However, only ten of these studies address sound (Barman 1996; Borstad 1989; Eshach and

Schwartz 2006; Linder 1987, 1992, 1993; Linder and Erickson 1989; Maurines 1993; Mazens 1997;

Rosser 1998) and our literature review located only seven additional studies (Hrepic et al. 2002;

Lautrey and Mazens 2004; Leite and Afonso 2001; Mazens and Lautrey 2003; Treagust 2001;

Wittmann et al. 1999, 2003). Furthermore, much of the research examines understandings of sound

at the elementary or college level.

Students (from middle school, to university) tend to view sound as a substance with the physical

properties of matter rather than as a perturbation transmitted through the materials (Linder and

Erickson 1989; Mazens and Lautrey 2003; Wittmann et al. 1999), evidencing in some research a

sort of consistency also in middle school students (Eshach and Schwartz 2006).

This model on nature of sound is related and emerge also in a naïve idea on sound propagation

according to which sound travels as a particlelike object (15–24,26,27)

Students’ tends to represent (and consider) sound as a transverse perturbation, probably as

consequence of wave pictures and schematic representations of sound commonly used in textbooks

and lectures (Linder 1992), that also create a short circuit between the words and related concepts:

sound and sinusoidal, or in any case is a link created by the word wave usually connected with

sound that evokes images of water waves (Schwartz’s, 2006)

Gli studenti tendono spontaneamente a riferire delle proprie esperienze sensoriali sul suono sia di

tipo quotidiano sia in ambiente controllato di un laboratorio didattico con linguaggio quotidiano e

argomentazioni naive. È importante quindi basare la didattica sul suono sull’argomentazione e la

modellizzazione per costruire riferimenti concettuali scientifici (Kelly).

Houle, Barnett sottolineano come gli studenti tendano non distinguere proprietà e caratteristiche,

ovvero ad avere difficoltà a gestire i concetti che le descrivono, anche laddove si evidenziano buoni

esiti di apprendimento su aspetti anche complessi come quelli correlati a spettrogrammi o FFT.

Merino ha messo in luce le difficoltà degli studenti in merito a ai concetti di altezza e timbro del

suono (