Sound day 1 & 2

I love teaching the Waldorf 6th grade Physics block. Sound -- in particular -- is so much fun to teach! Roberto Trostli's book Physics Is Fun! A Sourcebook for Teachers is the absolute best resource!

BUT if you can't find it a good substitute is 175 More Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze Your Friends by Terry Cash, Steve Parker, and Barbara Taylor paired with the free "EnergyWorks" student experiment packet (PDF).

Day 1

Yesterday to introduce this topic we did the "How Good Is Your Hearing?" experiment from page 17 of the Cash, Parker & Taylor book.

For this you will need a ruler, a straight pin, a table, and a friend.

Day 2

Today we did the following

• page 50 of packet: read the introductory paragraph for "Sound and Energy" and sit quietly for one minute and count all the sounds that you hear, read paragraph 1 and the first sentence of paragraph 2 for "Sound Is Energy Moving in Waves"




• do you think that sound waves move farther through a solid, a liquid, or a gas?




• page 14 of book: do "Sound Waves" experiment

  you will need 5 marbles and a table

  note: because we did Heat first in this block, she already had a drawing of the molecules in a solid, liquid, and gas in her MLB immediately preceding this... if she had not done Heat first, I would have had her add that illustration to the MLB here (page 5 of packet)




• drop a pencil on a desk and listen to the sound it makes (traveling through the air), then put your ear on the desk and drop the pencil again and listen to the sound it makes (traveling through the wood)

  you will need a pencil and a table




• page 29 of book: do "Sounds in Your Head" experiment

  you will need a metal spoon, a length of string, and a table




• page 51 of packet: look at the diagrams "Amplitude of Sound Waves" and "Frequency of Sound Waves" and add them to the MLB




• look at sound wave illustrations in the back of Noisy Bug Sing-Along by John Himmelman

  




• listen to insect sound recordings from freesound.org

  Cicadas.wav

  Flying Mosquito.wav

  Cricket Sound.mp3




• watch Return of the Cicadas video on Vimeo

I also really like the videos and audio recordings at Lang Elliot's musicofnature.com. The Adirondack Coyote Song is amazing!

HW: Do the "Listening Underwater" experiment from page 29 of the book.

You will need a bathtub full of water.

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