In this activity, students play different kinds of sounds near a computer’s microphone and watch the resulting visual display created by oscilloscope software.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- relate the visual display to each sound played
- appreciate the complexity of amplitudes and frequencies within real sounds.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
- introduction/background notes
- instructions on what you need and what to do
- discussion questions
- extension ideas.
Related content
In this activity, students make a hydrophone and use it to listen to underwater sounds.
The article Sound – understanding standing waves will help students name the types of sound waves they see displayed.
