Teacher:

Subject:
Lesson Duration:
Date:

Miss. MacInnis
Science
50 minutes
April 13, 2016

Science Sound and Vibrations (Full vs Empty glasses)

Lesson Overview:
The purpose of this lesson is to demonstrate to students that vibrations create sound. For example, when you
tap an empty glass, it vibrates. These vibrations create sound waves. If you have one full cup and one empty
cup, the full cup doesnt ring as well as the empty cup. The liquid in the full cup damps down the
vibrations. When you tap a glass with a thin piece of wire laid across the top, the glass vibrates but the
vibrations make the piece of wire vibrate, move up and down, as well. You no longer hear the glass ringing
with such a clear note. We do this to understand how sound waves and vibrations can be absorbed to change
the sound we hear.
Grade 4 Curriculum Outcomes:
GCO;
303-10 relate vibrations to sound production
303-11 compare how vibrations travel differently through air and a variety of solids and liquids
SCO;
303-10 relate vibrations to sound production
303-11 compare how vibrations travel differently through a variety of solids and liquids and through air
Prior Knowledge and Misconceptions
Students have already been introduced to the concept of sound during a 50 minute period.
Materials
- 4 or more glass cups
- Water
- Wooden stick (pencil)
- Handout
- Science duo tang
- Wire
Lesson Components

Teachers Procedure

Students Procedure

ENGAGEMENT (5 minutes)
To begin this lesson, the students
expectations will be communicated
and they will be told that they are
going to be learning about how
sound is produced.

To begin the lesson, the teacher will

explain to students that we continue
to talk about sound and how it is
produced.

Students will practice good

listening skills while remaining
engaged to the topic being
taught.

Student Expectations:
- Good listening
- When the teacher is speaking, the
students are not
- Thumb on desk means they are
willing the share (method has been
practiced throughout the year)
A review of the previously
introduced concepts of sound will
be done.

The teacher will communicate the

expectations of the students
throughout the minilesson.
The teacher will do a review of
slides 1-5 as a review from last day.
Focus Topics:
What is sound?
Purpose of sound?
Sounds are used for the purpose of
communicating a message.
Different types of sound
Person to person
Machine to person
Person to machine

Students will follow the

expectations required of the
throughout the minilesson.
Students are expected to
participate in class review of
sound and answer questions of
prior information when asked.

EXPLORATION (15 minutes)

A Smartboard presentation will be
done focusing on how vibrations
make sound. (Slide 6 +7)
A mini experiment with one piece
of wire and an empty cup will be
done. (Slides 8-12)

The teacher will explain that they

will take an empty glass cup and tap
it with a pencil, then lay a piece of
wire across the top and tap it again.
Before experiment is done, the
teacher will hand out a worksheet
(Appendix A) that asks if the
students think there will be a
difference between the two sounds
produced by tap A and tap B, and
explain why. The teacher will
provide time for the students to fill
out their prediction section.
(On Smartboard slide 9)
The teacher will then tap the empty
cup (tap A) and the class will listen
to the way it rings. The teacher will
discuss with the students about the
sound they hear.
The teacher will then lay a piece of
wire across the top of the glass and
tap again (tap B). Again, the teacher
will discuss with the students about
the sound they hear.
The teacher will instruct the

The students will be quietly

listening to the tapping of the
glasses and participating in
class discussion. There should
be no whispering during this
experiment and no student
should be talking unless called
upon. The classroom needs to
be still and quiet in order to
carefully hear the difference
between the sounds.

students to fill out why they think

the two sounds differ, then an
explanation will be provided.
EXPLANATION (5 minutes)
An explanation of why the glass
with the wire overtop rings
differently will be discussed.

The teacher will explain that when

you tap a glass with a thin piece of
wire laid across the top, the glass
vibrates just like the empty one does
- but the vibrations make the piece
of wire vibrate, move up and down,
as well. You no longer hear the glass
ringing with such a clear note. We
do this to understand how sound
waves and vibrations can be
absorbed to change the sound we
hear.

Here the students will be able

to volunteer their ideas on what
sound they think a cup full of
water will make. The students
will volunteer their ideas using
the thumb method practiced all
year long.

FOCUS QUESTION: What sound

to you think a glass cup full of water
would make?
EXPANSION (15 minutes)
Here is an extension activity to the
first lesson. It stems off of the focus
question what sound to you think
a glass cup full of water would
make?
This activity is done to reinforce to
the students that how full the cup is,
the more sound is absorbed, which
means the lower sound we hear.

The teacher will line the glasses up

next to each other and fill them with
different amounts of water. The first
should have just a little water while
the last should almost full, the ones
in between should have slightly
more than the last.
Hit the glass with the least amount
of water and observe the sound, then
hit the glass with the
most water, which makes the higher
sound?
Hit the other glasses and see what
noise they make, see if you can get a
tune going by hitting the glasses in a
certain order.
The teacher can label the cups as

Again, the students are to be

listening carefully when the
tapping of the glasses occur to
not disturb the sound that the
glass makes. The students and
use their thumb to request and
order of the cups to be tapped.

1,2,3, and 4, and take requests from

the students on what cups to hit in
what order to make a beat.
The teacher will explain that the
fuller the cup, the more sound is
absorbed by the water, therefore
creating a lower sound. The emptier
the cup, the less absorption of the
water, therefore creating a higher
sound.
EVALUATION
For this lesson, the evaluation will
be visual observations to decide if
the students were all participating.
A class list will be used to take note
of who volunteered their
predictions, observations and
explanations, as well as which
students filled out their worksheet.

Accommodations
The activities in this lesson are open ended with the objective to encourage engagement by the students and
full participation. The majority of this lesson is a listening activity, where all students can participate and
explore the idea of sound and state their predications. There is no right and wrong answer for their own
prediction.
There are a number of students who are ESL who will need support during this lesson. These students are;
Jastine, Mateja, Yosef, and Christie.
There are also a number of students who are on PLPs who will need support throughout as well. These
students are;
Daniel K., Jenny, Ava and Breanna.
There is an EA present during this period to provide support in addition to myself.

Lesson Reflection (Teacher)

Was I well prepared? What could I have done differently?
Was I organized? What did I learn that will help me in the future?
Were the students involved? Was I clear in my presentation? Did I pace appropriately?
Did the students demonstrate a clear understanding? Was I open to their questions?
What did the class do? How do I know if they were successful? What should I change for next time?

Were the students responsive to the activities? Were the activities under or above their achievement level