These initial models show a variety of ways that students attempt to represent sound traveling and information being transferred. Most students represent sound using arrows or lines moving away from the source. One common representation is with radiating crescent lines (Artifacts A, B), but others students show it with squiggly lines (Artifact C), directional arrows (Artifact D, F), or circular bubbles (Artifact E). 

Artifacts A, B, and C represent sound as traveling – primarily – in one intended direction, rather than radiating out in multiple directions. Artifacts B and E specify that sound travels as a wave; furthermore, Artifact B distinguishes between bigger waves for loud sounds that travel farther and less big sound waves when people are closer together, whereas Artifact E specifies that the vibrations of vocal cords generate sound and indicates that frequency corresponds to different pitches of sound. 

Artifact C is notable in that it references that sound travels through a medium (air) and that information must be processed once received (related to the eardrum). Of the samples, Artifacts D and F are unique in that they indicate an early grasp of wave properties that are picked up in greater detail in the Grade 8 standards: Artifact D show how sound can be reflected (or echo) off of surfaces, while Artifact F introduces the idea that sound is related to a transfer of energy.