year 4 – science - sound...you could use the science of sound activity sheet (science tasks...

Year 4 – Science - Sound

Activity 1 - Vibrations - Page 2Activity 2 – How do we hear? - Page 8

Activity 3 – Loud and quiet sounds - Page 15Activity 4 - Pitch - Page 21

Activity 5 – Pitch Optional Challenge – Page 30 Activity 6 - Quiz - Page 33

What is Sound?Discuss with your family or think about what you already

know using the questions below as prompts.

What is Sound?

Watch this clip to see to see how the different families of musical instrument create different sounds.https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zqtxpv4

How do the musical instruments make sounds?

Think of some words you could use to explain this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zqtxpv4

What is Sound?

Did you come up with some words to explain how the musical instruments make sounds?

Look at the words below. Did you choose any of these words?

VibrationVibrate Twang Blow

ScrapeBang Shake Pluck

VibrationsAll the instruments are played in different ways, but they all have something in common. They all create sounds by vibrating.

But what is a vibration?

The balafon and the bongos make sounds when they are hit or banged, causing the blocks or the skin to vibrate.

The pan pipes and horn are filled with air, which vibrates when they are blown.

The strings of the guitar and the gopichand vibrate when they are plucked.

VibrationsWe can see and feel vibrations whenever sounds are

made.

Gently place your hand on your throat.

Say ‘Ah!’

Can you feel the vibrations from your vocal cords?

Ahh

Sound SurveyAround your home or on your daily walk there are lots of different sounds. Some places will be noisy, whereas some places will be quiet. The loudness of the different places will even change throughout the day!

You are going to carry out a sound survey of your home or local area to find which places are noisy and which are quiet at different times of day.

You may decide to rate each place out of 5, with 5 being very noisy and 0 being totally silent.

(Science Tasks Document page 1)

What did you learn about in activity 1?

What did you learn about in activity 1?

We know that vibrations create sounds but how do we hear these sounds?

Watch this video to find out more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/music--science-ks2-what-is-sound/zbnmhbk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/music--science-ks2-what-is-sound/zbnmhbk

How sound is made?

Sound is caused by vibration. Vibration means wobbling very quickly back and forth. When you pluck a guitar string, or hit a drumskin, you can see the material vibrate. This causes the air touching the string to vibrate, which causes air further away to vibrate, which

causes the air near your ear to vibrate, which your brain experiences as sound.

The moving vibration is called a sound wave.

How our ears workWhen a sound wave reaches our ear, our outer ear (the part that we

can see on the side of our heads) funnels the sound into our heads

down the ear canal. At the end of the ear canal is the eardrum,

which is waterproof and airtight. Past the ear canal is the middle

ear. Inside the middle ear are the hammer, anvil and stirrup (the

three smallest bones in the body) which vibrate and pass the sound

waves to the inner ear, which contains the cochlea, which turns the

vibrations into electrical signals. These signals travel down the

auditory nerve to the brain, which experiences the signal as sound.

Activity 2

Using the information on the slides and the video, create an explanation text showing how we hear things. You could use the sheet (Science Tasks Document page 2-3) For an

extra challenge, try drawing some of your own diagrams and writing some of your own descriptions.

VibrationsWe know that sounds are made when something vibrates.

What is vibrating in each of these pictures to make a sound?

Loud and quiet soundsWatch this clip to see if you can identify

how different sounds travel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z9h6n39

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z9h6n39

Loud and Quiet

The louder the sound, the bigger the vibration. In the video, you should have noticed that the polystyrene balls vibrated more when she hit the drum harder, creating a louder sound.

The size of the vibration is called the amplitude.

Quieter sounds have a smaller amplitude, and louder sounds have a bigger amplitude.

How Does Sound Travel?Sound can travel through solids, liquids and gases.

Sound travels as a wave, vibrating the particles in the medium it is travelling in.

So in our example, when she hit the drum, the drum skin vibrated. This made the air particles closest to the drum start to vibrate as well. The vibrations then passed to the next air particle, then the next, then the next. This carried on until the air particles closest to your ear vibrated, passing the vibrations into your ear.

Hearing SoundsOnce in your ear, the vibrations travel into the ear canal until they reach the eardrum. The eardrum passes the vibrations through the middle ear bones (the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup) into the inner ear. The inner ear is shaped like a snail and is called the cochlea. Inside the cochlea, there are thousands of tiny hair cells. Hair cells change the vibrations into electrical signals that are sent to the brain through the hearing nerve. The brain tells you that you are hearing a sound and what that sound is.

The Science of Sound Activity

Use the ideas you saw in the clip, or your own ideas to come up with your own way of explaining how different sounds travel for the programme.

You could use The Science of Sound Activity Sheet (Science Tasks Document page 4) to plan your ideas and then practise what you will do and say. Make sure your explanations are clear and easy for children to understand. Have fun and get into character!

