Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Project the note and the graph description below. The garden and its numbers are invented for this warm-up. Give pairs two minutes.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   A school garden newsletter says: "Our rain gauge collected 2 inches of rain on Monday, twice as much as on Tuesday, and none at all on Wednesday." Under the note is a bar graph with three bars: Monday reaches the 2-inch line, Tuesday reaches the 1-inch line, and Wednesday reaches the half-inch line. Do the words and the graph agree? Which one would you trust, and what would you check?

   Take answers. Monday and Tuesday agree (2 inches is twice 1 inch), but Wednesday does not: the words say none, and the graph shows half an inch. A reader who uses only one of them misses the problem. Tell students that RST.6-8.7 asks them to integrate information: to put what the words say together with a visual version of the same information (a table, graph, flowchart, diagram or model), check that they match, and use each for what it shows best.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Part 1: Words for talking about visuals. Keep this table up for the whole lesson.

   Words for integrating text and visuals

   Term	What it means	A question to ask
   Quantitative information	Information given as numbers and measurements	What was measured, and in what units?
   Technical information	Facts about how something works or how a task is done, such as steps, parts or conditions	What are the steps or parts?
   Table	Numbers arranged in rows and columns with headings	What do the rows and columns stand for?
   Line graph	Points on a grid joined by lines, showing how one quantity changes with another	What does each axis measure, and where does it start?
   Bar chart	Bars whose lengths stand for amounts	Does the scale start at zero?
   Flowchart	Boxes and arrows showing the steps of a process in order	What comes first, and what goes into each step?
   Diagram or model	A drawing or object that shows the parts of something, often to scale	What is the scale?
   Integrate	Put the words and the visual together and check that they agree	What does each one add?

   Part 2: Model with Passage 1. John Tyndall (1820-1893) was an Irish physicist who gave popular science lectures in London. In Passage 1 he reports the velocity (speed) of sound in air in two ways: in sentences and in a table of measurements made by the French scientist Guillaume Wertheim. Words to know: centigrade (the Celsius scale), 0·5 (the raised dot is a decimal point: 0.5), ” (a ditto mark, meaning the same as the line above), augmentation (increase), trigonometrical observations (measuring a distance with angles), terrestrial (on Earth), thunder-peal (a clap of thunder), place of discharge (where the lightning flashed), apprehended (feared). Show Diagram 1, a line graph of the table drawn to scale, and Diagram 2, a flowchart of the method in paragraph 6.

   1The velocity of sound in air, at the freezing temperature, is 1,090 feet a second.

   2At all lower temperatures the velocity is less than this, and at all higher temperatures it is greater. The late M. Wertheim has determined the velocity of sound in air of different temperatures, and here are some of his results:

   3Temperature of air Velocity of sound
   0·5° centigrade 1,089 feet
   2·10 ” 1,091 ”
   8·5 ” 1,109 ”
   12·0 ” 1,113 ”
   26·6 ” 1,140 ”

   4At a temperature of half a degree above the freezing-point of water the velocity is 1,089 feet a second; at a temperature of 26·6 degrees, it is 1,140 feet a second, or a difference of 51 feet for 26 degrees; that is to say, an augmentation of velocity of nearly two feet for every single degree centigrade.

   [...]

   5Sounds were started at the same moment from two distant stations, and thus caused to travel from station to station through the self-same air. The distance between the stations was determined by exact trigonometrical observations, and means were devised for measuring with the utmost accuracy the time required by the sound to pass from the one station to the other. This time, expressed in seconds, divided into the distance expressed in feet, gave 1,090 feet per second as the velocity of sound through air at the temperature of 0° centigrade.

   6The time required by light to travel over all terrestrial distances is practically zero; and in the experiments just referred to the moment of explosion was marked by the flash of a gun, the time occupied by the sound in passing from station to station being the interval observed between the appearance of the flash and the arrival of the sound. The velocity of sound in air once established, it is plain that we can apply it to the determination of distances. By observing, for example, the interval between the appearance of a flash of lightning and the arrival of the accompanying thunder-peal, we at once determine the distance of the place of discharge. It is only when the interval between the flash and peal is short that danger from lightning is to be apprehended.

   • Words and a table that seem to disagree

     Passage 1, paragraphs 1-3. Tyndall writes that sound moves at 1,090 feet a second at the freezing temperature and that "at all higher temperatures it is greater." Yet the first row of the table gives 1,089 feet at 0·5°, just above freezing. How does a reader fit the words and the table together?

