What we learned:
When we started this journey, we expected that most people would have some misunderstandings about sound. Our prediction was that most people would struggle with explaining how sound travels. We were surprised by the number of people who were confused about how clapping creates sound.
Throughout this journey, we learned a lot about people's understanding of sound. While each person's understanding was unique, we feel that at the end of the interview, we had a grasp of what they knew and what they didn't know. Listed below are some strengths and weaknesses of our interview process and our interviewing subjects.
Throughout this journey, we learned a lot about people's understanding of sound. While each person's understanding was unique, we feel that at the end of the interview, we had a grasp of what they knew and what they didn't know. Listed below are some strengths and weaknesses of our interview process and our interviewing subjects.
Strengths- Most people knew that sound has something to do with waves & vibrations.
- Most people knew that the wave can travel through air, water and solids. - Some people had a very broad understanding, and spoke with little prompting. - Everyone knew that trees make a sound when they fall, even if no one is around to hear it. |
Weaknesses- People tended to struggle with the idea of sound waves traveling through space.
- People struggled to accurately draw the motion of molecules through the air. - Subjects could not identify a "longitudinal" wave by name. - We tended to interview too many "experts." Most people interviewed were either involved in music or the sciences. - Our first question, "where does the clap come from" elicited short responses such as "my hands." |