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Sound Map

When sketching songs, sirens, and other sounds, students will sharpen their observations and interpretations of the environment around them. A sound map helps us become more aware of the sounds in our environment. It's a fun way to record observations and compare our environments.

Sound is all about vibrations.

The source of a sound vibrates, bumping into nearby air molecules which in turn bump into their neighbours, and so forth. This results in a wave of vibrations travelling through the air to the eardrum, which in turn also vibrates.

What the sound wave will sound like when it reaches your ear depends on a number of things:

  • the medium it travels through
  • the strength of the initial vibration.
  • the "creator" of the sound: it is natural? artificial? mechanical?

This is a recommended pre-visit activity to Science World.

Objectives

  • Observe and interpret sounds from their local environment.

  • Classify sounds as natural or artificial.

Materials

  • Per Student:
    paper and drawing materials
    indoor or outdoor space

Key Questions

  • Which sounds are produced by humans and which are natural sounds? Can you/How can you tell?
  • Did you hear the same things as your partner?

What To Do

  1. Spread the students out around the space you’re using.
  2. Have each student mark an X in the middle of their paper to indicate where they’re sitting.
  3. Set a timer for five minutes. During this time, no talking!
  4. Students record the sounds they hear around them, drawing or describing on their paper where the sounds are coming from. They can use doodles to represent the sounds, or short words or letters.
  5. Have the students work with a partner and compare “maps”.

Extensions

  • What do you think the environment would sound like if there were no people around?
  • Draw a sound map that takes out any human-associated noise.

Other Resources

Science World | YouTube | Sound

Science World | YouTube| The Sound Show

French version of this resource | Carte sonore

About the sticker

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

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Artist: Ty Dale

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.