9 Backward Design Plan Template

Title: The Paper Cup Phone Experiment Subject/Course: Science Time: 40

Level: Grade 4

Lesson Description
The hook will play on student interests - current technology (Samsung Galaxy/iPhones) while connecting it back to
historical devices (the very first telephone, the first released video game, and the development of the Internet). The
importance of this hook is to a) teach about innovation and invention and b) show how the science that they are
learning now, however trivial it might seem to them, can create revolutionary changes in society. By making real world
connections to something they have an invested interest in, students will be more engaged. Students will also learn
how sound travels through a string and how solids are more dense than air and liquids.

Building on this idea, students will go back to the “basics” - building a paper cup telephone that uses strings to transmit
sound.

Stage 1: Desired Results

Big Question (link to the real world)
How does sound travel through solids? How has this concept affected our lives?
Ontario Curriculum Overall Expectation
2. Investigate the characteristics and properties of light and sound
3. Demonstrate an understanding of light and sound as forms of energy that have specific characteristics and
properties.
Ontario Curriculum Specific Expectation
- 2.3 Investigate the basis properties of sound (conduct an experiment to show that sound can be transmitted
through solids)
- 2.4 Use technological problem-solving skills to design, build and test a device that makes use of the properties
of light or sound (a paper-cup telephone)
- 3.4 Describe properties of sound - sound travels, sound can be transmitted through solids, sound is affected by
volume.
Key Concepts and/or skills to be learned/applied: Prior Knowledge Activation:
- How sound is transmitted through solids - How sound is transmitted through different
- How inventions can be built upon throughout mediums
the years - How the tightness of a wire/string can affect how
sound travels
Stage 2: Planning learning experience and instruction
Learning Goals: “clearly identify what students are expected Instructional Strategies: See Chapter 6 Gregory and
to know and be able to do, in language that students can Chapman, Beyond Monet PDF, Wees “56 different
readily understand.” examples of formative assessment”.
Success criteria: “describe in specific terms what successful
attainment of the learning goals looks like” (Growing
Success p. 33).
Learning Goals: Demonstration of the paper cup phones and modeling
- Students will learn how sound transmits how they should be used. Showing how the string is tied
through solids inside to keep it secure.
Success Criteria:
- Students will be able to explain how the paper Pictures to show the phone from 1876 compared to a
cup telephones worked. modern day phone to make a real-life connection.

Materials/Student Groupings Differentiation

- two paper cups a group Most students are encouraged to complete
- one string a group questions 1, 2, and 4 of the worksheet first.
 - different types of solid materials used as string Those wishing to add a written explanation to
(yarn) question 2 may do so but just drawing a picture
- pencils will suffice.
Students who have completed the exercise with
- whiteboard
the string will be asked to fill out the worksheet.
- dry erase marker After finishing they can continue the experiment
- Two students in a group with another material, such as yarn. This is an
extension.
Assessment For Learning, Checking for Understanding & Feedback
Students will fill out a worksheet at the end of the class to demonstrate their understanding of the experiment
and the way that light travels. They will draw a sad, happy or neutral face at the end to show the teacher how
confident they felt about their knowledge of sound transmitting through solids. This will also the teacher to talk
with students who a) drew a sad face or b) drew a happy face but from their work are clearly not understanding.
This is also a helpful tool to have in their portfolio to show their parents.
Stage 3: Learning Activity
Motivational Hook (5 MINS.):
*Write on the board*

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson invented the first telephone.

1971 - The first video game is released.

1983 - Researches begin to develop the Internet

The first image that you’re seeing is the very first telephone that was invented. This phone was hooked up with
wires. Sound traveled through the wires. The second phone is a wireless iPhone. Both can complete calls, but
the iPhone, most would agree, is far superior, because with it you can access the Internet, listen to music,
make phone calls, and play video games.

Except that the iPhone wouldn’t have been possible without the first phone. During 1876 many people were racing to
create the telephone first, using their knowledge of sound and mechanics. The first video game didn’t come out until
almost 100 years later in an arcade, which wouldn’t have fit in a phone, and they only began developing the Internet in
1983 - it wouldn’t be fully developed until 1990. Now, through a lot of work, those things are all incorporated into the
iPhone, which you can carry in your pocket. These are things that Alexander Graham Bell would never have dreamed
of, and yet they are commonplace in our lives. I’ve talked to many of you, and more than one of you has said you want
to be an inventor. This should be an important thing to think about, because Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the
telephone was huge at the time, and now it has completely changed the way we live our lives.

