8L.

b Shifting sound LESSON PLAN

Objectives What you need

Pupils should learn: Starter:
Scheme of Work
Glockenspiel or
Sc1: to use the particle model to explain how sound travels xylophone
Sc4: how the vibrations that make sound are transferred through a
Resource 8L.b.1
medium; that sound cannot travel through a vacuum (photocopied onto an
OHT)
Framework Yearly Teaching Objectives
Main activity:
Sc1: to draw conclusions from data and describe how the conclusions
Demonstration 1:
are consistent with the evidence collected

Large airtight gas jar
Sc4: to recognise that when sound travels by vibrations from the
linked to a vacuum
source it is transferring energy, and to use this data to:
pump which contains a

explain the transmission of sound
musical toy
Demonstration 2:
Expectations

Speaker

All pupils will be able to recognise and describe how sound travels,
polystyrene balls
but not through a vacuum.

Signal generator

Most pupils will be able to recognise that sound needs a medium to
travel through, and that it travels at different speeds through Demonstration 3:

Slinky with large
different mediums. They will also be able to explain in terms of the
particle model why sound needs a medium. polystyrene balls

Some pupils will be able use the particle model to explain how sound attached at regular
travels through materials and why sound cannot travel through a intervals
vacuum. Demonstration 4:

Tuning fork
Pupil-speak Plenary:

Resource 8L.b.2
What Im looking for is for you to be able to explain why an explosion
(photocopied onto an
in space cannot be heard.
OHT)

Starter  10 minutes Homework:

Resource 8L.b.3A and
Give the above WILF statement for the lesson. 8L.b.3M or students'
Ask pupils to sit at the front of the class, near a glockenspiel or book spread 8L.2
xylophone. Now reveal the sound waves on the OHT of resource
8L.b.1. Reproduce the example sound waves on the glockenspiel or
xylophone and then ask for a volunteer to come forward and reproduce
what they think sound waves a would sound like. After the volunteer
has produced their interpretation of the sound waves, the rest of the
class should vote on whether or not they think it is correct (thumbs up
for correct, thumbs down for incorrect). Take a new volunteer to
reproduce the next set of sound waves.

Main activity  40 minutes

Demonstration 1 (10 minutes)
Set up the experiment on the right. The toy could be substituted for an
electric bell if obtaining a suitable toy is a problem.

Start the musical toy and then, after a couple of minutes, switch on
the pump and start removing the air from the bell jar. After a couple of
minutes, ask pupils to explain why pumping out the air has reduced
the sound volume.

After a few minutes take feedback. Use pupils thoughts to conclude

that sound relies on air (particles) to be transmitted and, therefore,

518 8L.b Lesson plan

 8L.b Shifting sound LESSON PLAN

sound cannot be transmitted through a vacuum (for lower-ability

pupils you may need to define a vacuum).

Review of knowledge and understanding (15 minutes)

Demonstration 2
Set up the apparatus on the right and turn on the speaker. Ask pupils
to explain why the polystyrene balls are moving. Encourage them to
link the vibrating polystyrene balls to the vibrations of the speaker
causing the air particles to move. Sound energy is transmitted by
particles vibrating from the object producing the sound to the ear.

Demonstration 3
Use the model on the right to explain to pupils that when an object is
vibrating, the sound energy it produces is transmitted by air particles
squashing together (compressions) and moving apart (rarefactions).

Demonstration 4 (15 minutes)

Explain to the class that you want them to watch the following
demonstration and then use their observations to answer the
questions: When was the loudest sound produced?, and Why did the
loudest note occur?. Strike a tuning fork once and then strike it again
and place it on a solid object, e.g. a table.

Give the class some thinking time and then take feedback. Use pupils
thoughts to generate a whole-class conclusion that sound travelling
through a solid is louder because the particles in a solid are closer
together and, therefore, there is a greater opportunity for collisions to Language bank
occur. Therefore, more sound energy is transferred. medium
particles

speed of sound

Extension
transferred
vacuum

Ask the class why sound travels faster through a solid than a liquid.
vibrations
Encourage pupils to explain their answer using the particle model of a
solid, liquid and gas.

Plenary  10 minutes
Links
Show pupils the OHT of resource 8L.b.2 and tell them that you want
Lesson: speaking and
them to write a short paragraph explaining why in space no one can
listening, word level,
hear you scream. Give pupils about four minutes to write an
sentence level
explanation and then take feedback. Tell the class that you want them
to use as much of their scientific knowledge as possible in their Homework: reading and
explanation. writing

Extension Thinking Skills: reasoning

Ask pupils to think carefully about todays learning. Tell the class that and evaluation skills
you are going to give them two minutes to list two things from the last
two lessons which they have either not properly understood or found
difficult. After the two minutes are up, tell the class that you want
them to turn the two areas of learning which they have had problems
with into questions that could be asked in an exam. When pupils have
completed the task, inform them that the two questions will form part
of their homework.

Remind pupils of the WILF statement for the lesson and take feedback.

Homework
Resource 8L.b.3A (All pupils) and 8L.b.3M (Most pupils), or
students book spread 8L.2.

8L.b Lesson plan 519

 8L.b.1 Reproduce the sound OHT

Example

a
b

d
c

e f

520 8L.b.1 OHT OUP: this may be reproduced for class use solely by the purchasers institution
 8L.b.2 Sound in space OHT

OUP: this may be reproduced for class use solely by the purchasers institution 8L.b.2 OHT 521
 522

8L.b.3A HOMEWORK 8L.b.3M HOMEWORK

8L.b.3 Homework
Alien A: How were the rehearsals?
Alien B: Not that good really. Twenty fellow aliens turned
up and not one of them could sing.
Alien A: Not even badly?
Alien B: Two hours of rehearsals and not a note.
Alien A: Well, better luck next time. 1 Use the particle model to explain why no one would be
able to hear the golfer on the Moon shout four.
1 Do you think the next rehearsal for the Moon choir
will be any more successful than the first? Explain
2 If a note being played had a high amplitude and a low
your answer in as much detail as possible.
frequency, what would it sound like?

2 Do sounds travel faster through water or air?

3 Explain in as much detail as possible why sound seems
louder when it travels through a solid.
3 Explain your response to question 2 in as much
detail as possible.
4 Explain how a drum produces a note.

4 If a guitar string is plucked hard, why does it

OUP: this may be reproduced for class use solely by the purchasers institution
produce a louder sound?