Year 4 are all ears in Science!

Year 4 have been learning all about the ear, how we hear and what sound waves look like this week! 

We often think of our ears as those flappy things to the sides of our faces which we use to hear sounds – but they are so much more than that! Do you know you actually hear your own voice more through the vibrations of the bones of your jaw than your ears, which is why you may think you sound very different than you expect on a recording (whey you hear your voice as others do through your ears?!)    
In fact, most of the working parts of your ear are tucked safely away out of sight. And it was this adventure into the unknown that Year 4 took as we made 3D medical scaled models up following instructions on our iPads, like the ones you get in a Lego kit. 

Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed bringing the ear models to life – some parts were really tricky to piece together – especially the ear drum or tympanic membrane (which was the tiny white bit!) which is what vibrates and sends this message along the auditory nerve to the brain where we translate this into a known sound or language. The other tricky part was getting the semi-circular canals and cochlea (in yellow) the right way round to fit! The job of these parts is a surprise to many who only think we use our ears for hearing – but these are for balance and tell us what way up we are! 

All the builds were photographed and then added to their PowerPoints where labels and detailed annotations of function and facts were added – they were worthy of a medical journal! We also learned the parts of a sound wave and that they can travel through the particles in solids, liquids and gases to our ears. We learned what waves looked like and very soon we could tell peaks from troughs and nodes and just by looking at a wave if the sound was quiet (short), loud (tall), high pitched (thin) or low pitched (wide).  

Absolutely outstanding work Year 4 – very well done indeed!