This week we have been learning about sound, how every sound is caused by vibrations and how sound waves travel through the air to our ears.
During these IPC lessons we have worked with the topic in different ways. First we watched a movie about how the ear works.
We hear sounds:
- Sound waves travel through the air to the ear to bring sounds to us. The sound waves then make the eardrum vibrate.
- The ossicles (the hammer, anvil and stirrup) make the fluid and the hair in the cochlea vibrate.
We speak and make sounds. We pressed two fingers against the bony part of the throat and we could feel the vibrations when we were speaking. Our vocal cords vibrate 120-240 times per second when we speak. We watched two movies to learn more about the vocal cords.
We can even feel sounds. We worked in pairs and hummed and talked with our mouths pressed into a balloon while the other person pressed the ear against the balloon. The reaction from the pupils was that it tickled! Correct! It tickles because sound vibrates!
We sang the vibration song, where we learn that motion is vibration and that vibration is what causes sound.
We can even see sounds… We were amazed that we can see the sound waves and the vibrations that a single tone is making. We watched a movie about sound waves, where salt on a metal plate connected to a tone generator vibrated and created geometric patterns. They were beautiful!
We then started working with the different patterns for an art activity where we will print our favourite sound wave pattern. We are learning a new printing technique, lino block relief printing, and we will soon be able to show our new art work in the hallway.
Resilience
We started by making a sketch of our favourite pattern on a piece of scrap paper. We then copied the pattern onto the piece of linoleum and used gouges to cut out the pattern. This was a bit tricky and we had to remind ourselves several times that the personal goal for this month is resilience.
Resilience, according to our brainstorming session, means that we should never give up, even when we face challenges. Pupils in Upper Primary explained the word resilience this way:
‘Try your best at challenges.’
‘Always try again. Never give up.’
‘Bounce back up on your feet.’
‘Be brave!’
‘Never say “I cannot learn this!” or “I can never do it!”.’
‘Help others when they find something really hard.’
‘Practice a lot. Practice for a long time. One day you will succeed!’