The Physics of Music

I. Briefly review the project form. Discuss the project theme, outline and time line; review the project and curriculum objectives.

In this project students will develop an interactive online resource for use with the Newfoundland first year physics curriculum that describes music as a physical phenomena.

Project Outline:

  1. Introduce "The Physics of Music" during physics class.
  2. Assign topics and give job descriptions to each student based upon his/her strengths and weaknesses.
  3. Each student will be given two classes to research and develop a first draft of their topic for submission to teacher. Each submission must include a minimum of four sources of information.
  4. Teacher collects, evaluates and makes notes for improvements to student on the first draft.
  5. Students use first draft comments to produce a final print copy (completed and saved using word processing software) for evaluation by teacher.
  6. Students present their topics to their peers as an oral presentation to the class. This will be video taped in case students feel clips from their presentation may enhance their web pages.
  7. Students receive instruction on Basic HTML and will be given a tutorial in print form.
  8. Students receive instruction on proper page layout and receive print materials on the topic.
  9. Students convert final copy of report from Word Perfect/Word to text document and import to "Arachnophilia" HTML editor where they will redo their written report in HTML format.
  10. Provide students with instruction on analog information, digital information and analog to digital conversion. Use this information to give a basic explanation on how graphics, sound, video and animations are produced for web pages.
  11. Students use various technology based methods to produce graphics, sound and other effects for their web pages.
  12. Students use "Hot Potatoes" software to collaborate on the creation of interactive crossword puzzles and online quizzes.
  13. Upload pages to website.
  14. Advertise site through newsgroups, email, indexes like yahoo, SchoolNet and STEM~Net.
  15. Pages maintained by physics teacher and future students.

II. Show the audience the outcome of the project proposal.

Results and a tour of the project can be seen at: http://www.k12.nf.ca/clarenville-high/science/p2204/music.html

III. Briefly comment on any successes or problems that were encountered throughout the life of the project.

What Students Learned:

  • Learned research skills for a technical topic.
  • Learned to narrow internet searches to acquire desired results.
  • Learned to compose a concise description of a science related topic.
  • Learned to convert a Word Perfect Document into an HTML editor.
  • Learned to add graphics to Web pages.
  • Learned to change the text colors and fonts on web pages.
  • Learned how to scan images.
  • Learned to capture graphics from a computer screen using a paint program.
  • Learned the objectives pertaining to the Music Unit in Physics 2204.

IV. Comment on any aspects of the project that you would do differently.

Start much earlier in the year. This would allow the time to seek out more collaboration for the site and to add variety to the pages. I also found that this term (Spring '99) was a bad time of year for disruptions. We had Kiwanis Music Festival, a band trip to N.S., 3 in-service days, Parent Teacher interviews, Drama Festival and other disruptions during this project period. I would also give students less freedom and define their jobs better.

V. Comment on if and how the project can be expanded next year.

It is a project that has been started by this year's Physics 2204 class at Clarenville High and will be upgraded regularly by Mr. Winter and future classes of 2204. It is hoped that the involvement in the development of this resource will grow to include contributions from throughout the province.