Sound Science

Sound Science is an article by Aaron J. Sickel, Michele H. Lee, and Enrique M. Pareja about the 5E learning cycle lesson. The article discusses the three important structures of science that teachers must keep in mind when teaching; science content, inquiry processes and skills, and the nature of science. View the visual I created based on this concept. It is crucial to use all three of these teaching methods because one or two is not enough to help students understand science as a human endeavor. The article is about developing a 5E lesson specifically set out to help students understand that sound is produced by vibrating objects. A group of fourth-grade students both in public school classrooms and at a summer science camp take part in this study.

The process begins with Engage. The students are introduced to everyday objects that make sounds, they are asked questions like "What do you think causes these things to make sounds?" This is crucial in revealing common misconceptions and knowledge gaps that the children may have. This is the time when teachers make observations about what the children know about the topic already. At this point the teacher can judge where s/he must start with the lesson, make sure all students have prior background knowledge on essential information and identify gaps in knowledge or misconceptions in order to correct and fill those gaps. The  students are made aware that observations can be collected not only by looking things up, but by using different senses.

Next students explore the topic. Students are equipped with their senses and a science notebook, they are instructed to investigate the cause of the sound. During this lesson the teacher set up different stations so students can observe all different types of sound. They suggested incorporating music and instruments from various cultures. At each station students use their 5 senses to collect data. At each station investigation prompts should be given to keep students on task.

After students create and observe various sounds the class comes together as a group to explain their findings. Students share and consider each others investigations in order to develop a clear explanation. During this time the teacher must prompt students asking how they came up with their findings. This will allow the teacher to assess if the students are understanding the task at hand. This also shows students the importance of collecting data and how their data serves as evidence to their explanation.

Students test their explanations and gather more information to add to their understanding of the topic. In this study, since the students had misconceptions that sound was produced by a force, the teacher introduced the students to sounds not produced by a visible force. The teachers stretched a balloon over a metal can and poured salt onto the balloons surface. They began to place music out of a speaker close to the metal can, the salt began to bounce up and down. The students were able to think back to their previous experiments and explain that the sound is cause by vibrations which is why the salt is "dancing". During the elaborate portion, students develop an understanding how scientist develop and construct explanations from collecting data and having supporting evidence to back up their claim.

Throughout the lesson the teacher should be informally assessing the students. At the end of the lesson, the evaluation portion, students should commit to an explanation about their topic. Teachers should be able to assess for mastery level understanding of the topic at this point.

The article describes a lesson following the 5E steps. The students in the article simultaneously learn science content and do inquiry while learning how scientist construct claims. Teachers must balance lesson goals in a higher attempt to form mastery skill levels for students.