Do You See What I See?
Do you Hear What I
Hear?
A WebQuest for Middle
School Science
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The Davis Jr High School production of
Arsenic and Old Lace is only a couple of weeks away. Several problems
involving stage lighting and sound effects have arisen in the past few
days. With such a short period of time before opening night and very
little money left in the budget, the cast and crew are frantically looking for
some "quick fixes" to the problems they are facing. You have
been hired as part of a "Sound and Lighting Crew" to assess the
situation and propose some relatively inexpensive and efficient solutions to
these problems. Everyone involved in the production is counting on you
and your team to come up a plan to save the show. WITHOUT YOUR HELP, THE
SHOW MAY HAVE TO CANCELLED!
As a member of the Sound and Lighting Crew, you are expected to
submit a written plan to the Director of Arsenic and Old Lace explaining what
you think should be done to solve each of the following three problems being
faced in the show's production. In your plan, you should include a
description of your plan for solving each of the problems, as well as an
explanation of how the scientific concepts of light and sound are involved in
your solutions.
Problem
#1- In the
first scene in which Miss Hannigan appears, she is
supposed to be wearing a BLACK dress. The only available dress that will
fit the student playing this role is RED. There is no money in the budget
to purchase another dress. What can be done to the lighting on the stage
to make the RED dress APPEAR BLACK?
Problem
#2- There
are certain scenes in the play that require the stage to be lit by white light
only. ALL of the white light bulbs in the stage lights have blown out.
The white light bulbs are very expensive and there is no money in the budget to
purchase new bulbs. The only available replacement light bulbs are red, yellow,
blue, purple, green, and orange. Is there some way to make white light using
the available bulbs?
Problem
#3- The
schools amplification system for the stage microphones suddenly stopped
working. A new amplification system would cost $5000 dollars.
Hiring a professional to come in and repair the system would cost $2000.
The budget cannot pay for either of these options. Is there something you
can do to design a "make-shift" amplification system so that the
audience will be able to hear the actors' performing their lines on opening
night?
What solutions would you recommend to the cast and crew that will
be both time and cost efficient in solving these problems? Your written
plan should not only include solutions to the problems, but also should
describe HOW and WHY your solution will work. Through your written plan,
it is your job to convince the director, cast, and crew that your solutions are
worth their time and energy investment. REMEMBER: WITHOUT YOUR HELP, THE
SHOW MAY NOT GO ON!
THE PROCESS
In order to accomplish the task above, you will need to follow the
steps listed below:
Step 1: You will form a group of three students. You will need to assign
each of the roles below within your group of three students.
TASK ROLES
Person 1-Lighting
Specialist
Person 2-
Color Technician
Person 3-
Audio Engineer
Step 2: Each person in your group will need to do research, in order to gather
information necessary for solving the stage lighting and sound problems. A list
of Resources
for this research is available for you to use to answer your "Background
Questions".
Step 3: The "Background
Questions" page should be used to gather information needed to solve
your particular problem. You must research at least three different
Internet sites and note the sources (website URLs) of your search.
Step 4: After researching your roles and individually completing your
"Background
Questions," come together with your other group members to discuss
your findings. Decide how the information you collected can help you come
up with solutions to the problems faced by the crew of Arsenic and Old
Lace Discuss within your group the solutions that you will propose for
each of these problems.
Step 5: With your fellow group members, use the "Plan Outlines"
to write your plan for the Director of Arsenic and Old Lace explaining the
solutions that you recommend to the cast and crew. Remember, these
solutions should be both time and cost efficient. Be sure that your
written plan describes HOW and WHY your solution will work. Write your
plan in a persuasive tone, in order to convince the Director that your plan
will work and will be worth the time and energy investment.
The Evaluation
Your Sound and Lighting Crew's final written plan to the Director
of Arsenic and Old Lace will be assessed using a Grading Rubric.
All three sections of your crew's plan will be graded
together.
The Conclusion
Congratulations! You've "saved the play!"
