Table-Top Indian

Table-Top Indian

You will need: A watch.

Have you ever seen Western pictures where the Indian places his ear to the ground to listen for galloping horses?

We can prove that it is possible to hear galloping or any sound at a much greater distance in this way.

Sounds are carried more clearly through the earth than through the air.

Place a watch on top of the table at sufficient distance so that you can just hear it ticking. Cup your hand around your ear and notice how it helps to magnify the sound slightly.

Now place your ear on the table top. Notice how much more clearly you can hear the watch ticking? This is because the sound waves travel more easily through the wood than through the air.

Children learn best through doing

Before children can understand a thing, they need experience: seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, smelling; choosing, arranging, putting things together, taking things apart. Experimenting with real things.

Old-time school teaching used only words and the teachers thought children knew something if they could repeat it. Now we know better. To reach practical understanding we do not need to use many words with young children.

Children are clever. They learn a lot, without being taught. The greatest skill - to be able to talk, to communicate is learnt outside school. In the classroom it's the children who need to talk the most. Unfortunately it is the teacher who does most of the talking!