Energy Cubes

I wasn't observing when the Energy Cube activity was introduced. However, after looking at the whiteboard photos, I am really intrigued by some of the drawings. First, I find it fascinating that the sound came out as its own form of energy. Sound seems to be more important in this class than in my high school classes when we discussed energy.
















































My students tend to ignore sound, or just lump it into the KE of molecules. Today during the class discussion when we were creating a consensus about our description of Thermal Energy and Sound, it was brought up that sound was not just vibrations, but had waves too. I don't know that all of the teachers as a class were really comfortable with the connection between sound and Thermal Energy, nor did they necessarily see any connection between them. Have you seen other examples of this happening in classes? It might be interesting to flush out their understanding a bit more. Table four mentions Heat loss, friction, and sound all in the same breath (Tuesday) but I don't know if this group distinguishes between them.