iLOWER SECONDARY COMPUTING Year 9 Term: 1 Weeks: 6–10 Duration: 5 weeks/10 lessons

Unit 2: Sound and Storage

About this unit:

Students explore how sound is digitised and stored (including file sizes). File sizes leads to researching different types of storage devices and media, researching
the needs of users/organisations and making recommendations for user needs.

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5

Developing understanding of Calculating uncompressed Summarising learning about Understanding the Completing and giving a
bit depth and sample rate as file sizes for sounds sound and files difference between a presentation about storage
key factors in digitising sound storage device and storage media and devices
media
(Students at the computer – (Students at the computer)
optional) (Students at the computer)

Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Lesson 10

Researching and sharing Exploring portable media Making a recommendation Assessing the memory Review of Unit 2
information about storage for a user based on their needs of an organisation
devices and media needs and making
(Students at the computer) recommendations for
solutions
(Students at the computera
– optional)

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 1
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Developing Students should have a basic sample rate, bit DR9.1A Understand how sound, an analogue signal, is represented in binary.
understanding understanding of analogue to digital depth, analogue,
DR9.1B Be able to draw a graphical representation of a sound.
of bit depth and conversion of a sound wave. digital, waveform
sample rate as
key factors in
digitising sound

Teaching Summary

Students will be comparing the sound quality of digitised sound files and looking at how sounds are represented graphically.
Display an image of a simple sound wave (as below).
Check students’ understanding of amplitude (and loudness), low/high sound (and frequency). It might be that teachers will need to display an image of a high and
low sound wave, as well as a loud and quiet sound wave (at the same pitch). Demonstrate using sound files – a loud sound, a quiet sound and sounds at different
frequency (use the terms high, low, loud and soft). Hand out Worksheet 1 and ask students to complete the sound waves as required. (Sound files (sine waves)
can be downloaded from [Link] and modified using Audacity (download at [Link]
Audacity can also be used to display the waves and show high/low and soft/loud sounds using the built-in tools.
Run through students’ answers to check for any misconceptions or misunderstandings (for example, what the terms high/loud, soft/low mean).
Next, ask students to recall work on digitising sound waves from Year 7. Refresh their memories by using a diagram from the lesson:

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 Recall that the dots represent samples. In the diagram, they are sampled once a second (1Hz) and are sampled at a bit depth of 4.
You will need to review some background material on sample rate and bit depth. This article and the two key images below are helpful:
[Link]

Key features to discuss with students that explain how to best represent a waveform are as follows:
 Sample rate: the diagram (a) below shows that the increased sample rate gives a better representation (better resolution – like better resolution on a
digital camera), especially for higher frequencies when changes in amplitude are more rapid. In (b) the higher sample rate and greater bit depth (see
below) represent the wave shape more accurately.

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 Bit depth: in (a) below, the waveform is sampled with a low bit depth compared to (b). The shape of the waveform is poorly represented when converted
back to analogue. In (b) the increased sample rate (see above) together with a greater bit depth gives a better representation.

Main Activity

With the whole class, use Audacity to resample a music track by exporting it with an increasingly low sample rate and bit depth. Ask students to ‘rate’ the quality of
each recording. If computers are available in the class, this can be carried out by students in mixed-ability pairs, supporting each other. An export command must
be used to save the audio file on your device. Information is provided on how to do this here: [Link]
Note: Tracks are freely available here: [Link] Quality is subjective, as is hearing quality (teachers may have limited hearing
compared to students), so allow students to decide what ‘good quality’ means themselves. They could be asked to explain by comparing two track qualities.

Plenary

Conclude with some questions about bit depth and sample rate. Which is best: a high sample rate or a large bit depth? (Answer: They both contribute to the
accuracy of the waveform being digitised.) Is a digital recording a complete picture of the waveform? (Answer: No, it is always sampled, so some of the detail is
lost.)

Additional Activity

Students could assist with the demonstration by downloading the track and adjusting the saved quality.

Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

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 For demonstration: computer with sound layback (or computer for all, if Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Worksheet 1
available)
Music track from a CD or mp3 file to export into Audacity, or from
Recommended software: [Link]
Audacity

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 2
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Calculating Students will be familiar with megabits, mp3, DR9.1A Understand how sound, an analogue signal, is represented in binary.
uncompressed compression of sounds and mp3 files. WAV, compressed,
file sizes for uncompressed,
sounds sample rate, bit
depth, channels,
high definition, Mb

Teaching Summary

Students will be learning about file sizes for sounds and calculating uncompressed file sizes.
Introduce the lesson by showing a folder containing some familiar files – Office documents, music files, images. Draw attention to music files ‘generally’ being in
the Mb range. Ask students if they have ever run out of space on their phone/device.
Demonstrate exporting an mp3 using Audacity – first at a high definition, then at the lowest possible. Show the sizes of the files (if possible, play the files so that
students can hear any decrease in quality).

Main Activity

With students, build the equation for calculating the file size of a music file. It might be helpful to display this equation on the board/wall for students to refer to.
Remind students to convert the track time into seconds before they begin the equation. They should also remember that a music track recorded in mono is one
channel and stereo two channels.
● File size = sample rate × bit depth × number of channels (2 for stereo, 1 for mono) × file length
● Example: a 3’ 40” track, recorded at a sample rate of 44 100 samples per second, a bit depth of 16, 2 channels (i.e. stereo)
● File size = 44100 × 16 × 2 × 220 = 310 464 000 bits or approximately 310Mb
In fact, the different sound file formats compress (reduce) the file size further, but a comparison of different bit depths and sample rates gives the relative file size
fairly well. The above example might be that for a WAV (uncompressed) music/sound file.

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 Hand out Worksheet 1 and ask students to work in mixed-ability pairs to complete the numbers.
Note: An iPod stores files as compressed files, so this is not a realistic exercise, but gets across the point of data storage limits.

Answers:

Task 1
1 217
2 426
3 212
4 710
5 356
6 279
7 248
8 1043
9 440
Total 3931

Task 2
Average track size is approx. 440Mb (rounded up), so the number of tracks that could be stored on an iPod is 4,000,000/440=9090 tracks (rounding numbers).

Plenary

Run through the answers to the worksheet with students. Discuss the number of files stored on an old iPod device – could students think of that number of tracks
to store? What would happen if the quality was increased? How would you need to organise music if you had that number of tracks (look for the way iTunes (for
example) saves music in albums/artists/genre/flagging it with ‘like’)?

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 Additional Activity

Set a task to work out the file size of a video file. See the ‘How to calculate the video size’ section on [Link] for
information. Highlight the difference in file sizes between music and video files.

Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

None. Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 2, Worksheet 1
Recommended software: Calculators
None.

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 3
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Summarising Students should be familiar with digital, analogue, DR9.1A Understand how sound, an analogue signal, is represented in binary.
learning about digitising sounds, drawing waveforms, megabits,
DR9.1B Be able to draw a graphical representation of a sound.
sound and files calculating file sizes and compression. compression, mind
map

Teaching Summary

Students summarise learning through creating an information poster about sound.

Ask students to mind map the previous lessons using Worksheet 1 and work out which waveform matches the description. You may need to recap:
● height of waveform (amplitude) – loudness (higher amplitude = louder sound)
● gap between peaks indicates frequency/pitch (the closer the gap, the higher the pitch).
The answers are available on page 2 of the worksheet. Run through the answers with students to check any misconceptions, such as amplitude versus frequency:
height is amplitude/volume, whereas peak-to-peak distance is about frequency.

Main Activity

In mixed-ability groups of three or four, set students a task to create a poster on sugar or flip chart paper (that is, large sheets to allow room for the information)
about sound, to include:
● how waveform indicates the character (loudness/pitch) of a sound
● what sample rate and bit depth are
● file sizes of sounds
● compression (briefly).
The depth of information on the posters will be more extensive for more able students. They can do some calculations on common music track file sizes,
explaining how to work this out.
They should aim the poster at their peers.
At the end of the lesson, students present posters to the rest of the class. These can be used to assess learning.

