Sounds Can be Used for Different Purposes

Using Sounds Application

Activity:

1. Ask students to look through the applet called Using Sounds. Explain that this is a way of defining the purpose for which sounds can be used in a persuasive slide show.

2. Discuss with the class that there are two basic uses, to support facts and to express a feeling. To support a fact, a sound can either contain the information in what it shows, in which case it is being used as illustration, or it can provide a context for the image or words to define what or where it is. To show a feeling, the sound can either be used to state an opinion about something or to decorate a slide to make it more lively.

3. . Ask the students to find sounds (ideally representing different types) through Google Search - or pre-select a set of sounds - and ask them to brainstorm ways in which each sound might be used as illustration, as context or to express an opinion.

     Example: Play a sound of a car starting up and ask students what context would make it an illustration (possible answer: if it is part of an email telling a friend about the new car your family just got).

     Then ask them how the same sound might be used as a context (possible answer: in picture of rain through a window.)

     Then ask them how the same sound might be used as an opinion (possible answer: as part of a webpage or email about a car with the caption "My best friend") 

 

 

 

 

The Main Idea


There are at least four distinctly different purposes for using sound in a persuasive slide show. Students have to understand what distinguishes them so they can find appropriate sounds to support their information.

The important point is that each of the different types of sound can be used for any of the purposes - so the purpose is determined by how the sound is used, not by its type. A background sound or a musical phrase does not automatically provide a context any more than a sound effect is automatically a decoration or a spoken phrase is automatically an opinion. In other words, students cannot find a sound for different purposes in the abstract - the context defines how a sound is used, not the content of the sound.

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