Science – understanding sounds are vibrations
In Science, Year 4 had great fun exploring how sound travels through different mediums. The children worked together to make their own string telephones using cups and string, then tested them to see if they could hear each other from a distance.
After carefully constructing their telephones, the children discovered that when one person spoke into a cup, the sound vibrations travelled along the solid medium (the string) to the other cup. They tested variables such as the string lengths and the string tension and quickly realised the string needed to be pulled tight to help the sound waves travel across the string for the sound to be heard clearly.
The class discussed how sound moves through vibrations and how these vibrations can travel through different materials. The string telephones helped the children see (and hear!) this in action. It was a fantastic, practical lesson that sparked lots of curiosity, teamwork and scientific thinking.