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 Plenary

With students, take peer review comments on the posters made. What did they like about the posters? What do they think could be improved?

Additional Activity
None.
Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

None. Year 9 Unit 2 Lesson 3 Worksheet 1
Recommended software: Poster-making materials, such as paper and pens
None.

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 4
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Understanding Students should be familiar with Mb storage device, CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
the difference and Gb and have prior knowledge of media, optical, to store data.
between a how to create a presentation. magnetic, solid state
storage device
and storage
media

Teaching Summary

Teacher to introduce the differences between storage devices and storage media. Have a range of storage devices on display (which might include):
● hard drive (external or internal (both if possible) – disk and solid state). It would be very helpful if the hard drive could be opened up to show the disk
● floppy drive
● zip drive
● DVD/CD writer.
and storage media:
● optical: DVD disc (a film DVD will do here), Blu-ray disc (for example, a film), CD disc (for example, a music CD)
● magnetic: floppy disc/ZIP drive (if available), tape drive
● solid state: flash drive/memory card.
(images of devices will do if teachers cannot locate actual examples)
With students, match the device to the media used.

Main Activity

Set main student task: in mixed-ability pairs, students create a presentation of media and storage devices. In this lesson, students will be discussing ideas and
researching information for their presentation. They should locate images to use to support their presentations – these can be slide presentations, posters or a talk
and display. They should focus on understanding the difference between media and devices and give key characteristics of each (e.g. a CD can store around
700Mb of data optically on a plastic disc).

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 Plenary

Ask students questions to ensure that the key objective has been understood by everyone. For example: Name an optical device; Is a CD able to store HD video?
What would be the best way to store… ? On what media? Deal with any misconceptions that may still exist, such as the difference between the terms media and
device.

Additional Activity

Students could find out information about current maximum storage sizes for different devices/media. (They would need to look, for example, at Amazon, where
they would find up-to-date figures.) Teachers can ask for their contributions in the plenary – a quick verbal summary will do.

Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

For STUDENT USE: Computers with internet connection

Recommended software:
Web browser, presentation software

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 5
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Completing and Students should have an media, device, CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
giving a presentation understanding of the difference optical, magnetic, to store data.
about storage media between storage media and solid state
and devices storage devices from Lesson 4.

Teaching Summary

Students complete their presentation about storage devices and media started in the previous lesson, and then give the presentation to the rest of the class.

Main Activity

Allow students time to put together the presentation, the research for which was started in the previous lesson.
After the presentations, peers should provide some positive feedback and ‘This would be even better if… ’ advice.

Plenary

Students reflect on the feedback they received and plan what they might change if the task was repeated. They share a few points with the class.

Additional Activity

The quality and complexity of the presentation will stretch more able students. For example, they could use complex facilities such as transitions and wipes when
using presentation software or create a kiosk effect (so that the presentation can run unattended) with slide timings.

Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources

For STUDENT USE: Computers Poster paper if presentation software is not available
Recommended software:
Presentation software

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 6
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Researching and Students should have an flash drive, hard CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
sharing information understanding of the difference drive, energy to store data.
about storage between storage media and storage efficiency, portability,
CO9.1E Be able to select the appropriate storage device for a particular task
devices and media devices from Lesson 4. reusability
[and justify the choice].

Teaching Summary

Students to research different media devices and media types, including their characteristics.
Remind students of the difference between media and devices. Give examples and ask students to explain which group each one belongs to.

Main Activity

Students to research a medium/device and report back to the class.

Divide students into four groups. Assign each group one of the following to explore:
● DVD/CD writer and DVD/CD discs
● hard drive (mechanical) and solid state
● flash drive (USB and memory card)
● Cloud storage.
More able students should provide feedback on Cloud storage. This will be more challenging as they will need to research costs and how data is stored on
servers.
Students should use websites such as Encyclopedia Britannica online or [Link] and other reliable websites. In reporting back, they need to
provide information about:
● how data is stored (basic description)
● data storage limits (Mb or Gb)
● portability (Can it be moved around easily? Does it require a power source?)
● energy requirements (set this for more able groups)
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 ● reusability/rewritability
● data access time (speed of writing/reading).
When groups feed back to the class, they should provide key information about:
● maximum size
● cost (wide range as costs vary with Gb)
● ease of use
● reliability/durability
● portability
● energy efficiency
● access speed
● rewritability.
Students to transcribe information or summarise on Worksheet 1.