Now that you have successfully solved each of the three problems faced by the
cast and crew of Arsenic and Old Lace, THE SHOW WILL GO ON! The director,
cast and crew, and the entire Davis Jr High Community
are extremely grateful to you for the time and effort you put into making sure
the problems would be amended before "show-time." They have
even decided to devote an entire page in the play program to the Sound and
Lighting Crew to show their gratitude. Congratulations, again, on a job
well done! Now that your mission is complete, there are a few more
things to think about:
What supplies would you need to carry out the plan you
suggested?
How much would the cost actually be to carry out your plan?
How long will it take to complete your plan, from beginning to end?
Do you know someone who would be able to carry out each of the steps in your
plan?
Images from: Microsoft FrontPage Clip Art Gallery
Prentice Hall's Sound and Light, 2000 edition.
Special thanks to Michelle Lipson and Stacy Dimmick
for their guidance in the creation of this webquest.
Your Job: As the Lighting Specialist, it is
your job to gather information needed to solve Problem #1 being faced by the
cast and crew of Arsenic and Old Lace use this information to propose a plan of
action to solve this problem.
Problem #1- In the first scene in which Miss Hannigan appears, she is supposed to
be wearing a BLACK dress. The only
available dress that will fit the student playing this role is RED. There
is no money in the budget to purchase another dress. What can be done to
the lighting on the stage to make the RED dress APPEAR BLACK?
Background Questions:
Using the resources provided, find the answers to the following questions:
What is an electromagnetic wave?
What are the waves of the electromagnetic spectrum?
What is visible light?
What are five common types of lighting?
Which type of lighting produces all the colors of the visible spectrum?
What determines the color of an object?
What are the primary colors of light?
What happens when the primary colors of light are mixed in equal amounts?
How do your eyes allow you to see?
What causes light to be reflected?
Use the "Lighting
Specialist Background
Question Page" to record your answers to these questions as you
complete your research.
Your Job: As the Color Technician, it is your
job to gather information needed to solve Problem #2 being faced by the cast
and crew of Arsenic and Old Lace and use this information to propose a plan of
action to solve this problem.
Problem #2- There are certain scenes in the play that
require the stage to be lit by white light only. ALL of the white light bulbs
in the stage lights have blown out. The white light bulbs are very
expensive and there is no money in the budget to purchase new bulbs. The only
available replacement light bulbs are red, yellow, blue, purple, green, and
orange. Is there some way to make white light using the available bulbs?
Background Questions:
Using the resources provided, find the answers to the following questions:
What is an electromagnetic wave?
What are the components of white light?
What determines the color of an object?
What are the primary colors of light?
What happens when the primary colors of light are mixed in equal amounts?
How is mixing pigments different from mixing light?
Use the "Color
Technician Background
Question Page" to record your answers to these questions as you
complete your research.
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Audio Engineer |
Your Job: As the Audio Engineer, it is your job to gather information needed
to solve Problem #3 being faced by the cast and crew of Arsenic and Old Lace.
and use this information to propose a plan of action to solve this problem.
Problem #3- The schools amplification system for the stage microphones
suddenly stopped working. A new amplification system would cost $5000
dollars. Hiring a professional to come in and repair the system would
cost $2000. The budget cannot pay for either of these options. Is
there something you can do to design a "make-shift" amplification
system so that the audience will be able to hear the actors' performing their
lines on opening night?
Background Questions:
Using the resources provided, find the answers to the following questions:
What is a mechanical wave?
How are amplitude, frequency, and wavelength related to each other in relation
to sound waves?
How do waves bend?
What is the law of reflection?
What makes some sounds louder than others?
How are sound intensity and loudness related?
What factors determine the quality of a sound?
How does your ear work to help you hear sound?
Use the "Audio
Engineer Background
Question Page" to record your answers to these questions as you
complete your research.
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Background Questions -Audio Engineer |
Using the resources provided, find the answers to the following
questions.
What is a mechanical wave?
How are amplitude, frequency, and wavelength related to each other in relation
to sound waves?
How do waves bend?
What is the law of reflection?
