Engineering Communication Devices

In this lesson, students apply what they have learned from previous investigations into sound and light to design and build a prototype that uses sound and/or light to solve a problem that requires communicating over a distance.  

• Light and sound can be used to send information over long distances. Information is details about a person, place, or event. 

• How could a clock tower use sound to communicate messages?
• How could a lighthouse use a light signal to communicate a message?
• Why is a lighthouse’s light important at night?
• What would happen to the sailors on a ship if a lighthouse’s light stopped working one night?
• How might a lighthouse change its message, such as if it wanted to warn sailors to stay away?
• How can sound or light be used with Morse code?  
• How does sound move from one place to another?
• What kinds of information can we get from sound?  

Misconception: Sound can be used to communicate, but light cannot be used to communicate.

Fact: Both sound and light can be used to send messages from one place to another over a long distance.

Misconception: Speaking and writing are the only ways to communicate.

Fact: There are many different ways to communicate. Body language and gestures can communicate information to other people. Using sound or light signals to send a message is another way.

Information: details about a person, place, or event

Lighthouse:  a tower with a bright light on top

Message:  information sent from one place to another

Signal: an action that is used to communicate information

Living in a Lighthouse

Haley moved to a new house when she was 9 years old. It wasn’t just any house though. It was a cottage attached to a lighthouse. A lighthouse is a tower with a bright light on top. Lighthouses are built on the coast.

A Lighthouse’s Message

Haley’s dad is the lighthouse keeper. He makes sure the light stays lit at night. The light is important. It sends a message to sailors at sea. A message is information sent from one place to another place. Information is details about a person, place, or event.

The light is a signal that tells the sailors that they are near land. A signal is an action used to communicate information. This is important at night. The sun doesn’t shine at night. Sometimes clouds cover the moon. On a dark night, the sailors cannot see the land on their own. The lighthouse light tells the sailors they need to sail carefully.

For the engineering activity in this lesson, students summarize a problem presented in a scenario, which is that one stormy night, the electricity stopped working at Zoe’s house so Zoe couldn’t use her computer or telephone to talk to her friend across the street. Students design and build up to three prototypes of communication devices that could be used to solve Zoe’s problem, and test each one to determine how well it solved the problem, meeting the requirements of the problem within the constraints. Students collect and analyze data on whether their prototypes effectively sent a message to their partner, looking for evidence in their data about the strengths and weaknesses of each prototype.