Sound: Can You Feel Music?

Prep Work (10 minutes)

Gather all the materials. If you are using cardboard boxes instead of tissue boxes, use a box cutter to cut a hole in the top, and tape the lid flaps shut.

Engage (6 minutes)

In this video introduction, students are asked to think about how each of their five senses relates to sound. Students are left with the central question, "Can you feel music?".

Explore (28 minutes)

In this video, students explore the central question, "Can you feel music?" by building a guitar from a rubber band and tissue box. Step-by-step instructions help students connect their observations of the vibrations of the rubber band with the sound they are seeing. Through a series of experiments, students learn that sound is created by vibrations.

Reflect (1 minutes)

In this video, everything the students have learned about how vibrations create sound is summarized. The concepts are further reinforced by explaining that while sound vibrations are not always visible, you cannot have sound without vibration.

NGSS Alignment

• 1-PS4-1. Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

Assess

To assess your students' understanding of sound and vibration, ask each pair of students to think of a sound they can make in a classroom. Examples could include talking, tapping two pencils together, scratching their clothing etc. Then, ask them to explain to the rest of the class what vibrates to create their sound, and how they know this (e.g. can they see or feel the vibration?).

Extensions

• Sound, shhh, Bang, POP, BOOM, by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv and Sounds All Around, by Wendy Pfiffer are two picture books that fit well with this lesson.
• The following websites can help advanced students explore sound further:
  • Sound, from DKfindout!
  • Physics for Kids: Basics of Sound, from Ducksters.