Plenary

In Plenary, discuss the different types of storage devices and media. Which ones are students familiar with? What experiences do students have – have they
been positive or negative? Did they reach maximum space? Highlight the use of hard drives in phones, which nearly all (if not, all) students will be familiar with.

Additional Activity
None.
Digital Resources
Hardware: Additional resources:
For STUDENT USE: Computers with Internet access Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Worksheet 1
Recommended software: Appropriate printed materials that provide enough information to complete the
Web browser task at an appropriate level if the internet is not available.

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 7
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Exploring Students should have an portable, feature CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
portable media understanding of the difference to store data.
between storage media and storage
CO9.1E Be able to select the appropriate storage device for a particular task
devices and the characteristics of each
and justify the choice.
from previous lessons.

Teaching Summary

Students will be researching portable storage.

Ask students to mind map all the devices they know that need portable storage (i.e. when travelling, at leisure/work).

Through open questioning, expect (or encourage by using images of people using the devices in the list below, e.g. checking smartwatch responses) responses
such as:
● mobile phone/smartphone
● tablet
● laptop
● smartwatch
● GPS (e.g. car satellite navigation)
● drone
● music player (e.g. iPod)
● digital camera (including cycle camera, car-cam).

Next, ask students to describe the key feature(s) of the memory needed to support each device.
(Note: The following are subjective and should be discussed in small groups – perhaps use a mind-mapping tool to gather students’ thoughts.):

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 ● mobile phone/smartphone – lightweight, small physical size
● tablet – low energy consumption
● laptop – large capacity
● smartwatch – small physical size
● GPS (e.g. car satellite navigation) – portable, reasonable memory size to store mapping data
● drone – lightweight, medium memory to store videos
● music player (e.g. iPod) – small size, lightweight, medium memory size
● digital camera (including cycle camera, car-cam) – medium memory size, lightweight for headcam.

Hand out Worksheet 1. Students match the most likely storage media/device to the examples listed. Teacher to run through the answers, asking students to
explain the choices they made (take comments on each other’s answers).
● mobile phone/smartphone – solid state drive
● tablet – solid state drive
● laptop – mechanical hard drive or solid state drive
● smartwatch – solid state drive
● GPS (e.g. car satellite navigation) – solid state memory card
● drone – solid state memory card
● music player (e.g. iPod) – solid state drive
● digital camera (including cycle camera, car-cam) – solid state memory card.
Students can use information from the previous lesson to help.

Main Activity

In small groups, students are to think about advertising a particular medium or device. They could produce an advertising poster or perhaps write a short script for

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 a podcast or radio advert featuring their choice of medium/device. Students should highlight features such as:
● cost
● what it is used for
● other features from Lesson 5.

Plenary

Students to present their adverts to the class. Deal with any misconceptions. Ask students to explain their reasons for choosing a particular device/medium.

Additional Activity

Students might come up with their own cost/benefit analysis, using their own qualifiers to match devices to memory solution (e.g. an SSD is great, but much more
expensive than equivalent hard disk drive).

Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

None. Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Worksheet 1
Recommended software: Materials to make advertisements - poster materials or electronic resources if
available.
None.

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 8
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Making a Students should be familiar with and user needs, CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
recommendation understand memory characteristics. recommendation to store data.
for a user based
CO9.1E Be able to select the appropriate storage device for a particular task
on their needs
and justify the choice.

Teaching Summary

Students make a recommendation for a user who has several memory needs.

