Introducing Sound Travels (2023)


Description

Sounds capture attention. Sounds of all sorts (from bird song to bus noise) can change how we learn and interact in different settings. Researchers and partners explain the significance of the research and its origins.

NSF Award: 2215101

Discussion

This discussion took place during the TERC Video Showcase Event Nov. 14-21, 2023. Discussion is now closed.
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Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 13, 2023 3:03 pm
Do you have a memory of sounds from a visit to an informal STEM learning setting? Listening to a telegraph machine from more than a century ago? Hearing an owl call? Conversations or other sounds from visitors or construction? What questions do you have about soundscape and learning? This project is just getting off the ground.
Karen Mutch-Jones
Karen Mutch-Jones
November 14, 2023 10:29 am
What a beautiful listening experience as well as an informative video. Your comments about how one can listen but may not hear and that we take listening for granted, stuck with me. What are you paying attention to in relation to visitors experience of sound in different spaces–do you have hypotheses or particular interests? I’m excited to find out how educators, across settings, think about sound experiences differently (and similarly) now and over time…and how it shapes their work with visitors. Thank you for an interesting and engaging video!
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 14, 2023 2:44 pm
Reply to  Karen Mutch-Jones
We’re still working on the specifics of the visitor experience and how we elicit expectations–if you’re prepared for certain sounds, I think you have more tolerance and are less distracted by them. We are also expecting that people are more and less sensitive to sound (like Ivel) and that will affect their attention and attraction to the STEM learning opportunities in an outdoor setting or in an exhibit space.
Feels so complicated. Over our lives, we have experience with diverse surroundings. Which experience is the one most likely to affect one’s attention and social learning during a trip to the zoo or a park? We will be doing some walk-along interviews and likely doing some surveys as well at various informal learning institutions. Hopefully we’ll figure out some non-burdensome ways to get a sense of what visitors are reacting to.
Karen Mutch-Jones
Karen Mutch-Jones
November 15, 2023 4:10 pm
Reply to  Martha Merson
Thank you for sharing more details about how you are shaping the visitor experience and collecting data. I love the idea of walk-along data collection, and would love to hear more if there are plans n place for that.
Sally Crissman
Sally Crissman
November 14, 2023 12:34 pm
This reminds me of a cross-curricular, multimedia experience with 1st/2nd graders from decades ago! The class named what became a science unit the Snow Show. They arranged for tape recorders to capture sound around the school yard before, during and after a snow storm – day and night.
Based primarily on sound, what was going on? Was the temperature changing? Were there living things around while it snowed during the night? Could visual evidence confirm what we thought happened based on sound? Could we create a sound and sight snow storm event in the classroom to share with others? The focus on sound took us all into a world that surrounds us but remained unexplored and not very well-understood. A recording of icicles dripping led the class into a highly engaging study of their immediate environment. Thank you for the reminder.
Ivel Gontan
Ivel Gontan
November 14, 2023 12:56 pm
Great video! I loved learning more about your project and thinking a bit more critically about how I consider sound in my everyday. I am the kind of person that sleeps with a fan for background noise and am very attuned (pun intended… 😉 ) to my surroundings in an audible sense. Looking forward to learning more about your findings!
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 14, 2023 2:38 pm
Sally, what a beautiful exploration. I recorded some melting at the zoo last spring. A perfect audio accompaniment to a bright sunny day.
I am obsessed these days with the ways our bodies collect auditory information. The sound and tactile experience of footsteps tells me about the season (leaves or ice crunching), recent precipitation (squishy sounds), the geology (gravel or sand), and human interventions (asphalt??).
One of our Detroit partners will be leading walks and meditations that connect breath and body to natural and other sounds in the environment. I’m looking forward to reading participants’ reflections.
Kathryn Hobbs
Kathryn Hobbs
November 14, 2023 4:06 pm
I agree with Karen’s comment above – this video is such a beautiful listening experience (much like iswoop videos have provided beautiful visual experiences (for me!). I’m fascinated with thinking about how sound enhances learning experiences – and can evoke such vivid memories and emotions.
From the perspective of the use of video to tell stories, I can’t help but also think about what Jim Galdos has always shared in his videographer webinars – that sound might be the most technically important aspect of these videos (when drawing people in). I think he says that ‘eyes can tolerate a lot, ears not so much.’ Your video certainly drew me in (and put me into a peaceful place)!
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 14, 2023 9:37 pm
Thank you for the comments and compliments, Ivel and Kathryn. I might have mentioned this in the TERC board staff retreat session, but I want us to look into it more … the environmental educators we work with tend to want to identify the source of particular sounds. When the project has hosted musicians and cultural sound collectors, they have different priorities, such as. playing with rhythms or imagining a mic set up to capture the sound most accurately. The way visitors make meaning of sound (with or without intention) may affect the learning experiences they have in the space. If you’re determined to identify a sound source, but can’t confirm it, that could be distraction for some time. (can you move on or does that become so large a question that it distracts from so many other things?)
Jennifer Knudsen
Jennifer Knudsen
November 15, 2023 7:16 am
Gorgeous video! I realized I am not really hearing.all these sounds in the way you suggest. Yet, can imagine how attending to them could support learning. I look forward to hearing more this coming year—about your projects finings and the soundscapes I better attend to
Joni Falk
Joni Falk
November 15, 2023 2:14 pm
Love this project. We have long claimed that video (as inthe video showcase) provides a more emotional connection when compared to posters or abstracts, but I think we have been focusing way more on the visuals than the sound! Of course hearing emotion, enthusiasm, despair, in a video makes the visuals come alive. There are so many times when hearing a bird song, or a piece of music will transport me back to a particular event or place. Yet we rarely think about the connection to learning. Thanks for this creative work!!!
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 17, 2023 7:17 am
Reply to  Joni Falk
I love radio for this reason–exquisite attention to sound production. Sometimes Snap Judgment is too intrusive with its sound illustrations (car door slamming or keys jangling). I’ve seen native storytellers do a sound check of sorts, saying ho and waiting for the audience to respond, hey. It’s a use of sound that re-focuses. Lots to think about with respect to learning and focus.
Jaclyn Parks
Jaclyn Parks
November 15, 2023 3:35 pm
What a beautiful video! I’ve also really enjoyed getting an insiders look at your site visits through your blog posts.

