This resource accompanies our Rethink 6th Grade Science course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

Students explore some of the qualities of our sense of hearing and its usefulness to us. They can also begin to consider what the consequences could be of hearing impairment.

This animation illustrates how we hear sound. Sounds from the outside world pass as vibrations through tiny bones in our ear to the cochlea. Within the coiled tube of the cochlea, different regions of the basilar membrane sense different sound frequencies at specific. This animation demonstrates how high-frequency sounds penetrate only a short distance along the basilar membrane and how vibrations from low tones are sensed at the farthest end of the basilar membrane.

In this activity students will compare the speed of sound in air with the speed of sound as it travels through other materials.

This multimedia resource, part of the NC Science Now series, describes how an Asheville musician / inventor / entrepeneur has devloped a device that transforms how the acoustic guitar physically makes sounds. Called an acoustic synthesizer, it alters how the strings vibrate, adding nearly 100 new sounds to the instrument. Components of this resource include a video and a related blog article. Links to these components are provided on the page under the heading "UNC-TV Media."

In this lesson, students will investigate the relationship between frequency and pitch, as well as the length of a Palm Pipe and frequency and pitch.

A blindfolded student "listener" is placed in the middle of a circle of other students who all have different sound makers. The listener must attempt to point in the direction he/she hears the sound. Other students may have such titles as Data Recorder and Soundmaker. Variables such as allowing the listener to turn or not turn his/her head/body are included. There is a separate teacher guide, student guide and an extensive article of background information that discusses the physiology of how our bodies hear and interpret sound. Suggestions for extending this activity are included, as well.

Students will design and build a paper roller coaster using cardstock paper and clear scotch tape that will perform 4 loops and 8 turns/curves.  7th Grade will have to complete 8 loops and more curves/turns. Students will use the engineering design process while completing this project.

This video details the physics of playing the guitar - vibrations, waves, pitch, and frequency.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team and is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science.

In this video, students learn that sound is energy that travels as a result of vibration. It can be characterized by frequency, loudness and pitch. The relationship between sound and objects of the human body like eardrums are explored.

Students work in groups of 2 to create a sound room out of a collection of materials provided by the teacher and then selected by the students. Students will test their sound rooms periodically to determine if their structure has the ability to dampen or even completely eliminate a tone, or ringtone emitted from a cell phone that is turned to max. The goal is for students to rearrange and recombine materials until they have achieved sound cancellation, dampening the waves emitted from the cell phone to a degree that the tone is inaudible. The efficacy of the sound rooms will be checked by a decibel meter on an iPad or Android device (free app easily acquired in an app store). Students will check the decibel reading before their structure is placed over top of the cell phone and then after - comparing the drop in decibels. They will track their results on a document as they hopefully observe the efficiency of their structure improving over time and with each test. One important constraint, the students are limited by a budget. The materials will be “purchased” from an in class store utilizing “real world” pricing.

This online resource explains sound waves and how the ear picks up sound waves from the surrounding air and turns them into nerve impulses that can be sent to the brain.

Through this series of simple hands-on activities, students will develop a basic understanding of the physical properties of waves. They will investigate and identify the "crest" and "trough" of sound, water, and light waves.

Sample Learning Goals
Make waves with water, sound, and light and see how they are related.
Design an experiment to measure the speed of the wave.
Create an interference pattern with two sources, and determine the ways to change the pattern.
Find points of constructive and destructive interference by eye and by using the detectors.
Put up a barrier to see how the waves move through one or two slits. What sort of pattern do the slits create? How can you change this pattern?
For light, predict the locations of the fringes that appear on the screen using d sin(θ) = mλ. Use the tape measure to verify your predictions.
Explain how the aperture geometry relates to the diffraction pattern.
Predict how changing the wavelength or aperture size affects the diffraction pattern.

Make a copy of this Google Drawing and edit as needed. This game is for individual students, and allows them to choose which activities they want to try. Add your own School Net test code to the bottom right box.