Room 8 1st class

First Class Room 8

Science: Investigating sounds

Introduction:

We tested a variety of materials to see which one was most effective in keeping sound out.

We tested sand and water by placing each material into two zip lock bags and placing them up to our ears as loud sounds played.

Result: The sand was much more effective for keeping sound out.

Investigation 1:

Using our hands and coats/scarves to keep sound out.

Materials: Sound source, coats/scarves, ourselves!

Procedure:

To begin this investigation we discussed the meaning of the word ‘sound’.

We then listened to a variety of sounds on the IWB.

Children then places their hands over their ears whilst the sounds played.

Then, they either used their scarves or put up their hoods in their coats to block out the sound.

We then discussed which worked better, our hands or fabric.

The result was varied as some fabrics are thicker than others. It was a 50/50 result.

Investigation 2:

What material keeps sound out the most effectively?

Materials:

Zip lock bags x4, sand, water, sound source, volunteers.

Procedure:

To begin this investigation, we discussed the previous sound related investigation. This time we were using two different materials, bags of sand and bags of water.

I played a sound from the sound source.

Each child got the opportunity to go up close to the sound source whilst holding bags of water up to their ears and then bags of sand up to their ears.

They took steps back from the sound source and counted the amount of steps that they took until they could no longer hear the sound.

The result was, when using the sand bags to conceal the sound the children had to take less steps away from the sound source.  When using the water bags to block out the sound, the children had to take many more steps away from the sound source as the water bags proved weaker than the sand for keeping the sound out.

Use of I.T and linkage to Maths:

We then wrote up our experiment and showcased it at the Science Fair.

There were many elements of maths in our experiment for example, we used non standard units (steps) to measure the distance at which the sound faded out when using the sand and water. There was a linkage to capacity as each bag needed to be filled with the same amount of sand and water  in order for the experiment to be fair.

I.T was used as we used our IWB as our sound source for the experiment.

We really enjoyed this experience and we now feel that we are better scientists as a result of all our hard work.