Science Assessment

Students should know that:

1. A vibrating object (such as a guitar string, a drum, or a tuning fork) can transfer energy to another object by producing sound that travels through a material such as air, water, or another solid object between the two objects.
2. A medium (solid, liquid, or gas) is required in order to transfer energy by sound.  Sound cannot travel through empty space (a vacuum).
3. In a given medium, the amount of energy that is transferred by sound is related to the loudness and pitch (how high or low the sound is) of the sound.  The louder the sound, the greater the amount of energy transferred; the higher the pitch, the less the amount of energy transferred.
4. The amount of energy that can be transferred by sound decreases the farther away the source of the sound is from the receiver.
5. The amount of energy that can be transferred by sound increases the greater the size of the receiver.
6. When energy is transferred to a receiver by sound, the receiver gains energy and, as a result, its motion or temperature may change.  This gain in energy may be difficult to detect.
7. A vibrating object that transfers energy by sound needs a continuous input of energy to keep it vibrating. Otherwise, the vibrations slow down until the vibration stops and no more energy is transferred.

Boundaries:

1. Assessment items are limited to one vibrating object producing a sound wave.
2. Contexts used in items are limited to audible sound.
3. At this level, students are not assessed on the idea that when sound passes through a medium, the temporary displacement of matter in the medium is a sound wave.
4. At this level, students are not assessed on the relationship between the properties of sound waves and sound. For example, they are not expected to know that loudness depends on the amplitude of the sound wave or that pitch depends on both amplitude and frequency. These ideas are covered by the advanced idea.