Investigating sound and vibration in frst grade with a nod to NOS By Ellen Gow, Jerrid Kruse, Susan Wees, Kristy Dee, and Leslie Hernandez A s an introduction to sound and vibration, we wanted our frst-grade students to plan and conduct their own investigations. In this article, we share a series of investigations to help students explore the relationship between sound and vibration. By planning, creating, testing, adapting, and refecting on the outcomes of the various in- vestigations carried out, this lesson integrates inquiry-based science and the nature of science (NOS). NOS refers to “what science is, how it works … how sci- entists operate as a social group and how society itself both infuences and reacts to scientifc endeavors” (Clough 2006, p. 463). We engage students in NOS by asking explicit and refective questions (Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman 2000) that target specifc NOS ideas to guide student thinking (Kruse et al. 2022; Voss, Kruse, and Kent-Schneider 2022) and include such discussions throughout the entire school year as short exposures are likely insuffcient (Akerson, Morrison, and McDuffe 2006; Kruse 2008). That is, learn- ing takes time (Kruse, Wilcox, and Easter 2022) and address- ing NOS in only a few lessons is unlikely to help combat the many inaccurate messages students receive about how sci- ence works. The activities we share illustrate how we work to include NOS within content investigations. Day 1 To begin, we wanted students to conduct investigations re- lated to sound and vibration using sound through a speaker. For these investigations we used inexpensive small speakers (approximately $11 each) that can be plugged into the head- phone jack of tablets. We asked, “What do you think would happen to salt if we put it on top of a speaker and played sounds through the speaker?” Students predicted, “It would fall off,” “It will move when sound is on,” and “It will stay • www.nsta.org/science-and-children 29 29-33_Gow feature.indd 29 29-33_Gow feature.indd 29 1/11/23 4:29 PM 1/11/23 4:29 PM