Main Activity

Introduce the topic: to choose memory devices/media for a given user who has a range of memory needs that need to be catered for. The sample person
described below can be adjusted locally to suit needs – or a real person can role play their needs.
Worksheet 1 has a person description, detailing their requirements.
Students should make a recommendation for the person – in any format. They need to recommend:
● the solution for each ‘problem’ described
● why they have recommended each solution
● possible costs.
●

Plenary

Students should report on their recommendations. Draw out reasons for choices (Ask: Why did you choose that? What makes it suitable? Is there a key factor for
the choice? Can you explain why that factor is key?). There is no ideal solution but students might mention weight, size requirements, portability, etc.

Additional Activity

Students should suggest two solutions for each problem, and rank each solution using a grading system they decide on.

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 Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

None. Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 8, Worksheet 1
Recommended software: If no Internet is available, appropriate printed materials to use as reference for
research.
None.

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 9
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Assessing the Students should be familiar with and user, CO9.1E Be able to select the appropriate storage device for a particular task
memory needs of understand memory types and recommendation and justify the choice.
an organisation characteristics.
and making
recommendations
for solutions

Teaching Summary

Students research issues in a school in terms of the range of memory needs and then make recommendations.

Main Activity

Use Worksheet 1 as a stimulus for the task. Explain that students will make recommendations for memory solutions for a school. If it is possible to find out about
your school, that would be best, but if that is not possible, then using the worksheet is fine.
This task is similar to Lesson 8, but this time it is for an organisation, not an individual.
In groups of two or three, students research the problems and then make recommendations. They can record their solutions in any way or format and teachers
can be as imaginative as they like with their scenarios. For example, students could pretend that they work for an IT support company and that they’ve had a
request from the school’s head teacher to provide some recommendations. The recommendations could then be written in the form of a letter to the head teacher.
At the end of the lesson, teachers ask groups to provide a solution to one of the problems. They receive feedback from peers on the appropriateness of their
solutions. It is important that they can justify their choices, so they will need to follow a ‘We recommend… because…’ format.

Plenary

Discuss students’ own memory needs. (In the light of this and the previous lesson, what do they save to memory? Have they ever run out of space, lost devices or
media? How about other devices at home?)

Additional Activity

Students might consider several factors in making a recommendation, and weigh each factor to come up with a solution, justifying their reason against the other
options, e.g. ‘Weight is seen as crucial and despite the costs a… is best because… ’.

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 Digital Resources

Hardware: Additional resources:

For STUDENT USE: Computers with Internet connection (desirable) Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Worksheet 1
Recommended software:
Web browser

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 Year 9, Unit 2: Sound and Storage, Lesson 10
Main Focus Prior Knowledge Key Vocabulary Curriculum Objectives

Review of Unit 2 Students should be familiar with the CO9.1D Be able to differentiate between storage devices and the media used
learning objectives for unit 2. to store data.
CO9.1E Be able to select the appropriate storage device for a particular task
and justify the choice.

Teaching Summary

Teacher to lead a review of the unit via a student-created mind map.

Main Activity

Students (working in groups of three or four) start the lesson with a mind-mapping exercise about the unit as a whole. With ‘Sound and Storage’ at the centre,
provide ‘legs’ for the mind map (as support if needed) such as:
● sound: sample rate, bit depth, compression
● file sizes: Mb, Gb
● media: magnetic, solid state, optical
● devices: drives, read/write
● characteristics: reliability, cost, read/write speed, energy usage, portability, memory size, physical size.
More able students can mind map from a blank page. They might map sound – storage devices, storage media, applications of memory.
On completion, ask students to share their mind maps with the class. Deal with any misconceptions.
Hand out Worksheet 1 and ask students to write their answers on the sheet.

Answers:
1. b; 2. b; 3. b; 4. c; 5. a; 6. b; 7. c; 8. Blu-ray, DVD, CD; 9. a; 10. a; 11. c.
Run through the answers with students. Choose a student to answer a question, then bounce the response to other students to see if they agree.

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 Plenary

In the final part of the lesson, ask students to carry out a unit review to include things they did well and things they need more practice with.

Additional Activity

None.

Digital Resources

Hardware: None. Additional resources:

Recommended software: None. Year 9, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Worksheet 1

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