Palo Alto Unified School District — Science OnLine Guide
for Teachers
Sound
3rd Grade Physical Science Unit |
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General Information
The Sound unit is a Full Option Science System (FOSS)
kit created by the
Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley. It is published by Britannica.
In this unit students are expected to
- Observe and compare sounds to develop discrimination ability.
- Communicate with others using a "drop code."
- Learn that sound originates from a source that is vibrating and is detected at a receiver such as the human ear.
- Observe and compare how sound travels through solids, liquids, and air.
- Understand the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the physical properties of the sound source (i.e. length of vibrating object, frequency of the vibrations, or tension of vibrating string).
- Compare methods to amplify sound at the source and at the receiver.
- Use knowledge of the physics of sound to solve simple sound challenges.
- Acquire the vocabulary associated with the physics of sound.
- Exercise language and math skills in the context of the physics of sound.
- Develop and refine the manipulative skills required for investigating sound.
- Collaborate in working on mini-activities.
- Gain experiences that will contribute to their understanding of several pervasive themes that relate one scientific idea to another: Pattern, Structure, and Interaction.
