Grade level
Analyzing and interpreting data
Cause and Effect
PS4.A: Wave Properties
After investigating different sources (“instruments”) of sound in centers, the class engaged in a class discussion about how students thought each of the instruments were making sound. Students were prompted: “Where does sound come from?” Students were then able to write a sentence or draw on their sticky note to answer the question. After they were done, students shared their answer with the class and placed it on the circle map.
Artifact A shows the collection of sticky notes from students, which demonstrates a range of understanding.
Three sticky notes indicate the single word, “voice box,” recalling a demonstration at the beginning of Chapter 4 when they were asked to feel their own voice box while talking to a neighbor. Another three sticky notes depict an image alone, with sound represented with squiggly lines coming from the sound’s originating location; two connect to earlier chapters’ focus on animal sounds (e.g. sound coming from an animal’s mouth) and another focuses on one of the activities at the sound centers.
One sticky note specifies, “Sound comes from vibration,” while another one beside it also has written that sound comes from vibration and additionally includes two depictions: first, an animal creating a mooing sound, and second (perhaps) the tuning fork on the table with sound lines emanating out in all directions.
From the evidence of the sticky notes about “where the sound comes from,” some students remain fixed on what the object is that is making the sound, whether it be animal sounds (e.g. “voice box”) or the instrument sounds (e.g the whistling tube). Other students indicate what might be considered the canonical science answer: that vibrations make sound. But it is only the last sticky note that provides evidence of a student connecting the pieces together into a causal story: that animal sounds and instrument sounds are caused by the same mechanism, which is the vibration of some material.
