Third grade students are now studying Light and Sound in Science. During this unit, students will understand how energy appears in different forms, including light and sound. This unit gives children opportunities to explore and learn through hands on experiences. More specifically, students will describe how light travels in a straight line until it is absorbed, redirected, reflected or allowed to pass through.
Furthermore, students will be able to explain the relationship between the pitch of a sound, the rate of vibration of the source and factors that affect pitch. The assessment at the end of this unit asks students to apply what they have learned to engineer a new musical instrument. The students will work with a partner to explain how their instrument changes its sound using vocabulary from the unit (pitch, tone, volume, frequency, etc.).
This unit ties seamlessly with our aerospace theme. Students gain a deeper understanding of energy through the electromagnetic spectrum. We discuss how different wavelengths allow us to see different things, specifically galaxies. We observe a Hubble image of multiple galaxies and students have an opportunity to sort them based on color and shape.
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