The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
Sound of Music
Sound of Music
A High School Physics STEM lesson
Amy Johnson
4/24/24
Notes for teachers
This lesson was designed to be flexible for online students with no required physical supplies except access to the websites listed.
Arizona Science Standards
High School Physical Science Essential Standards
HS.P4U1.10- Construct an explanation about the relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media, and their applications to modern technology.
8.P4U1.4 - Develop and use mathematical models to explain wave characteristics and interactions.
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and models to link evidence to claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.
Construct and revise explanations based on evidence obtained from a variety of sources (e.g., scientific principles, models, theories, simulations) and peer review.
Objective(s):
Today we will explore how musical sounds are created in different instruments.
Today we will develop a model to explain instrument timbre.
Today we will learn about superposition of waves.
Agenda (lesson time)
This multi-day activity will be broken up across several days. After the teacher introduces the assignment to students, they will complete the lab/lessons in the following order
Can you recognize the instrument activity. Have a discussion on what makes each instrument have a different sound. Complete the Explore Activity with the online oscilloscope.
Sound of Music Worksheet
Engage Lab Activity
Explore how instrument timbre is related to standing waves and wave superposition.
Lesson Hook (opening)
What instrument do you hear?
Day one of this lesson has students begin by trying to identify which instrument is being played in each audio clip. Many of the instruments are recognizable. The goal here is for students to hear the variety of sound that can be created by different instruments and how that variety gives each instrument its own unique sound, the instrument’s timbre. They are all unique which is why we can differentiate them. So how do two instruments that produce sound the same way (i.e. from a vibrating string) produce a different sound?
Hands-on Activity Instructions
Assessment
All 3 worksheets in this activity can be used as a formative assessment of student understanding. It is recommended that teachers also ask students to whiteboard their results of the activities and grade student engagement in the whiteboard process as an assessment of student understanding.
This multi-day activity is part of a larger unit of study on waves and their behavior, starting with mechanical waves on strings/springs and ending with the behavior of light and EM waves. I highly suggest having your students take the Wave Diagnostic Test as both a pre- and post-test in your course to assess if activities like this one and others used in your classroom are helping students get a firm grasp of the wave concept. To download the Wave Diagnostic Test and information about how to score the test and use it for your own class research, create an instructor account with PhysPort at https://www.physport.org/.
Differentiation
Parts of the lesson are self-guided and intended to have student groups working independently through the activities.
One way to remediate/differentiate for students would be to make the lesson more teacher guided with groups working on small parts interspersed with the teacher bringing the class back together to check on progress and introduce the next part of the assignment.
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment
Day 4 is intended to be used as an extension or enrichment activity for classes or groups that have the mathematical sophistication for this higher level material.
The last 3 slides of the Presentation show extension of the material to include woodwind and brass instruments.