Step 3: Engineering 1.Materials: Properties and Characteristics of Materials. Design and Make Ear Defenders
The Koala class (Senior Infants) read the story Peace at Last. In the story Daddy Bear couldn’t sleep because it was too noisy. Using the story as a stimulus the class designed and made ear defenders using used yoghurt cartons and string. The children brought in their own teddy bears to test the ear defenders with.
The class used 4 different materials to test the best material to put into their ear defenders. We recorded our predictions on a worksheet beforehand. We played music to test each material. The materials we tested included cotton wool, newspaper, socks and tin foil. We found that cotton wool was the best sound insulator for the ear defenders.