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Finletter Elementary School, Philadelphia School District January 27, 2003 Marjorie Trapp's second graders are studying sound, and on this day, we were able to observe them as they studied the types of sounds that can be created with simple objects. Using some activities from STC's Sound kit, the students learned to manipulate and predict different types of sounds.
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Marjorie's students gain exposure to the term "pitch" and then discover the difference between "high" and "low" pitched sounds.
For the first musical activity, Marjorie distributes wooden tongue depressors, which the students hold hard against the edges of their desks and pluck to make different sounds. |
These students are making sounds of their own and getting interested in what others are doing as well.
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For the next part of the investigation, Marjorie helps her students use a new tool: a small plastic cup, with a string pulled through the bottom and a paper clip inside to secure the string. The students hold one end of the string to the floor with a foot, and pluck the string with their fingers and listen through the cup (and without the cup). Testing different places on the string, and with different lengths of string, produces different results. Marjorie encourages them to listen closely and wonder why this is happening.
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These students worked together to find out what different types of sounds they could create.
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It's surprising to learn how amplified the sound can get when the cup is put right up to the ear. Fun!
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| Many thanks to Marjorie for allowing us to visit her active classroom filled with curious investigators. We hope they continue to enjoy and learn from the rest of their sound investigations. |