Open (10 MINS):

Over the last week, you’ve seen the different ways that sound waves travel - through air, through water,
bouncing off items and creating echoes. It travels fastest through solids because a solid is more dense than
water or air.. During a brief presentation by Mr. Payne last Wednesday, you saw how sound could be made by
elastic band, and the volume of the sound was affected by how tight - or taut - the elastic band was and how
thick the elastic band was. In the upcoming experiment, you’ll be building a bit on this idea. Why is this
important? Because we use this concept a lot, especially in those first telephones, which used wires.

Today we’re going to make a version of that very first telephone. It’s not going to be as complex as the first
telephone. Instead you’re going to use two paper cups and a piece of string to see how sound travels across a solid,
just like how sound was transmitted along the wire in the first telephones.

Body (modeling, collaborative work, individual = gradual release of responsibility, synthesis) (15 MINS):
*Demonstrate using paper cup phone already designed. Make sure to show them that the string is tied inside, and
remind them to put the string through the hole, tie the knot, then do the other side.* In pairs, you’re going to make a
small hole in the bottom of each cup and tie a knot in the string inside each cup. Then one person is going to whisper
into one cup while the other person puts their ear to the other cup and listens for their partner’s voice. Your partner
 should be able to hear your voice through the line, so if you’re yelling you might hurt their ear. If you need to, talk, but
I don’t want to hear any yelling.

*Have the materials distributed and allow them to start working.*

Close (success criteria visited) (10 MINS): Students will fill out their worksheets, focusing on questions 1, 2 and 4.

Stage 4: Reflection
Student Reflection of Learning (metacognition)

Teacher Reflection (WWW/EBI)

L. Radford & T. Hollweck, adapted from "Understanding by Design", Wiggins

and McTighe (2005).

Script:

*Write on the board*

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson invented the first telephone.

1971 - The first video game is released.

1983 - Researches begin to develop the Internet

The first image that you’re seeing is the very first telephone that was invented. This phone was hooked up with wires. Sound
traveled through the wires. The second phone is a wireless iPhone. Both can complete calls, but the iPhone, most
would agree, is far superior, because with it you can access the Internet, listen to music, make phone calls, and play
video games.

Except that the iPhone wouldn’t have been possible without the first phone. During 1876 many people were racing to create
the telephone first, using their knowledge of sound and mechanics. The first video game didn’t come out until almost 100
years later in an arcade, which wouldn’t have fit in a phone, and they only began developing the Internet in 1983 - it wouldn’t
be fully developed until 1990. Now, through a lot of work, those things are all incorporated into the iPhone, which you can
carry in your pocket. These are things that Alexander Graham Bell would never have dreamed of, and yet they are
commonplace in our lives. I’ve talked to many of you, and more than one of you has said you want to be an inventor. This
should be an important thing to think about, because Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone was huge at the
time, and now it has completely changed the way we live our lives.

Over the last week, you’ve seen the different ways that sound waves travel - through air, through water, bouncing off items
and creating echoes. It travels fastest through solids because a solid is more dense than water or air..During a brief
presentation by Mr. Payne last Wednesday, you saw how sound could be made by elastic band, and the volume of the
sound was affected by how tight - or taut - the elastic band was and how thick the elastic band was. In the upcoming
experiment, you’ll be building a bit on this idea. Why is this important? Because we use this concept a lot, especially in
those first telephones, which used wires.

Today we’re going to make a version of that very first telephone. It’s not going to be as complex as the first telephone.
Instead you’re going to use two paper cups and a piece of string to see how sound travels across a solid, just like how sound
was transmitted along the wire in the first telephones. You’re going to punch a hole in the bottom of each cup and tie a knot
in the string inside each cup. Then one person is going to whisper into one cup while the other person puts their ear to the
other cup and listens for their partner’s voice.

*Demonstrate using paper cup phone already designed. Make sure to show them that the string is tied inside, and
remind them to put the string through the hole, tie the knot, then do the other side.* In pairs, you’re going to make a small
hole in the bottom of each cup and tie a knot in the string inside each cup. Then one person is going to whisper into one cup
while the other person puts their ear to the other cup and listens for their partner’s voice. Your partner should be able to hear
your voice through the line, so if you’re yelling you might hurt their ear. If you need to, talk, but I don’t want to hear any
yelling.

*Have the materials distributed and allow them to start working.*

Worksheet:

1.How well did the string telephone work?

2. Where do the sound waves travel in the string telephone?

Draw a picture in the space below and show arrows for where the sound went.

3. What could you do to make the string telephone work better?

4. Do you think you understand how the string telephone works? Draw a smiley face for yes, a sad face for no, and a neutral
face if you’re somewhere in the middle.
Observation Tool:

Observation Log

Date:______________
Expectation:

Subject:____________

Look Fors:

Complete/Thorough

Standard
 Approaching

http://physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae20.cfm

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_sound_lesson02_activity1

http://www.etfoassessment.ca/tools/junior/anecdotal-forms/