Sound Waves Activities for Middle School Science

The Kesler Science Sound Waves Complete 5E Lesson provides everything you need to teach an engaging, multi-day lesson on sound waves with minimal prep. This lesson allows for student-led learning, giving your junior high students the opportunity to explore key questions such as "What is sound?" and "How do sound waves travel?" while covering important concepts like the Doppler effect and how physical properties of a medium affect sound.

The lesson includes differentiated materials, multimodal learning options, and flexible formats for both printable and digital use. Editable PowerPoints and Spanish translations make it easy to customize the content for your classroom's needs. The 5E Model ensures a comprehensive approach through Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation stages, helping students master the topic.

With nine student-led stations, the Exploration phase offers a variety of interactive methods such as hands-on demos, readings, research, and videos. The Elaboration phase includes student-choice projects to extend learning, while the Evaluation phase provides updated assessments and review questions for further reinforcement.

The Kesler Science Sound Waves Station Lab is a modular, student-led activity designed to engage middle school students while teaching them about sound waves. The lab includes a variety of activities that help students explore how sound waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through different materials, providing a hands-on and interactive learning experience.

This station lab is differentiated to accommodate various learning styles and needs. It consists of eight core stations and a bonus challenge station for early finishers. Students can complete the stations independently or in small groups, with the teacher facilitating rather than directing the learning. 

The stations cover multiple learning formats, including hands-on activities, reading, research, video watching, and writing. From exploring sound waves through interactive demonstrations to creating models and responding to prompts, students are able to show their understanding in diverse ways. The stations are suitable for both in-person and virtual learning environments.

The Kesler Science Sound Waves Student Choice Projects provide middle school students with the opportunity to choose how they demonstrate their understanding of sound waves. The project page offers six different options, plus a “design your own” choice, allowing students to take ownership of their learning.

With a flexible grading rubric, the projects can be assessed by teachers, peers, or the students themselves. Teachers can easily modify the rubric to meet their grading needs, ensuring it works for a variety of students. The projects include multimodal choices, catering to diverse learning styles and interests.

For differentiated learning, there are two versions of the project page. The modified version supports students needing remediation, while advanced learners can combine projects for added challenges. Many projects require just basic classroom materials, and several can be done digitally, making them easy to integrate into both traditional and virtual learning environments.

The Kesler Science Energy Interactive Notebook Bundle offers an engaging way to teach energy concepts with both print and digital options. It’s perfect for traditional classrooms, 1:1 environments, or distance learning, providing flexibility for teachers and students alike.

Topics include conduction, convection, and radiation, energy transformations, renewable and nonrenewable resources, photosynthesis, potential and kinetic energy, and more. The digital version features a unique interactive notebook PowerPoint, compatibility with Google Slides, reflection pages, teacher answer keys, and a modified version for accommodations. The paper version includes blank templates, pre-filled templates for modified needs, and visual guides for assembly.

This bundle ensures students can actively participate in learning energy concepts while offering teachers versatile tools for instruction and assessment in any learning environment.