Sound

Lesson: Science

Year 6 are starting to explore how sound is created, how it travels and how we hear it.  We began the unit trying to see how sound is measured using a decibel meter.  In doing so, we learned that as sound gets louder it becomes more difficult to produce a higher reading on the decibel meter.  We then investigated how our bodies have learned to sense sound and how we are able to orientate ourselves to objects or people that make sound.  In order to gain hands on experience, 8 different experiments were designed to investigate how sound is made, how it travels and how we can use scientific methods to study it.  The class carried out controlled observations, interpreted graphs and calculated averages for some of their tests.  

In our second week, we have designed and carried out two tests to investigate sound.  In our first test, we investigated how energy can affect the amount of noise that an object makes.  We dropped an object onto a surface and measured how much noise it made.  We then measure how the noise levels changed when we dropped the object from different heights.  In our second test, we tested the affect that distance has on sound.  We used a drum to record a level and then measured how much noise it made at different distances away from our measuring equipment.

We hope to learn more about sound in the coming weeks.