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Saving Notre Dame’s Sound

This guide, based on the Science News article “Saving Notre Dame’s sound,” asks students to explore how scientists resurrect the acoustics of historic places, consider factors that affect how sound behaves to design a room with specific sound requirements, and measure and compare how sound changes in different environments.

A world of acoustics

Students will use decibel meters to understand how the volume of a sound changes as it travels away from a source. Concepts covered include sound waves, the inverse square law, absorption and reflection. The activity also asks students to consider how the characteristics of a space affect the sound.

Designing soundscapes

Drawing on their experiences with how sound behaves in different spaces, students will explore the engineering process by designing and sketching a room to meet specific sound requirements.

Sound science at Notre Dame

Students will answer questions about the Science News article “Saving Notre Dame’s sound,” which explores how scientists resurrect acoustics of historic places.

What’s that smell?

Students will explore how our sense of smell helps us interpret the world around us, and how those interpretations may vary. Students will practice analyzing data and determine how temperature affects vapor pressure and thus the intensity of scents.

2019 Year in Review

This guide, based on the biggest science stories of 2019 as reported by Science News, asks students to read and dissect a story of their choice and practice their summarizing skills. An activity from the Digital Library asks students to analyze and graph data about the moon’s orbit.

How to write a summary

Students will discuss what makes a good summary and practice their summarizing skills. After summarizing an article of their choice, students will share their summaries and get feedback from classmates. This exercise is based on Science News’ Top 10 stories of the year but can be used with any article.

Ten top science stories from 2019

Students will answer questions about one of Science News’ Top 10 stories of 2019.

Lunar orbit

Students will practice analyzing and graphing data about the moon’s orbit. The activity will help students understand the Earth-moon system and the nature of elliptical orbits.

Here Come the (Bigger) Mammals

This guide, based on the Science News article “Here come the (bigger) mammals,” asks students to analyze a graph about a recent fossil find, discuss how organisms evolve as ecosystems change and research important fossil sites across the world.

Growing up mammal

Students will answer questions based on the Science News article “Here come the (bigger) mammals.”

Do not disturb

Students will explore the immediate and long-term effects of specific environmental disturbances, including how energy enters or leaves an ecosystem, how the biotic and abiotic characteristics of the ecosystem change and how organisms evolve under the new conditions.