Grade 4 Lets Curiosity Drive Sound Science Project

In the Lower School, students often take photos or record videos and upload them to their Seesaw accounts – tracking their progress and sharing with their parents and teachers. Grade 4 students, however, noticed that there wasn’t a quiet place to record their videos, and took it upon themselves to find a solution. 

At Mount Vernon, curiosity drives learning. These students asked themselves, how might we use our information about sound and how we interact with it to enhance our learning environment?

Throughout this project, students studied how sound is created, transferred, and processed. As part of this learning, they also explored how it can be altered and mitigated. The culmination of this research will be student-designed and built sound booths to use while recording. 

This learning experience took students to many different locations to explore and wander. At school, they took their classroom learning one step further in the Science Lab, looking at how sound has an impact on our physiological, psychological, behavioural, and cognitive wellbeing. They also took a deep dive into the science of sound by exploring the form and function of the human ear. 

Across campus and during Chapel services, students recorded decibels. They visited the Upper School Recording Studio where they explored how background noise can be cancelled out. 

Taking their learning into the real world, grade 4 also took expeditions, both to Meta Music and Reach Records. They were taught the ins and outs of designing multiple sound-proofed recording studios, what materials are best to use, and the different types of software used.

As they continue on with this project, they will iterate and prototype their sound booths, collecting feedback and making changes as they go, until they reach their final destination. 

As a School, we are called to expand learning beyond the walls of the classroom, connecting and partnering with a variety of communities and settings for authentic exploration, experimentation, and impact, and that’s exactly what this project did for these grade 4 students. 

We can’t wait to see the final product – stay tuned!