Audience
Educators
Grade Levels
Grades 5-8, Informal Education
Subject
Physical Science, Waves, Flight and Aeronautics, Sound
Type
Educator Guides, Lesson Plans / Activities
Here’s a chance for students in grades 6-8 to do real-world, meaningful science. Acting as citizen scientists, students use a free mobile app to collect and submit levels of ambient noise. NASA’s goal is to lower noise pollution from airplanes. Students’ submitted data may be of value to NASA scientists or researchers trying to answer the question “How quiet is quiet enough?” for a sonic boom.
The facilitator guide explains how to participate in the citizen science opportunity, includes background information about NASA’s work reducing aircraft noise and lesson plans or Supporting Science Investigations about sound and waves:
Investigation 1: Good Vibrations–Rotating through learning centers, or stations, students visually and audibly experience how sound is produced by vibrating matter, and how sound wave vibrations travel through various media.
Investigation 2: Making Waves—Students use a free oscilloscope mobile app to view waveforms of different sounds.
NASA’s Lower the Boom Citizen Science Activity (PDF)
Additional student activities can be found here: Good Vibrations
Other activities in this series: