Okay 6th graders, what is sound anyway? They brainstormed. They took a pretest. (They will laugh SO HARD when I show them their pretest answers/drawings/reasonings at the end of the unit. Ha!)
They know that sound and light are forms of energy.
We gather around the CART of SCIENCE.
Question 1: Kids, what will happen to this salt when I shine light energy on it? They predict, then I shine the light. Hmmm. Nothing happened. Light is energy, though, so what’s it doing??? Hmmm.
Question 2: What will happen to this salt if I send sound energy towards it? They predict. I pull out my big megaphone and position it near the salt. I push the button and send a high pitched and loud sound at the salt….and the salt goes crazy. The kids eyes are about THIS big. Next I scream/sing into the megaphone “DANCE SALT DANCE, AHHHHH.” The kids take turns doing the same. 6th hour piped up and suggested the ENTIRE class scream/sing at the salt at the same time. They wondered what would happen. Here is the result. (1 min. 10 seconds)