     Result: The numbers come from different experiments. The 1,090 is the result of the station experiments in paragraph 5 ("gave 1,090 feet per second"), and the table holds "some of his results," Wertheim's own measurements. A difference of 1 foot a second out of about 1,090 is less than one part in a thousand, smaller than the difference between two careful experiments. Read the words for the general rule (warmer air, faster sound) and the table for each measured value.

   • Finding the words' summary on a graph

     Paragraph 4 sums up the table in words: "a difference of 51 feet for 26 degrees." Where is that summary in Diagram 1, and what does the graph add?

     Result: It is the dashed line from the first dot (0·5°, 1,089) to the last dot (26·6°, 1,140). The line rises 1,140 - 1,089 = 51 feet a second across 26·6 - 0·5 = 26·1 degrees, which Tyndall rounds to 26. Since 51 ÷ 26 is about 1.96, he says "nearly two feet for every single degree." The graph adds what the words leave out: the three middle dots do not all sit on the line, so the rise is not perfectly even.

   • Following a flowchart with a number

     On a day near freezing, a student sees a flash and counts 8 seconds before the thunder. Use Diagram 2 with the speed in Passage 1, paragraph 1.

     Result: Step 3: 8 × 1,090 = 8,720 feet. Step 4: 8,720 ÷ 5,280 is about 1.65, so the flash was about 1⅔ miles away. The words give the speed (paragraph 1) and the method (paragraph 6: "the interval between the appearance of a flash of lightning and the arrival of the accompanying thunder-peal"); the flowchart puts them in order.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Passage 2, from later in the same chapter. Words to know: Dulong (Pierre Louis Dulong, a French scientist), carbonic acid (carbon dioxide), carbonic oxide (carbon monoxide), protoxide of nitrogen (nitrous oxide), olefiant gas (ethylene), inversely proportional (one goes down as the other goes up), density (how much mass is packed into a space), elasticity (how strongly a material springs back when squeezed), MM. (short for "Messieurs," the French for "Misters"). Pairs underline every number in the words, box every number in the table, and draw an arrow between any number that appears in both.

   1To complete our knowledge of the transmission of sound through gases, a table is here added from the excellent researches of Dulong, who employed in his experiments a method which shall be subsequently explained:

   2VELOCITY OF SOUND IN GASES AT THE TEMPERATURE OF 0° C.
   Velocity
   Air 1,092 feet
   Oxygen 1,040 ”
   Hydrogen 4,164 ”
   Carbonic acid 858 ”
   Carbonic oxide 1,107 ”
   Protoxide of nitrogen 859 ”
   Olefiant gas 1,030 ”

   3According to theory, the velocities of sound in oxygen and hydrogen are inversely proportional to the square roots of the densities of the two gases. We here find this theoretic deduction verified by experiment. Oxygen being sixteen times heavier than hydrogen, the velocity of sound in the latter gas ought, according to the above law, to be four times its velocity in the former; hence, the velocity in oxygen being 1,040, in hydrogen calculation would make it 4,160. Experiment, we see, makes it 4,164.

   4The velocity of sound in liquids may be determined theoretically, as Newton determined its velocity in air; for the density of a liquid is easily determined, and its elasticity can be measured by subjecting it to compression. In the case of water, the calculated and the observed velocities agree so closely as to prove that the changes of temperature produced by a sound-wave in water have no sensible influence upon the velocity. In a series of memorable experiments in the Lake of Geneva, MM. Colladon and Sturm determined the velocity of sound through water, and made it 4,708 feet a second. [...]

   • Information given only in words

     Passage 2. Which facts about hydrogen and water are in the words but not in Dulong's table, and what would a bar chart of the table alone leave out?

     Result: Paragraph 3 predicts hydrogen from oxygen: "the velocity in oxygen being 1,040, in hydrogen calculation would make it 4,160," that is, 1,040 × 4. The table's measured 4,164 is only 4 feet a second more. The water value, "4,708 feet a second," appears only in paragraph 4, so a bar chart of the table alone would leave out the fastest speed in the passage. Adding a water bar shows sound in water moving about 4.3 times as fast as in air (4,708 ÷ 1,092).

   Debrief: Every row of Dulong's table is at 0° C. Where does the passage say so, and why must a chart of the table say so too? (In the table's title, "AT THE TEMPERATURE OF 0° C." Passage 1 showed that the speed changes with temperature, so a chart without the temperature would be incomplete.) Then start Activities 1-3.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Passages 3 and 4 on their own and answer quiz questions 1-20, which also use Diagrams 1 and 2. Passage 3 comes from Tyndall's second lecture and gives its numbers only in words. Words to know: rapidity of vibration or rate of vibration (how fast a sounding object vibrates; paragraph 2 explains how Tyndall counts a vibration), sonorous wave (sound wave), tuning-fork (a two-pronged metal tool that sounds one steady note when struck), foremost (front), condensation (a part of the wave where the air is squeezed together), rarefaction (a part where the air is spread out), excursion (a trip, here one movement), tympanic membrane (the eardrum). Passage 4 is a sample safety card written for this page. Its table is part of the card.

