What’s the Matter with Sound? - How Primary School Students Perceive the Nature of Sound

Abstract Sound is a very omnipresent physical phenomenon that plays a crucial role in our daily lives. It is essential for verbal communication and helps us orient ourselves. Children are especially affected by sound and its presence in their daily lives. This circumstance, and the subject-specific interesting facets of the topic of sound, make this particularly interesting for the classroom. In order to provide effective sound education, it’s important to understand how children perceive sound. This research aims to explore the ways in which primary school children experience sound. The inquiry conducted of 24 interviews with primary school children, with a focus on the propagation of sound. Various experiments were integrated into these interviews in order to provide a child-friendly approach to this rather abstract topic. The interviews were analysed phenomenographically. The focus on sound propagation allowed the children to express their understanding of the nature of sound. The various experiments that addressed different levels of awareness (black box, Schlieren setup) were also beneficial in this regard. The results showed that primary school children already have a wide range of ways of experiencing the nature of sound.