Developing a constructivist proposal for primary teachers to teach science process skills: “Extended” simple science experiments (ESSE)

Designing and Implementing of an ESSE: “Sound is a Kind of Energy” sample

When we listen to music loudly, we notice that any material which is in front of the speaker moves. With reference to moving objects by loud sound, we designed “Sound is a kind of energy” experiment which is presented as a sample in this paper. Physical Science Content Standard of “Sound is a kind of energy” experiment is given in Table 2.

Table 2. The goals of science and technology curriculum

Grade	Lesson	Subject	Goals
4-5	Science and technology	Release of Lights and Sounds/ How does sound occur?	S/he produces sound with (different) object (SPS) S/he notices that (different) vibrating objects produce (different) sounds S/he notices that the pitch of the sound can be varied by changing the rate of vibration.
5-8	Science and technology	Release of Lights and Sounds/ Sound	S/he produces sound with musical instruments (SPS) S/he changes the volume of sound on musical instruments (SPS) S/he defines frequency, amplitude, and phase shift S/he defines the relations between frequency, amplitude and phase shift S/he defines sounds that can be varied in pitch and volume S/he produces sounds that can be varied in pitch and volume by musical instruments (SPS) S/he notices that sound is a kind of energy S/he notices that sound energy is transferred in many ways.
6	Science and technology	Light and sound	S/he notices that sound moves in waves S/he defines the interaction of sound waves with matter S/he gives an example about using sound in science and technology S/he defines why sound needs substantial matter for moving

Material: Computer, Computer speaker, A few lentils, Ruler

Phase 1: Engagement (5–10 Min)

First you must call the students attention to “sound is a kind of energy” topic. Breaking a glass by an opera singer using only his/her voice is a very interesting phenomenon. Start with a whole class discussion by asking “Can any opera singer break a glass using his/her voice” based on their prior knowledge (SPS: communicating).
After having the students brainstorm for a couple of minutes in the class, record and list the students' prior knowledge about the concept without attracting the students’ attention. (You will correct the misconception in elaboration phase). Don’t answer your question or students questionsto get the students mentally engaged in the concept and process to be explored.

Phase 2: Explore (15–20 Min)

Have them hypothesize whether sound sways any material or not based on their prior knowledge (SPS: Formulating hypotheses). The students’ hypotheses come about in two types; “We can sway any material with our voice” or “We can’t sway any material with our voice”.
Divide the students into groups of four or five to solve the problem by manipulating materials. Make a copy of Appendix A and deliver them to student teams. Distribute the lentils to student teams. Get the students to start to the experiment in this section to test their hypotheses.
Tell the student teams to lay the speaker-woofer look upside and put the lentils on it and to switch on the volume on their PC (SPS: experimenting). Have them note their observations on worksheets. They will most likely respond that the lentils on the speaker began to jump (SPS: identifying of dependent variables).
Have them note the cause of jumping of lentils on worksheet. (SPS: identifying of independent variables). They will also most likely respond that the lentils began to jump due to intensity of vibration (sound volume) (SPS: designing investigations)
Get the students to turn up the volume on PC and to observe the effect of changing the volume of sound (independent variables) on moving lentils (dependent variables) (SPS: describing relationships between variables). Have them note their observations on worksheets.
Get the students to turn up volume gradually and have them measure the highest altitude jump of lentil in each case (SPS: defining variables operationally). Have them repeat this process five times for accurate results (SPS: acquiring data) and fill in the worksheet (SPS: organizing data in tables).

Figure 1. While a student is measuring altitude of lentil, the other one is writing their findings in data table

Remind the students that a well-organized table also enables the readers to visualize the relationship between dependent and independent variables and helps them draw a graph.
Have them draw a graph according to their results. (However, we all know that primary students and primary prospective teachers are not experienced in drawing graphs. Therefore, we advised them using any spreadsheet software to draw a graph. )
Have the students open spreadsheet software and enter the results into rows and columns as the results appear in the worksheet. Warn the students to choose “a scatter (X-Y)” (and not Line graphic, even though it looks similar. This is the most common error people make). Have the students choose the version which shows points and connects them by smoothed lines. This will convert their highlighted data into a graph (SPS: organizing graphic). Have them draw the graph on worksheet.

Phase 3: Explanation (10–15 Min)

Get the students to explain what they understand from the data table and graph (SPS: communicating). Infact, we expect students to describe the fact that the relationship between two variables is directly proportional to each other. In other words, they must explain the findings as; “when we turn up volume, it increases the altitude of lentil” (SPS: understanding cause and effect relationships).
Encourage and help the students to analyze their findings until correct definitions come out (SPS: analyzing investigations and their data). At the end of this phase, the students must explain the results as: “When examining speaker system and jumping lentils, we can say that speaker converts electrical energy into sound energy and sound energy vibrates lentil. In other words, sound energy is converted into kinetic energy. So, sound is produced by vibrating objects and then sound vibrates lentils. So, the pitch of the sound can be varied by changing the rate of vibration.”

Phase 4: Elaboration (15–20 Min)

Encourage and help the students to illustrate their new understandings (SPS: communicating). For example, you can remind them that sound waves are used for removing stones from kidney (SPS: formulating models). Ask them whether they present various examples.
Have the students to correct their misconceptions which were listed and recorded in engagement phase.
Clarify the misconceptions indicated in literature according to the results such as; “sound moves between particles of matter (in empty space) and then 'bumps into' the next matter particle” and “As sound waves move, the air moves along with them”.

Phase 5: Evaluation (5–10 Min)

In this phase, have the students discuss what they actually did during the activity and ask them (SPS: communicating);

Which types of energy have you learned in this experiment?
How is sound produced? (please use energy conversion)

At the end of the lesson, request the students to investigate and to prepare a report about “how to remove stones with sound waves from kidney” for next lesson.