   1Having determined the rapidity of vibration, the length of the corresponding sonorous wave is found with the utmost facility. Imagine a tuning-fork vibrating in free air. At the end of a second from the time it commenced its vibrations the foremost wave would have reached a distance of 1,090 feet in air of the freezing temperature. In the air of a room which has a temperature of about 15° C., it would reach a distance of 1,120 in a second. In this distance, therefore, are embraced 384 sonorous waves. Dividing 1,120 by 384, we find the length of each wave to be nearly 3 feet. Determining in this way the rates of vibration of the four tuning-forks now before you, we find them to be 256, 320, 384, and 512; these numbers corresponding to wave-lengths of 4 feet 4 inches, 3 feet 6 inches, 2 feet 11 inches, and 2 feet 2 inches respectively. [...]

   2And here it is important to note that by the term vibrations is meant complete ones; and by the term sonorous wave is meant a condensation and its associated rarefaction. By a vibration an excursion to and fro of the vibrating body is to be understood. Every wave generated by such a vibration bends the tympanic membrane once in and once out. These are the definitions of a vibration and of a sonorous wave employed in England and Germany. In France, however, a vibration consists of an excursion of the vibrating body in one direction, whether to or fro. The French vibrations, therefore, are only the halves of ours, and we therefore call them semi-vibrations. In all cases throughout these chapters, when the word vibration is employed without qualification, it refers to complete vibrations.

   1Light from a lightning flash reaches your eyes almost instantly. The thunder from the same flash travels at the speed of sound, which in air at 68 °F (20 °C) is about 1,125 feet per second. Sound moves a little faster in warm air and a little slower in cold air, but the difference is small enough to ignore on this card.

   2To estimate how far away the flash was, count the seconds from the flash to the first sound of thunder. Divide the count by 5 to get the distance in miles, or by 3 to get the distance in kilometers. The rule works because sound travels about one mile in 5 seconds and about one kilometer in 3 seconds.

   3The table on this card gives the distance for several counts, calculated with 1,125 feet per second and rounded to the nearest tenth of a mile. The last column shows what the divide-by-5 rule gives for the same count. The rule gives a slightly smaller distance than the calculation, so it never makes a storm seem farther away than it is.

   4The count tells you where the flash was. It does not tell you whether you are safe. Lightning can strike 10 miles or more from the storm that makes it, which is about as far away as thunder can usually be heard. The rule for this card is simple: when thunder roars, go indoors. If you can hear thunder at all, stop the activity and move everyone into a substantial building or a hard-topped car; a tent, a rain shelter or a small shed is not safe. Wait at least 30 minutes after the last thunder before going back outside.

   Table for Passage 4: distance to a lightning flash (sample card written for this page)

   Seconds from flash to thunder	Distance in feet (1,125 feet per second)	Distance in miles (rounded to 0.1)	Divide-by-5 rule (miles)
   5	5,625	1.1	1
   10	11,250	2.1	2
   15	16,875	3.2	3
   20	22,500	4.3	4
   30	33,750	6.4	6
   45	50,625	9.6	9

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one thing Diagram 1 shows that the words of Passage 1 do not, and one thing the words say that the graph does not show." Sort the tickets into "both named and correct," "only one named" and "confuses the words with the visual."

   Teacher note on the science and on safety. Tyndall's numbers are close to modern values. Today the speed of sound in dry air at 0 °C is given as about 331 meters per second (about 1,087 feet per second), and it rises by about 0.6 meters per second (about 2 feet per second) for each degree Celsius, just as paragraph 4 of Passage 1 says. Dulong's gas speeds in Passage 2 are within a few feet a second of modern values for oxygen and hydrogen. Two points need correcting. First, Tyndall's last sentence in Passage 1 (danger only when the interval is short) is not safe advice; Passage 4 gives current guidance, and students should follow it. Second, Passage 2 names carbon monoxide and other gases as data only; no one should handle them. The passages keep the words of the 1902 edition ("velocity," "augments"). Passage 3 leaves out two sentences on the pitch of men's and women's voices, whose figures for women's voices are higher than modern measurements.

