An integrated lecture-laboratory approach to teaching musical acoustics

Abstract

At Central Washington University, "Physics of Musical Sound" (PHYS103) is an introductory level course that satisfies a General Education Breadth requirement in the lab-based science category. Enrollment is capped at 40 students, of which 10-15 are typically music education majors. From 1998 to 2010, this five-credit course was taught in a traditional lecture format: four 50-minute lectures and a two-hour lab each week. Starting in 2011, the course was reformatted into three two-hour periods. The objective was to incorporate inquiry-based learning strategies adopted from physics education research. The two-hour meeting time provides flexibility to structure the class with a combination of lecture, tutorial, group problem solving, and experiment. Computational resources, including sound analysis software and online interactive simulations, are heavily utilized. Example activities will be described and lessons learned from the transition to the new format will be discussed.