We are surrounded by sound every day of our life, yet it is often taken for granted. Children produce and hear many different sounds throughout any given day of their life. However, do they ever stop to wonder how these sounds are being produced? Young children are often fascinated with the how and why things work. This curiosity will allow children to question and explore how sounds are produced.
This unit was written for first grade students from various racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. This unit was designed with the State of Connecticut Performance Standards in Science and Language Arts for grades K-4 in mind. While this unit was written specifically for first grade, all of the lessons could be modified for grades K-2. This interdisciplinary unit is designed as an introduction to the physics of sound, focusing on how sounds are produced.
This unit includes eight structured lesson plans, which allow children to explore the production of sound through hands-on activities. In order to implement this curriculum it is necessary to understand the physics concepts, which are explored throughout the unit. Therefore all the background knowledge needed to implement this curriculum is included in the unit. In addition, included in the unit is a teacher reading list, student reading list, and bibliography.
(Developed for Science, grade 1; recommended for Science, grade 1)
