Investigating Sound
Ms. Brennan’s Senior Infants and 1st Class explored their sense of sound. They investigated sounds in their environment. They heard birds chirping, squeezing of the sanitizer, the banging of the gate, the clanging of the metal, the rustling of the leaves, the cars driving and the banging of a hammer.
Children then learned how sound is made by vibrations that cause sound waves that travel through the air to our outer then go into our inner ear through the ear canal. These waves hit our ear drum which cause vibrations to enter the cochlea which then sends messages to our brain. Checkout this excellent explanation of how our sense of hearing works.
Children then explored sound further investigating how they could make higher and lower sounds by adjusting the distance the sound had to travel.
Finally, children investigated whether or not they could see sound.
They tested both grains of rice and grains of sugar to see if sound vibrations would cause them to move. The result was that both grains moved following banging of a pot beside it. They concluded it was easier to see the grains of sugar move because they were lighter.
Finally children wrote up their investigations.
Magnetic or Non-Magnetic?
Ms. Brennan’s class learned that magnets can act as a force on different objects by pushing and pulling them. They then investigated different materials in the classroom to test if they were magnetic (attracted to magnets) or non-magnetic (not attracted to magnets). Check out their results!
Children then used this new language magnetic and non-magnetic in context to communicate their results.
Strongest Magnet
Ms. Russell’s 2nd and 3rd class investigated different magnets and tested to see which one was the strongest. They explored ball magnets, disk magnets, wand magnets and horse shoe magnets. They wrote up the investigations using our scientific method template.