   Homework passage. Passage 5 comes right after Passage 2 in Tyndall's chapter. Wertheim measured sound in river water from the Seine (the river through Paris) and in water with different salts dissolved in it. Words to know: subsequently (later), comprehend (understand), sulphate, carbonate and nitrate of soda (salts of sodium), chloride of calcium (calcium chloride, a salt used on icy roads), absolute alcohol (pure alcohol), common alcohol (alcohol mixed with some water), spirits of turpentine (an oil from pine trees), sulphuric ether (a liquid once used to put patients to sleep). The liquids are data only; students do not handle them. Wertheim's patterns hold today (warmer water and salty water carry sound faster), but some of his numbers differ from modern ones: modern values for fresh water are about 4,810 feet a second at 15 °C and about 5,090 at 60 °C, so his 60° figure is about 11 percent too high.

   1[...] By a mode of experiment which you will subsequently be able to comprehend, the late M. Wertheim determined the velocity through various liquids, and in the following table I have collected his results:

   2TRANSMISSION OF SOUND THROUGH LIQUIDS
   Name of Liquid Temperature Velocity
   River-water (Seine) 15° C. 4,714 feet
   ” ” 30 5,013 ”
   ” ” 60 5,657 ”
   Sea-water (artificial) 20 4,768 ”
   Solution of common salt 18 5,132 ”
   Solution of sulphate of soda 20 5,194 ”
   Solution of carbonate of soda 22 5,230 ”
   Solution of nitrate of soda 21 5,477 ”
   Solution of chloride of calcium 23 6,493 ”
   Common alcohol 20 4,218 ”
   Absolute alcohol 23 3,804 ”
   Spirits of turpentine 24 3,976 ”
   Sulphuric ether 0 3,801 ”

   3We learn from this table that sound travels with different velocities through different liquids; that a salt dissolved in water augments the velocity, and that the salt which produces the greatest augmentation is chloride of calcium. The experiments also teach us that in water, as in air, the velocity augments with the temperature. At a temperature of 15° C., for example, the velocity in Seine water is 4,714 feet, at 30° it is 5,013 feet, and at 60° 5,657 feet a second.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage 3, paragraph 1, gives the rates of vibration of four tuning-forks and the lengths of their waves in words. Which table shows the same pairs correctly?

   A256: 2 ft 2 in; 320: 2 ft 11 in; 384: 3 ft 6 in; 512: 4 ft 4 in B256: 4 ft 4 in; 320: 3 ft 6 in; 384: 2 ft 11 in; 512: 2 ft 2 in C256: 4 ft 3 in; 320: 3 ft 4 in; 384: 2 ft 10 in; 512: 2 ft 1 in D256: 4 ft 4 in; 384: 3 ft 6 in; 320: 2 ft 11 in; 512: 2 ft 2 in

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student graphs the four forks in Passage 3, with the rate of vibration on the horizontal axis and the wave-length on the vertical axis, both drawn to scale. What will the points look like?

   ARising from left to right in a straight line, because a faster fork makes longer waves BFalling from left to right in a perfectly straight line CFalling from left to right, and leveling off more as the rate grows DAll four at the same height, because the speed does not change

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Tyndall writes that 1,120 divided by 384 gives "nearly 3 feet," and later in paragraph 1 of Passage 3 lists "2 feet 11 inches" for the same fork. How do these two versions fit together?

   AThey are the same length: 2 feet 11 inches is the exact value, just under 3 feet BThey describe two different forks that happen to vibrate at the same rate CThe 2 feet 11 inches is the length for air at the freezing temperature DThe 3 feet is exact, so the 2 feet 11 inches in the list must be a printing error

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 2 of Passage 3, what does the number 256 mean for the first tuning-fork?

   AThe fork makes 256 semi-vibrations, one-way movements, each second BThe wave from the fork travels 256 feet in each second CThe fork makes 256 complete to-and-fro vibrations each second DThe fork makes 256 waves in each minute of sounding

5. Question 5 of 20 · Short Answer

   Paragraph 2 of Passage 3 says that in France a vibration means a movement "in one direction" only. If a French table listed the fork that Tyndall numbers 256, what number would it show? Explain why a reader must know which definition a table uses.

   Show model answer

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage 3 says that in a room at about 15° C sound travels 1,120 feet in a second. Use Diagram 1. Where would 15° fall on the graph, and does Tyndall's 1,120 fit Wertheim's measurements?

