Energy and Its Forms

Dancing Sprinkles

energy and its forms

Duration: 30 minutes

Notes / Activity

Exploration activity
  1. Making sprinkles move without touching them 

1-PS4-1. Plan and conduct investigations (Tuning fork to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate).  

By the end of this lesson, the student should able to:

  • demonstrate how something can move by using sound
  • State that sound can cause materials to vibrate

Lesson Plan

Lesson Introduction – Engage

Duration: 5 min
  • 4 or 5 Small cup, bowl or container (depending on the number of groups)
  • Plastic cling wrap 
  • Rubber bands that fits tightly around the cup / bowl / container
  • Colored sprinkles
  • Towel, paper for clean up
  • Welcome students to class and show them the membrane.
  • Sprinkle some sprinkles onto the membrane. 
  • Challenge students by making the sprinkles move only by using sound. They are not allowed to touch the sprinkles. Container or the table. 
  • Allow students to talk to their group and brainstorm ideas for a few minutes. Get them to explain and share their ideas. 

Explore

Duration: 25 min
  • In their groups, have students make their own membrane with the bowls, rubber band and sprinkles. 
  • Get students to test their ideas by sprinkling the sprinkles onto the plastic wrap. 
  • Encourage students to work as a team. They need to ensure that they may exhale and blow on the sprinkles which make them move and that does not count as moving the sprinkles with sound.

Elicit from students

What kind of sounds will you make?

 

What did you observe? 

 

Did you manage to make the sprinkles move with sound? 

 

  • For groups who are successful in getting the sprinkles to move, have them share their ideas with the class. Have the groups to test and explore again.

Lesson Closure

Duration: 5 min
  • Get students to explain their observations from the test.
  • Elicit from students:
  •  

What did you see when you made a sound to the container? (The sprinkles jumped up and down)

 

Why do you think this happened? (Sound made the plastic vibrate which made the sprinkles bounce.)

 

< Back