Hang up the phone

I don't make a habit of posting about school stuff here for a number of reasons, but I just have to share this one.

This term I've introduced a new (mini) programme for half an hour every Tuesday: Science of Sound.  It is my one bit of the week that I really get to indulge in teaching my two passions: music and science.  Last week we explored all the different sounds you can make just with your body.  Yes, we're talking 12 year olds, and so it did include the most spectacular belch and a mini-fart, but they weren't expecting me to then challenge them to do it again without any movement whatsoever.  Needless to say, this added to their conclusion that SOMETHING has to move in order for a sound to be made.

Today each group of three was given 2 tin cans, a hammer, a nail and a piece of string.  I simply asked them to use hammer and nail to put a hole in the bottom of each can and tie the string through the hole.  Would you believe it, within minutes, they had finished this and spontaneously, naturally started exploring all the possibilities of their string telephones, full of natural curiosity.  I had not told them what they were making or what they were to do with it, but they came up with sounds and ideas with them I hadn't considered.

This, to me, is what teaching is all about.  Authentic, innate curiosity.  Children exploring in their own directions.  My main job then was to toss in some questions and challenges (How might the sound be getting from one end to the other?  If you twang the string, how can you make the sound louder or softer, higher or lower?  Are there any circumstances in which the sound will not travel along the string?).  They bounce off this, solving problems, asking new questions, and truly experiencing and learning about how sounds are made, transmitted and changed.  I have never been so happy as in my noisy classroom this afternoon.