Different SoundsSounds can be loud or quiet. Bigger vibrations make louder sounds, and

smaller vibrations make quieter sounds.

There are other ways sounds can be different.

Can you make a high sound? How about a low sound?

Different SoundsHigh and low are words to describe the pitch of a sound.

The pitch of a sound is different to the amplitude.

Amplitude is a measure of how loud or quiet a sound is, and pitch is a measure of how high or low a sound is.

High sounds can be quiet or loud, and low sounds can be quiet or loud too!

Amplitude

Pitch

Different SoundsWatch this clip to see if you can hear and identify how different musical instruments create different

sounds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zsqw2hv

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zsqw2hv

Changing PitchWatch this clip explaining how the pitch of a sound can be changed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/ztptsbk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/ztptsbk

Changing PitchOn a string instrument, there are several ways to change the pitch.

The tighter, thinner or shorter the string is, the higher pitched the sound will be and the looser, thicker or longer the string is, the lower the sound will

be.

Faster vibrations will make a sound higher, and slower vibrations will make a sound lower.

The ways of changing the strings all change the vibrations, which in turn change the pitch of the sound.

Changing PitchOn a wind instrument, the column of air inside the instrument is what vibrates to cause the sound.

Shortening the column of air will create a higher sound, and lengthening the column of air will create a lower

sound.

This can be done with a sliding mechanism, such as in a trombone.

The length of the column of air can be changed by opening or closing holes in the side of the tube, such as in a

recorder.

Changing PitchIn a percussion instrument, the surface or object that is struck is the thing that vibrates to create the sound.

A thinner skin will make a higher pitched sound and a thicker skin will make a lower pitched sound.

In a drum, the tighter the skin, the higher the pitch will be.

There may be different instruments of different sizes. For example, when playing hand bells the musician will have a set of bells to play. The smaller the bell, the higher the pitch. The larger the bell, the lower the pitch.

There may be a series of different length bars or keys, such as in a xylophone. The shorter the bar or key, the higher the pitch will be.

The pitch of a percussion instrument can be changed in different ways.

Changing PitchDo you notice anything in common with how the different instruments create sounds of different pitches?

Generally, the shorter, tighter or thinner the object is, the higher the pitch of the sound

will be. This is because the vibrations will be faster. The longer, looser or thicker the object is, the lower the pitch of the sound will be. This is because the vibrations will be slower.

Pitch Investigation Activity

Look at the investigation. (Science Tasks Document page 5.

Can a straw produce different sounds?

Pan Pipes ChallengeYour challenge is to create a set of pan pipes that will create sounds of different pitches, and explain how to

change the pitch.

You will use straws, scissors, sticky tape and string to make the pan pipes.

Pan Pipes ChallengeFlatten the end 2cm of each straw, and cut a triangle in

the end, like this.

Place the triangular end of the straw in your mouth and blow hard through the straw to make a sound. You may

have to try few times to make the sound!

Use several straws to make your set of pan pipes. Stick or tie them together. Think about what you have learnt in

order to make each straw make a different pitched sound.

Pan Pipes Challenge

Draw a picture of your set of pan pipes and explain how you can create sounds of different pitches on your Straw Pan Pipes Activity Sheet. (Science Tasks Document page 6)

Sound Quiz

https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/science/sound/

Visit the website to complete the quiz or follow the next pages on the teaching slide to view the same questions.

Don’t worry if you aren’t sure of an answer. You could research it and the correct answers are revealed.

https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/science/sound/

Science Edition

Sound

When something vibrates quixkly, it makes high frequency waves. You hear this as what kind of sound?

A A high pitch B A low pitch

C A medium pitch D A G sharp

What unit is sound frequency measured in?

A amps B joules

C hertz D heinz

Which musical instruments produce lower pitches?

AShorter and thinner B

Larger or thicker

C brass D woodwind

Which travels fastest, light or sounds?

A light BThey are the same

C sound D Sometimes sound

Sound waves can be reflected, tranmitted or what else?

A bounced B deflected

C transcriped D absorbed

What can sound travel through?

A air B water

C walls D All of these

Sound waves can be reflected off solid objects. When this happens, what do we hear?

A music B An echo

C thunder D No sound

Which unit is the intensity (loudness) of a sound measured in?

A decibels B crucibles

C multiples D degrees

When a sound wave hits your ear, it makes the air in your ear vibrate. These vibrations cause what part of your body

to vibrate?

AYour auditory nerve B

Your ear drum

C Your aorta D Your retina

Why does a guitar produce a lower pitch when you do not press any fingers against a string while plucking?

AA shorter string produces a lower pitch

BA shorter string produces a louder sound

CA longer string produces a lower pitch D

A longer string produces a higher pitch

year 4 – science - sound...you could use the science of sound activity sheet (science tasks...

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