Sounds Like Fun!: Seeing Animal Sounds
Science Topic: Sound
Engineering Field: Acoustical Engineering
Country: Ghana
Storybook: Kwame's Sound
This unit brings new levels of excitement and depth to traditional sound units, reinforcing basic concepts while introducing students to the field of acoustical engineering. The storybook "Kwame's Sound," introduces Kwame, a young, blind drummer from Ghana. Kwame's father, an acoustical engineer, brings Kwame into the forest, where he hears the elephants that are currently the subjects of his father's work. Kwame's father introduces him to the possibility of visually or tactilely representing sound.
The storybook and the unit lessons reinforce the idea that sound is vibration, and the properties of sound include volume and pitch. Students will investigate ways to damp sound, and then will focus on developing a visualization of sound in a way that captures its key elements and communicates the sound clearly to others.
FOSS Connection: Physics of Sound
STC Connection: Sound
Insights Connection: Sound
