Waves and Sound Workbook | Whole Unit, Lessons, Mechanical Waves, Physics Notes

Teaching Waves & Sound in Physics? This 103-page editable workbook and PowerPoint covers topics on Mechanical Waves and Sound: Vibrations and Mechanical Waves, Types of Waves (Transverse Waves & Longitudinal Waves), Universal Wave Equation, The Speed of Sound, Mach Number, The Doppler Effect, The Doppler Effect with a Moving Observer, Wave Interference, Boundary Behavior (Reflections at fixed and free ends), Standing Waves, Resonance, The Physics of Music, Standing Waves and Stringed Instruments, Standing Waves in Air Columns, Waves Phenomena Summary, Human Hearing, Sound Intensity (Decibel Level).

In addition to lessons, notes, and homework, this workbook contains three activities: Speed of Sound Lab (outdoor echo), Drawing Standing Waves (can be used before the Standing Waves lesson or after as review), and the Build a Pan Flute Activity in which students build a Pan flute made of straws.

Two research activities in Applications of Waves & Sound, and Animals and Sound Waves (Research Activity).

There are 22 PowerPoint presentations to accompany the lessons.

The presentations come in 3 formats:

• editable PowerPoint
• PDF
• "flattened" PowerPoint which can be uploaded to Google Slides with no change in formatting (OneDrive link included since these are large files)

Lessons contain examples, and homework questions are provided for each lesson. You will save so much time going from note immediately to homework, and your students will be much more organized!

This workbook has been beautifully formatted in Microsoft Word, with all clear, crisp, custom graphics. Complete answer keys are included. Click the preview file to view the answer keys with homework answers redacted.

The sections of the Waves and Sound workbook are listed below:

• Vibrations and Mechanical Waves

• Types of Waves (Transverse Waves & Longitudinal Waves)

• Universal Wave Equation

• Speed of Sound Activity

• The Speed of Sound

• Mach Number

• The Doppler Effect

• The Doppler Effect with a Moving Observer

• Wave Interference

• Boundary Behavior (Reflections at fixed and free ends)

• Creating Standing Waves Drawing Activity

• Standing Waves

• Resonance

• The Physics of Music

• Standing Waves and Stringed Instruments

• Standing Waves in Air Columns

• Build a Pan Flute Activity

• Waves Phenomena Summary

• Human Hearing

• Sound Intensity (Decibel Level)

• Applications of Waves & Sound (Research Activity)

• Animals and Sound Waves (Research Activity)

All my Physics workbooks also include:

• a title page

• equations

• a vocabulary page for students to update with key terms throughout the unit

• preconception questions that are revisited at the end of the unit

The zipped folder includes:

• The 103-page workbook in PDF format and editable Microsoft Word format.

• Complete, typed/hand-drawn answer keys for the entire workbook, written with equation.

• A 449-slides of PowerPoint presentation across 22 files with corresponding PDF files for perfect formatting no matter the device. The homework questions are not part of the PowerPoint (but full solutions are included in the answer keys).

• NEW BONUS: 20 Bell Ringers + Answer Keys are included with this download.

This resource is part of my Growing Physics Bundle. If you like this style of organized note-taking I have other workbooks for Physics units:

1-Dimensional Kinematics workbook

2-Dimensional Kinematics workbook

Forces & Newton's Laws workbook

Energy workbook

Circular Motion workbook

Gravitational Fields workbook

Momentum & Collisions workbook

Waves & Sound workbook

Optics workbook

Static Electricity workbook

Current Electricity workbook

Electric Fields workbook

Nuclear Energy Unit

How I use the workbooks

I have been using these workbooks with my Physics students for years with great success. Students might be a little intimidated by the thickness of the workbooks at first, but they are VERY grateful when they see that these are mostly fill-in-the-blanks style with room for practice questions. I print them all out at the beginning of the unit and work through them day-by-day on the document camera. I try to get through one lesson per day. However, there are some longer lessons (like latent heat) that are better split in two or three. I don’t like to instruct all class: I like to take up choice homework questions, infuse experiments into the day, have students work together and review previous concepts. I don’t mark the workbooks, but I do check them for completion. I assign homework from the workbook (which is usually done in class) and some additional homework problems from the textbook.

Let me address some of your questions…

Am I going to be photocopying every day?

Nope! I print off the ENTIRE workbook and give it to the students at the beginning of the unit. You can choose to bind it, staple it, or just hole-punch it for the students’ binders. I find most students like to keep the pages together. Grab a coffee, put your feet up and enjoy the sweet whirl of the photocopier.

Do you hate trees?

I feel very strongly that Physics calculations cannot and should not be done on the computer. By having the workbook printed you are saving your students lots of time and frustration trying to format equations on the computer. When one of your students solves the problem to sustainable energy via nuclear fusion we’ll both agree that this was worth the paper.

We use a different notation! What am I to do?

This workbook is editable in Microsoft Word. Yup. That’s how much I love you! If you or your textbook use a different notation, just edit it using the equation editor. The only things that are not editable are the graphics.

What about our textbooks?

I still use my textbooks for practice problems sometimes. Though there are plenty of practice problems in here, you may want to cycle some textbook problems in too. I like to print off one page at the beginning of the unit that has all the homework problems listed by section. By front-loading all the printing and choosing of the homework problems I save a lot of time throughout the unit.

I don’t teach everything that’s included (or I teach it in a different order), so…?

No problem – either delete those pages from the editable file or select only the pages you want while printing. No topics start mid-way through a page so it’s easy to remove something depending on the level of your students. If you teach it in a different order it’s a quick fix on the Print screen. Just type the page numbers in the order you want them, e.g. 1-10, 15-17, 11-14, 18-103

I need more Physics resources!

You should check out my Physics Growing Bundle. It’s my priority to add to this bundle, and it’s cost and value increases with each new resource I upload.

Are there labs in here?

Usually no, but this workbook contains an echo activity for determining the speed of sound outside, and a build a Pan flute activity.

I’m a new Physics teacher, will this help me?

Absolutely, yes! I wish I had this when I started teaching Physics over 10 years ago! This will save you a ton of time that you can use to grade tests, set-up labs and just keep your head above water.

Is there a PowerPoint presentation for this workbook?

Yes! There are 22 PowerPoint and PDF presentations to accompany the lessons in the workbook. The presentations reflect exact what students have in their lesson notes, including example problems. The homework problems are not included in the presentations, but they are included - with full solutions - in the answer key file.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to Ask a Question here on TpT, or email me: mrs.brosseau@gmail.com