Peer Review

Sound Uncovered App for iPad

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Reviewed:: Feb 28, 2014 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: Sound Uncovered App for iPad is an application for mobile devices that offers a variety of interactive examples of sounds that people encounter on a regular basis. It offers insight into the why and how of sound. From the site: "Explore the surprising side of sound with Sound Uncovered, an interactive book featuring auditory illusions, acoustic phenomena, and other things that go bump, beep, boom, and vroom. From the makers of Color Uncovered—the Exploratorium—this app puts you at the center of the experiment: Hear with your eyes, see with your ears, make and modify recordings, test your hearing, and more. How do you make a saxophone growl? Are there secret messages in music played backward? Can you talk and listen at the same time? Why does the sound of gum chewing drive some people mad? Listen up and find answers to these questions and more as you take an auditory trip to the place where sound gets truly interesting: the space between your ears." This is a free app created at the Exploratorium, the mothership for people with major cases of curiosity. Visit us online at www.exploratorium.edu or in person in San Francisco, California.
Type of Material:: Drill and Practice; however, the drill and practice include simulations, animation and tutorials
Recommended Uses:: To engage K-12 students interest in studying sound and hearing; to introduce ideas that the mind/brain plays a more important part in our hearing than the sound itself; exploration for all ages to just have some fun with sound.
Technical Requirements:: Any iOS 6.0 or later device.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Users will: explore the difference between an actual sound and how your brain interprets it; deepen their understanding of how sounds are produced in nature, by everyday objects, voices and instruments From the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) 1-PS4-1 Students who demonstrate understanding can plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate Cross-cutting Concept: Cause and Effect Common Core Connection: SL1.1 Participate in collaborative conversation with diverse partners about grade one topics and texts with peers and adults in small and large groups 4-PS3-2: Students who demonstrate understanding can make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric currents.
Target Student Population:: K-12 students, teachers, parents, any adult
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: none

Content Quality

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Strengths:: This app includes many many connections of sounds in everyday life. The content is both familiar and unusual allowing the user to become engaged in the science as well as the illusory interpretations the mind hears in sounds. And who can forget the singing sand! The app can be used during the introduction of a new concept or for reviewing material already presented.
Concerns:: none

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: Every example nurtures the wonderings of the users. Rather than being an end in and of itself, this app provides opportunities for the user to ask deeper questions about the science of sound and the science of the mind. Students and adults could use this over and over again--certainly a crucial sign of effectiveness. The material is interactive and flexible.
Concerns:: If you have any degree of impaired hearing, not all the simulations and activities may work as described for you.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: Set up with logical organization for ease of navigation through the content.
Concerns:: none

Other Issues and Comments:: This app along with the Color Uncovered app make a perfect pair for engaging K-12 students and their teachers in the science of sound and light and the wonders of how our brains interpret these sensory inputs. Sound Uncovered gives the user a glimpse of what it is like to visit the Exploratorium. It is a great tool for teaching, learning and professional development activity. Tasks can be set up for working as an individual or as a group collaborative.
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