Today I participated in teaching some of the science of sound to three 2nd grade classes at my alma mater Saint Agatha School, East Milton. I went to this school beginning in 1950 when I entered the 2nd grade at the old convent school up on Father Carney Drive. The new school opened in 1951 and I entered the 3rd grade there. We had 45 boys and girls in each classroom, where now the size of the classes I visited appeared to be between 15-20. What a difference!
Manuel Barroso, who organized Science Week there four years ago, recruited me to do this. He and Eric Braun both work out of the Quincy Center for Innovation and were my partners in running the South Shore Science Festival, along with Parna Sarkar-Basu of Westwood, last Saturday, April 23. It's the second one we've done and is part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
Scott Swenson, also of Science Week, did the opening presentation to each class on engineering, engineered products used in everyday life, and different engineering careers. One of the careers mentioned was communications engineers, and I told the students that they were going to be communications engineers because we were making string-can telephones. The words in bold below are the words I put on the board.
Telephone = tele- (distant) -phone (sound) from the Greek.
Parent volunteers JoJo Foley and Kathleen Foley and Scott all helped with the logistics of poking the holes in the bottoms of the plastic cups, cutting the strings, and helping the kids insert and attach them to produce a working phone--no batteries or recharging needed!
THE SCIENCE INVOLVED:
First, put your fingers on your throat on each side of your vocal cords and feel them vibrate when you speak, cough, hum, whatever sound you want to make.
The vibration then passes through the medium of air as a sound wave.
When it reaches the string at the bottom of the cup, the vibration passes along the string -- as long as you keep the string taut (tight, no curves or bends) -- and then it enters cup 2.
Inside cup 2, the sound wave passes through the air till it reaches your eardrum, which also vibrates. Then the special bones inside your ear send a message to your brain, and you hear!
I showed the storybook where I first got the idea to play with string-can (or cup) telephones. It was The Berenstain Bears: No Girls Allowed. You can find science in so many stories if you know how to look for it. We finished up by reviewing again the science of sound involved with string-can telephones.
The kids had many questions for me, not only about my days as a student there but also about the project at hand this morning. I had a wonderful time -- my first time back in the classroom in over 10 years, way too long. Scott's wife Elizabeth Hill was there as the photographer, and I look forward to seeing the pictures and will try to add some here. The teachers whose classes I visited were: 2A Mrs. Leary, 2B Miss Donovan, and 2C Ms Marshall. I had a chance to meet Mr. Egan, the principal, who visited one of the classes. Ms. Marcelle Poteau, the school secretary, was very helpful when I arrived, and when I mentioned that I had graduated from the school, she produced a notepad and asked me for my contact information, as they're trying to compile a list of graduates.
Finally, I handed each child a leaflet* that I prepared illustrating two characters, one speaking into one of these phones, the other listening. Each child also got my business card, so I hope they will find this report about this morning's activity. Thanks to each of you, I had a great time!
* The leaflet gave me a chance to include something else I'm passionate about: Kilroy Was Here
The character on the left is a soldier, and into the phone he says "Kilroy was here." ...... The character on the receiving end on the right is the little guy with the long nose looking over a fence -- and he says, "Who?"
(If I ever learn how to scan, I'll put it in here.)
No comments:
Post a Comment