What makes some sounds louder than others?
How are sound intensity and loudness related?
What factors determine the quality of a sound?
How does your ear work to help you hear sound?
Background Questions-Color
Technician
Using the resources
provided, find the answers to the following questions.
What is
an electromagnetic wave?
What are the components of white light?
What determines the color of an object?
What are the primary colors of light?
What happens when the primary colors of light are mixed in equal amounts?
How is mixing pigments different from mixing light?
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Background Questions-Lighting Specialist |
Using the resources provided, find the answers to the following
questions.
What is an electromagnetic wave?
What are the waves of the electromagnetic spectrum?
What is visible light?
What are five common types of lighting?
Which type of lighting produces all the colors of the visible spectrum?
What determines the color of an object?
What are the primary colors of light?
What happens when the primary colors of light are mixed in equal amounts?
How do your eyes allow you to see?
What causes light to be reflected?
www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/GBSSCI/PHYS/CLASS/BBoard.html
(with all)
http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/colored_shadows.html
(with color and vision)
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Website |
Description |
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Examines
waves in terms of how they travel, energy they carry, and the types of waves
involved in light and sound. |
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Examines
the different types of waves, as well as measurement of wave speed and
frequency. |
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Examines
reflection and refraction properties of light. |
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Examines
properties of visible light, as well as adding and subtracting colors. |
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Examines
how to mix colored lights to produce new shades of light. |
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Examines
the different types of sound waves, as well as the components of a
wave. |
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Examines
how to measure properties of sounds, such as frequency and speed, as well as
how the ear responds to sound waves. |
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Examines
reflection and refraction properties of sound, as well as what happens when
sounds interfere with one another. |
Proposed Solution- Problem #1
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of How and Why the
Solution Will Work (including Scientific Concepts Used):
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of Time and Cost
Efficiency:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Proposed Solution- Problem #2
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of How and Why the
Solution Will Work (including Scientific Concepts Used):
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of Time and Cost
Efficiency:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Proposed Solution- Problem #3
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of How and Why the
Solution Will Work (including Scientific Concepts Used):
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of Time and Cost
Efficiency:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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CATEGORY |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
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Solutions - Logistics |
The
solutions for all three of the stage and lighting problems are easy to
understand, and are logical. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting problems are easy to
understand, and are somewhat logical. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting problems are a little hard
to understand. |
None
of the three solutions are attempted or are impossible to understand. |
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Solutions- Content |
The
solutions for all three of the stage and lighting problems use appropriate
scientific concepts to explain how and why the solutions will work. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting problems use appropriate
scientific concepts to explain how and why the solutions will work. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting DO
NOT use appropriate scientific concepts to explain how and why the solutions
will work. |
None
of the solutions use appropriate scientific concepts to explain how and why
the solutions will work. |
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Solutions- Time and Cost Efficiency |
The
solutions for all three of the stage and lighting problems explain why the
plan will be time and cost efficient. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting problems explain why the
plan will be time and cost efficient. |
The
solutions for two of the three stage and lighting DO
NOT explain why the plan will be time and cost efficient. |
None
of the solutions explain why the plan will be time and cost efficient. |
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Neatness |
The
final draft of the plan is readable, clean, neat and attractive. It is free
of erasures and crossed-out words. It looks like the authors took great pride
in it. |
The
final draft of the plan is readable, neat and attractive. It may have one or
two erasures, but they are not distracting. It looks like the authors took
some pride in it. |
The
final draft of the plan is readable and some of the pages are attractive. It
looks like parts of it might have been done in a hurry. |
The
final draft is not neat or attractive. It looks like the students just wanted
to get it done and didn't care what it looked like. |
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Spelling and Punctuation |
There
are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. |
There
is one spelling or punctuation error in the final draft. |
There
are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft. |
The
final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors. |
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TEACHER TIPS: Steps 2 and 3- Research Step 5: Writing the Plan
Introduction | Learners
| Standards
| Process
| Resources
| Evaluation
| Conclusion
| Credits
| Student Page
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