Humm just a constant tone, not sure what that could be. Great that you get a sound, this is usually the trickiest part gett the wiring right. It is common to have the piezo pins backward (like an LED a polarized, positive/negative pins.)
Is it when you load the first code block below that you get a constant tone?:
void setup()
{
pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(500);
digitalWrite(9, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(500);
}These activities fit well with our 4th grade sound unit. Students learn about waves, wavelengths, and pitch, but we only use an iPad app to simulate different sounds. With this activity, students will be able to actually get a more hands-on experience with sound waves and create their own as part of an expression project. My role would be to help them understand the code and float around asking questions in relation to the theoretical background (as they create sounds).
Student success will be measured by having them explain the type of sound/sound-waves they create, while demonstrating competency in rewriting code.
Students might also like exploring which sounds (sound waves) make them feel happy, sad, etc. We tried to explore this concept and it really caught on with them.
Oh I love this idea of tying emotion to the sounds! What a unique idea to use this lesson in that fashion!
Yes, I think that hands-on aspect is very key with this lesson!
I have been working with my third grade students using Snap Circuits, and the excitement on their faces is amazing when they get to the project that plays music! I think I could use this in a follow-on project the next year (I teach K-5 STEM, so have my students all throughout Elementary school) when I introduce coding using computers. The connection from the Snap Circuits would fit in nicely when I pose to them, now that you understand how sound is created in a circuit, how could you manipulate that sound to create new sounds and combinations of sounds? Very exciting, because the Snap Circuits are not as Inquiry based as I would like, but this definitely is!
Love that idea, also! We have been working with Google CS this year in 5th grade, and my students really enjoy finding just the right music to fit with the game they are creating (we are working though the Music and Sounds lessons right now). You have inspired me to go back on Monday and talk in more detail with them about their music choices. A class conversation about how the game designer sets the tone of the game through the music will be very interesting!
OMG you Rick Rolled us!!! That is hilarious!!!
This was a really fun experiment. The arduino is a fun and different way to explore waves vs the more typical use of string or jump rope. I cover waves in both Physics and Astronomy courses. I think this would be a fun experiment to do before a lecture on light. I always like to focus on the sky. For example, Part 1 could be why is the sky blue and sunsets redder? I will usually tie this into trying to have the students describe Japan’s flag and nickname (land of the rising sun) and ask them to piece together why these make sense. Part 2 could be rainbows and show why they are at 42 degrees. Why you have the sun at your back and storm clouds in front.
I also think it could be fun to have the students google for some music notes to change the program. Knowing my students getting the notes for say the Mario Nintendo games.
Glad you enjoyed
I’ve been Rick Rolled! lol. This is great as a physics teacher. Might be annoying as a teacher with all the random notes, lol. It might be good to challenge the students to guess a tune based on the code and than see if they are correct. Maybe students can challenge each other.
Awesome idea! I love adding social emotional lessons when ever possible.
I agree I thought the graphics took the lesson to the next level.
This is something the students would love! It won’t fit in quite with my curriculum, but it fits our 4th grade standards about waves. I’m definitely going to share this with them! I love the visuals that made it easy to understand the sound wave.
I had fun changing the code to play the different notes, and to make other songs. I think this would be a fun challenge for students. It is a concrete way to connect frequency to the pitch we hear, and then to connect it to other EMS waves. I agree students who play instruments would take this and run with it. I have a bit of music background, and it is easy to get sucked in and change the code to make songs we know by heart. I think this would work when we get to our waves and sound unit quite nice. I am curious because we are an iPad school, what we could do to get the programs to run. I would have to see if we could go to our old pc lab and utilize their computers. Definitely things to think about for next quarter, and next year.
The only thing I play is the radio!! But I enjoyed this activity and can see sharing it with the music teacher as she has them write their own music.
This would be a great challenge for the students. Some of the high pitches will aggravate me, but hey it is for the kids.
This was a nice introduction to waves. I don’t particularly teach sound in my classes, but I do teach about light. I could incorporate this activity to that they could “hear” the different frequencies and relate it to the different frequencies found in the visible light spectrum.
To do this in my class, I would definitely need to help my students since they don’t have experience with breadboards. Although after doing the Hello World activity, they may be able to catch on quickly on how to do this activity.
Definitely a challenge for me also 
Took a couple of tries but I finally got it.
Love the mash up of combining the sounds waves lesson with lights!
Awesome! I like the step up into inquiry-based learning!