https://blog.terc.edu/sound-travels-columbus-ohio

Lisette Torres-Gerald
Lisette Torres-Gerald
November 15, 2023 10:14 pm
Martha – This video is so beautiful and I love the beginning with the different sounds playing. Tell Cesar that he did a fabulous job. I am certainly proud to support this project as an advisor, and I cannot wait to see what you and the rest of the team learn from this work.
Lisette Torres-Gerald
Lisette Torres-Gerald
November 15, 2023 10:17 pm
Another thought – I was talking on a panel today about the intersection of race and disability, and a fellow panelist shared a story about being a neurodiverse scientist in noisy environments. It made me think about how sounds can especially impact those who are neurodiverse and their learning. Are there plans to take a look at that at some point?
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 16, 2023 9:36 am
Hi Lisette, This is a quick response to say YES, we are so aware that sounds can be triggering. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a veteran in a noisy museum. Teon’s project with students on executive function has found a range of responses–some background noise can be helpful for focus. My working theory is that expected sounds can be tolerated and ignored more easily than unexpected sounds. So that’s part of why we’re hoping educators will use sound clips from the site before bringing students on field trips. Justin might remember better than I do how we are addressing these sorts of differences in our visitor studies.
Teresa Lara-Meloy
Teresa Lara-Meloy
November 16, 2023 6:52 pm
Love the clarity and peacefulness that are generated by the sounds in the video. Foregrounding the sound really helped me to stop, and pay attention. The idea that we don’t often pay attention to soundscapes caught my attention, especially as I think of schools and classrooms. I recently watched a video from a teacher doing amazing work despite the repeated interruptions of a malfunctioning fire alarm. The level of distraction was intense and there were students just not able to focus. This is but one of many kinds of sound bothers that exist in schools – but there less attention grabbing ones that are created by the shape of the classrooms, the numbers of students in a classroom or hallway, the irritating bells. I wonder if Sound Travels can have a future life that also looks into how to change the soundscapes in formal education settings.
Martha Merson
Martha Merson
November 17, 2023 7:19 am
Reply to  Teresa Lara-Meloy
What a powerful vignette. I will cite you if I use it. 🙂 I’ve seen native storytellers do a sound check of sorts, saying ho and waiting for the audience to respond, hey. It’s a use of sound that re-focuses. Lots to think about with respect to learning and focus.
Mia Ong
Mia Ong
November 20, 2023 8:59 pm
Stunning video, Martha — both visually and aurally. There’s a beautiful mindfulness aspect built into the project: Stop and notice! I look forward to seeing what you learn in this project and how it informs learning spaces!
Gillian Puttick
Gillian Puttick
November 21, 2023 9:47 am
Beautiful video Martha! I’m curious about your own personal experience – what is the most dramatic change in your own perception of sound since you embarked on this work?
Karen Mutch-Jones
Karen Mutch-Jones
November 21, 2023 10:46 am
Reply to  Gillian Puttick
I’d love to hear more about that too. As someone who attends to visual elements and misses A LOT when listening, I’m trying to pay more attention to what I’m hearing in a variety of situations. It has been challenging. Are there ways in which you help yourself or others to attend to sounds that we might tune out if we aren’t mindful of them?