Sound Waves Science Games

9 games

In this series of games, your students will learn how sound waves form and travel. The Sound Waves learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research.

Scroll down for a preview of this learning objective’s games and the concepts they drive home.

Concepts Covered

Waves are disturbances that transfer energy from one place to another.

Mechanical waves can travel through matter, but not through a vacuum. Sound waves are a type of mechanical wave, and they can travel through solids, liquids, and gases. They are generated when a force causes a material to vibrate, and they travel out in all directions from the source.

More specifically, sound waves are a type of longitudinal wave. Longitudinal waves cause matter to contract and expand, known as compression and rarefaction. Matter vibrates as sound passes through it.

Sound waves travel faster through denser materials, and materials with higher elasticity. When they move from one medium to another, they change. They can reflect, refract, diffract, or be absorbed. The waves themselves can even interfere with each other.

In a sound wave, more amplitude means louder volume, and higher frequency means higher pitch. The farther from its source, the less intense a sound becomes.

A preview of each game in the learning objective is found below.

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Sonar Sub Estimated Duration: 24 minutes In this game, you will use sonar to track marine animals and map treacherous ocean terrain. Between facts about sound waves, you'll encounter whales and dolphins who can help you move on to a quiz section. Show off your wave knowledge and earn bonus points for upgrading your submarine. Be careful, there is dangerous debris in the ocean that can damage your sub!

Wave Interference - Waves Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Make waves with a dripping faucet, speaker, or laser. Adjust the frequency and amplitude, and observe the changes in the wave. Design experiments to measure wavelength and wave speed. Note: Students will automatically move through this simulation after 10 minutes of playtime.

Wave Interference - Interference Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Explore how a pair of wave sources create an interference pattern. Adjust the source frequency and separation, and determine how to change the interference pattern. Identify points of constructive and destructive interference by eye, and by using the detectors. Note: Students will automatically move through this simulation after 10 minutes of playtime.

Wave Interference - Slits Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Put up a barrier to see how the waves move through one or two slits, and discover the resulting interference pattern. Determine how to change the pattern by adjusting the slit width and separation. Predict the location of the interference maxima and minima, and verify your predictions. Note: Students will automatically move through this simulation after 10 minutes of playtime.

Newton Pool Estimated Duration: 15 minutes The game consists of hand-crafted levels where the player controls a white ball. The goal of each level is to get the white ball to the end of the level in as few moves as possible, while racking up points by bumping golden balls into obstacles on the way! The game does not have any instructional math content, it simply has math review questions spread throughout.

Galaxy Escape Estimated Duration: 20 minutes 10 Bright Monsters have been captured in space and they need your help to cross the galaxy jumping between platforms, finding them, and releasing them by correctly answering each question. Each monster that you release and unlock will be available to play with in the next level, in the search for the next monster. In your journey, you’ll be able to find power-ups, like ‘Double points’ and ‘Slow down’, which can be activated by finding gems, and their duration can be extended by correctly answering a question. Unlock and release the 10 different monsters and a spaceship along 10 different levels, while you make the most possible points.

Waves Intro - Sound Estimated Duration: 10 minutes Make sound waves with a speaker, and hear the tone it produces. Adjust the frequency and amplitude, and observe the changes in the wave. Design experiments to measure wavelength and wave speed. Note: Students will automatically move through this simulation after 10 minutes of playtime.

Sound Waves Estimated Duration: 4 minutes Sound waves carry energy through materials like air, water, or solids, enabling us to hear sounds from claps to distant music. Unlike light, sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space. Denser materials facilitate faster sound transmission due to tightly packed particles, seen in how marine animals communicate over long distances. Sound waves also diffract around obstacles and interfere with each other, affecting their volume and pitch. Understanding these properties reveals how sound spreads, reflects, and interacts, shaping our daily auditory experiences.

Eureka! - Resounding Wave Estimated Duration: 12 minutes Do you have what it takes to enter the spooky castillo of Prince Vasko? Learn the secrets of sound waves! Join this point and click puzzle adventure and explore the mysterious rooms.

Sound Waves Science Games

Concepts Covered

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