11 Defining sounds
What kind of animal do you hear?
Cost: Varies Difficulty: Low Time: less than an Hour Continuous: Yes
Summary:
Playing a game such as “what do you hear?” is an easy way to develop students’ critical thinking skills as well as their ability to recall sounds and experiences. This activity also helps students describe what they hear, form a hypothesis, and explain how sound works. Also try the Laurel/Yanny Experiment at the end of this section.
ELO’s – Understanding sound waves, pitch, how the difference in pitch affects what we hear, understanding & reasoning, observation, discussion, building a hypothesis, critical thinking.
Supplies needed: A computer or something that can play sounds such as an mp3 player with speakers (the quality of your speakers may affect what can be heard), paper, and pencil.
Activity
- 1) Play different sounds. Have the students document what they think they
- 2) Even if the student is unfamiliar with what kind of sound they heard, they should make a guess (hypothesis) based on their own experience (what they know). For example, most students have heard a bird chirp or maybe a cat Does the sound they heard sound similar to that or different? Use process of elimination to figure it out.
Yanny, or Laurel?
- Explain to the students the next sound they hear will be a Have the students write down the name they hear.
- Play the Laurel/Yanny audio
- Have the students write down what they thought they
- Have students raise their hand if they heard the name “Laurel” or “Yanny”
Discussion
Science explains that depending upon if you can hear more high frequencies or low frequencies will determine which name you will hear. Wired posted a very good video regarding this on YouTube.
Neuroscientist Explains the Laurel vs. Yanny Phenomenon | WIRED