Sound Unit Impossible Questions?

When the teacher researched and organized activities that would allow students to answer their questions there were some that seemed trivial and other impossible.

The teacher decided that questions that were though to be impossible or impractical to answer in an elementary classroom would be thrown back to the students for possible refinement of the question or suggestions of how to answer them.

For example: students asked how fast does sound travel?

I thought, "Oh great get the stop watches and computers to measure this one".

However, when I turned it back to the students they decided to design an experiment to see if light or sound were faster. They took a power strip with multiple sockets and an on/off switch, plugged a light and instant-on radio into it and turned them on at the same time. Inside not much difference. Solution go outside, increase the distance. Eventually across the football field and satisfaction.

This experiment took a lot longer to complete than described above. The students did not think of a power strip or an instant on radio when they started. Neither did they increase the distance in one big jump. It took them many attempts and sometimes overnight before they over came some of their unsuccessful attempts.

This activity was not planned and therefore was not included in the unit plan.

Dr. Robert Sweetland's Notes ©