   ABetween the 12·0° and 26·6° dots, where the graph reads about 1,118 to 1,120, so it fits BBetween the 8·5° and 12·0° dots, where the graph reads about 1,110, so 1,120 is too high CJust past the 26·6° dot, where the graph reads 1,140, so 1,120 is far too low DNowhere, because Diagram 1 has no dot at 15° and so it cannot be used for 15°

7. Question 7 of 20 · Short Answer

   Passage 3 gives the lengths of four waves but names only one air temperature. Why should a table made from paragraph 1 include the temperature in its title or in a column? Use Diagram 1 in your answer.

   Show model answer

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage 4 says the divide-by-5 rule "gives a slightly smaller distance than the calculation." In which row of its table is the gap between the calculated miles and the rule the largest?

   AThe row for 5 seconds BThe row for 15 seconds CThe row for 30 seconds DThe row for 45 seconds

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A camp counselor counts 45 seconds between a flash and its thunder. The table for Passage 4 gives 9.6 miles. According to the words of the card, what should the counselor do?

   AKeep the activity going for now, because the storm is still almost 10 miles away BMove everyone into a building or hard-topped car, because the thunder can be heard CWait 30 minutes and then count again to see whether the storm is getting any closer DDivide 45 by 3 to find the distance in kilometers before deciding what to do

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which piece of information is in the words of Passage 4 but not in its table?

    AA count of 20 seconds means the flash was about 4.3 miles away BFor a count of 30 seconds, the divide-by-5 rule gives 6 miles CLightning can strike 10 miles or more from the storm that makes it DThe distances in feet were calculated with a speed of 1,125 feet per second

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Passage 4 says to divide the count by 3 to get kilometers. If the card's table had a kilometer column made with that rule, what would it show for a count of 15 seconds?

    A3 kilometers B5 kilometers C45 kilometers D0.2 kilometers

12. Question 12 of 20 · Short Answer

    The table for Passage 4 lists 5,625 feet and 1.1 miles for a count of 5 seconds, but the divide-by-5 rule gives 1 mile. Using the words of paragraphs 1-3, show how the card got each number.

    Show model answer

13. Question 13 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write two sentences that put the table's 20-second row into words, the way Tyndall writes about Wertheim's table in Passage 1, paragraph 4.

    Show model answer

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Passage 4, paragraph 1, says the difference between warm and cold air is "small enough to ignore on this card." Suppose the card had used Tyndall's 1,090 feet a second from Passage 1 instead of 1,125. What would its 30-second row show, to the nearest tenth of a mile?

    A6.4 miles B0.2 miles C6.0 miles D6.2 miles

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Passage 1 gives the speed of sound in air as 1,090 feet a second, and Passage 4 uses 1,125. Which statement best explains how both numbers can be right?

    AScientists now know that Tyndall's 1867 measurement was about 35 feet a second too slow BPassage 4 gives the speed of sound in water, which is faster than in air CPassage 1 is for freezing air, Passage 4 for 68 °F air, and sound is faster in warmer air DThe thunder in Passage 4 traveled farther, and sound speeds up the farther it travels from its source

16. Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Passage 4's divide-by-5 rule is a shortcut. Which steps of Diagram 2 does it do in a single step?

    ASteps 1 and 2: seeing the flash and counting the seconds BSteps 2 and 3: counting the seconds and multiplying by the speed CStep 1 alone: seeing the flash, since light arrives almost at once DSteps 3 and 4: multiplying by the speed, then dividing by 5,280

17. Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Diagram 1, the dashed line joins the first and last dots, which is what Tyndall's words in paragraph 4 describe. Which dot lies farthest from the dashed line?

    AThe dot at 2·1° BThe dot at 8·5° CThe dot at 12·0° DThe dots at 0·5° and 26·6°

18. Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Diagram 1's vertical axis starts at 1,080 feet per second, not at 0. What should a reader keep in mind?

    AThe line looks steep, but the whole rise is only 51 feet a second, under 5 percent of the speed BSound gets about 7 times faster between 0·5° and 26·6°, as the heights of the dots show CSound cannot travel slower than 1,080 feet a second in air at any temperature anywhere on Earth DThe graph is incorrect, since every correct graph must start its vertical axis at zero, not 1,080

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate reads Diagram 1 and says: "From 12·0° to 26·6°, sound gains 27 feet a second, so it gains about 27 feet for every degree." Using the graph and the words of Passage 1, paragraph 4, explain the mistake and give a better figure per degree for that part of the graph.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    On a freezing day, a hiker sees a flash and counts 6 seconds before the thunder. Use Diagram 2 and the words of Passage 1 to estimate the distance in feet and in miles, and name the passage sentence that supplies the speed.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RST.6-8.7: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.