials that work best, collect data using an App to measure the sound level from outside your test box, and take conclusions.

In the activity ‘microphones’, students use a kit to build a microphone. Before that, students can visualize a video about the microphones and their construction using simple materials (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hU6wrR2J24). In the activity ‘speed of sound’, students have to explore the following problem: ‘How fast does the plane have to reach to observe the supersonic boom?’, using a remote laboratory to determine the value of the speed the plane has to reach (e.g., http://labremoto.unifei.edu.br). Finally, in the activity ‘audiogram’ students have to use an APP and construct an audiogram for each member of their family and compare the audiograms.

This module is recommended for 8th-grade students (age 13-14 years old) and its expected duration is 18 hours in total. The teacher can select the activities to be developed by the students.

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