*+Unit+Overview

** Unit Overview **

This group of 7 lessons is designed to introduce grade 4 students to the science of sound. Students will learn how sounds are created, transmitted, and received through discovery approach learning and will be lead to a greater understanding of the sound rich world in which they live. Essential skills such as investigating, inquiring, discussing, observing, inferring, measuring, researching and creating will be developed throughout this unit, making it an important unit to teach. By integrating other subjects such as Music, Art, Social Studies, and Health, these lessons touch upon a variety of other curricular outcomes and make the lessons diverse and stimulating for the students.

This unit will take approximately 7 weeks to complete as each lesson is roughly 60 minutes long, intended for two 30 minute classes per week. As outlined in New Brunswick’s curriculum map, this unit will be covered in Science through the months of March and April and covers the following curriculum outcomes; 3A (1-2) Objects that Make Sound, 3B (1-2) Sound Vibrations, 3C (1-7) Pitch, Loudness, and Sound Technology, 3D (1-7) The Ear, Hearing Loss and Noise Pollution. Students will be assessed formatively through an ongoing Science Journal that they will work on throughout the unit which will include observations as well as responses to questions given in class. As a summative assessment, students will submit a final report about the “Think Tank” experience (lesson 7) on the process of creating and designing a musical instrument.


 * **Name of Lesson** || **NB Curriculum Standards** ||
 * 1. Sounds Good! || • Introduction to unit ||
 * 2. What Makes Sound? || * Identify objects by the sounds they make (303-9)
 * Relate vibrations to sound production (303-10) ||
 * 3. How Do Sound Waves Travel? || * Relate vibrations to sound production (303-10)
 * Compare how vibrations travel differently through a variety of solids and liquids and through air (303-11) ||
 * 4. How Do Your Ears Catch Sound Waves? || * Describe examples of sound technologies that are used by people to meet their everyday needs (107-1)
 * Describe and illustrate how the human ear is designed to detect vibrations (300-3) ||
 * 5. What Makes Sounds Soft or Loud, High or Low? || * Identify and rephrase questions about ways to change pitch and loudness in a testable form (104-6, 204-1, 204-2)
 * State a prediction and hypothesis about the effect a modification will have on the pitch and loudness of the sound produced, based on the pattern of sounds produced (204-3)
 * Demonstrate and describe how the pitch and loudness of sounds can be modified (301-3) ||
 * 6. Is Sound Used All Around Us? || * Identify objects by the sounds they make (303-9)
 * Identify and use a variety of sources and technologies to gather pertinent information about Canadians who have contributed to sound technology (107-12, 205-8) ||
 * 7. Think Tank || * Relate vibrations to sound production (303-10)
 * Demonstrate and describe how the pitch and loudness of sounds can be modified (301-3)
 * Demonstrate processes for solving technological problems by designing and constructing a device which has the ability to create sounds of variable pitch and loudness (104-1, 205-2)
 * Evaluate personally constructed musical devices with respect to their ability to vary their pitch and loudness (206-7) ||