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Grade 1. In 10 lessons, students solve two problems by using sound to send messages. Module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 1. Module Highlights: In this module, students solve two problems by using sound to send messages. They first solve a problem that occurs on a field trip when students can't hear their teacher's voice calling for them. They model the problem, consider the different types of communication devices people use, and investigate how sound can be generated to better understand the problem and begin to design solutions. They develop two-dimensional designs and build three-dimensional models of sound-making devices and test the models to determine if they can solve the problem as intended. In the end-of-module design challenge, students use what they have learned about engineering design, communication devices, and ways to make sound to design, build, and test a new type of noisemaker that can be used to tell a player where to move in a board game.

This module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Student Readers Available HERE

Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards*
Performance Expectations

• K-2 ETS 1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2 ETS 1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• K-2 ETS 1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
• 1-PS4-1: Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
• 1-PS4-4: Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.

• Sound can make matter vibrate, and vibrating matter can make sound.

• People use a variety of devices to communicate (send and receive information) over long distances.

• A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions.
• Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to clearly understand the problem.
• Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems.

• Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem's solutions to other people.

• Because there is always more than one possible solution to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs.

• Developing and using models
• Designing solutions
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

• Structure and function

Phenomena and Problems Storyline
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Time to Go!
Students ask questions about the situation described to them and identify similar experiences they have had. They model the situation so that they understand it better and use the model results to document what they learned about the problem. They craft a statement of the problem they can return to throughout the module.
Lesson 2: Sending the Message
Students use their prior experiences and a reading to research and categorize ways that people communicate over different distances. They use this information to decide that their solutions should involve a sound that is not a human voice. They individually draft their initial solution ideas.
Lesson 3: Signal Ideas
To help them figure out how to solve the problem, students work together to plan investigations into what makes sound happen.
Lesson 4: Sound Test
Students conduct several investigations to test their ideas about what makes sound happen and to inform their solution design ideas.
Lesson 5: Vibrations and Sound
Students work independently and as a class to summarize their investigation results. They read a story about how musical instruments make sound. They combine these pieces of evidence to answer their question about what makes sound happen: vibrating things like strings and drumheads can make sound.
Lesson 6: Drum Vibrations
Students investigate another pair of instruments for additional ideas on how to design their model solution. They think about how the resultant new information, that sound can make matter vibrate, might be used in their solution design. They draft a new design idea that uses the materials available to them.
Lesson 7: Attention Class
Students set specific goals for their devices. They peer review a partner's solution idea, paying particular attention to what parts will make noise and parts that are important to the device structure. Students research existing noise-making devices to gather information about how device shape relates to making sound. Student pairs decide upon and record their design solution.
Lesson 8: Sounding Off
Student pairs build and test their solutions. They communicate to the class how their device was designed to make sound and their test results.
Design Challenge
Lesson 9: River Crossing, Part 1
Students hear about a new situation in which information needs to be communicated. They work as a class to define the requirements of a solution to the problem. Student pairs decide on a solution plan and build models using materials available to them. Together and individually, they document the evidence they used when selecting materials and designing their device.
Lesson 10: River Crossing, Part 2
Groups of four students test their two devices while playing the River Crossing game. They determine if their devices met the goal of making two different sounds to tell a game player which way to move in the game. These groups of students compare how their devices were designed to make sound, paying particular attention to the shapes of the devices and materials used.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.