Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Describing Sound

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

• focus on the physical aspect of the transmission of sound
• build a source–medium–detector model
• put the source–medium–detector model to use
• make connections with travelling electromagnetic vibrations
• connect vibrating objects to travelling vibrations
• connect hearing to the source–medium–detector model

Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.

Focusing on the physics:

Representing–noticing–recording. How to:

• draw the spread of the vibrations
• describe and make real the to and fro vibrations
• prepare the ground for frequency and amplitude being the fundamental characteristics
• draw vibrating objects
• unify a wide range of experiences with a single model

Teacher Tip: Connecting what is experienced with what is written and drawn is essential to making sense of the connections between the theoretical world of physics and the lived-in world of the children. Don't forget to exemplify this action.