How does sound affect us?
Class 6 students examined this simple question through a far-reaching, interdisciplinary project this past semester. Beginning in Science class with Suzanne Zekonis, students studied the properties of waves, such as amplitude, frequency and wavelength. During their lessons, students focused on the two main types of waves: mechanical (sound and water waves) and electromagnetic (light, radio waves, x-rays).
From there, students began to integrate their knowledge into a broad range of studies. Below are some highlights of ways students merged the concept of sound into their everyday classes:
Dance:
In June Anderson’s Dance class, students performed a music-less dance. Using only body percussion and mouth sounds, they moved their bodies in intricate ways, twisting and turning across the Assembly Room. They made noises such as “ah,” “ooh,” and “hiss” in varying tones. They came together, stomping their feet and clapping in a rhythmic tune. For the finale, they crouched down in a horizontal line and created a rippling wave effect by standing in succession and then fell silent. Ms. Anderson explained that she and her students drew on concepts from Science class such as pitch, amplitude, crest and vibration, to develop these movements and noises. She noted that each corner of the room represented the different kinds of sounds: Low frequency/Low amplitude, Low frequency/High amplitude, High frequency/High amplitude and high frequency/low amplitude, and therefore, influenced the sounds students made.
Music:
In the Choral Room, students created original sound scopes inspired by their scientific vocabulary. Using body percussion and “boomwhackers,” (a lightweight, hollow, color-coded plastic tube, tuned to a musical pitch by length) a magnificent melody was created. Each student held two colorful tubes and tapped them on the floor, their chairs and the whiteboard. They stomped their feet and created fast, high tone sounds interspersed with slow, lower tone sounds. When their performance ended, Ms. Anderson commented, “This demonstrates how physical sound can be.”
Art:
Each student constructed her own uniquely designed “Kalimba,” a musical instrument typically made out of wood and metal. Different designs included a tube of lipstick, the New York City skyline, a pineapple and a Christmas tree. After playing their instruments to demonstrate the diverse sounds that could be made, students explained the science behind why this was possible.
Drama:
In the Black Box Theater, students explored the use of sounds, specifically handbells, in Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Bells.” They considered the question “What does the absence of sound mean?” and discussed how the bells in each stanza differed and why. Four groups performed a specific stanza for their classmates using repetition, high and low pitches and handbells of varying frequencies. They noted that through this activity, they discovered Poe’s use of sound in the piece provides the narrative. It begins with lively winter bells, followed by wedding bells and alarms and ends with gloomy, “ghostly” bells.
History/Library:
With guidance from History teacher Lisa Moy, students chose to create a poster, Powerpoint, rap, dance or skit to express their learning in a creative way. They used skills such as synthesizing information, paraphrasing and referring to existing resources to complete a detailed outline for their project. After choosing a historic/geographic/current event, they questioned how it could be connected – through scientific aspects – to other subjects. They used prompts such as “this is similar to…” and “this relates to…” to aid their understanding. For example, in a beautifully illustrated poster, one student chose to connect Moses’ Burning Bush to light/heat waves in Science. In relation to the Arts, she compared it to the importance of lighting in a theater production.
Through this in-depth collaboration, students demonstrated higher-order thinking, thoughtfulness and immense creativity. As their project neared its final days, students shared some of their feedback:
• “Sounds warn you about things, they can tell you what to avoid and what is safe.”
• “Bells remind me of time.”
• “You can create so many different sounds by adjusting something small.”
• “Simple things can make big sounds.”
• “I never think about what makes sound and how it effects our daily lives, but now I do. It was nice to focus on in this project.”
