Making waves at Caister-on-Sea

Anna Cullingford, UEA and Di Holmes, Caister Middle School

I joined the TSN having a pretty good idea of what I would be in for. I worked in a school environment for 6 years before coming to the John Innes Centre, both as a special needs welfare assistant and as a senior science technician, and I found I enjoyed working with children.

Before my first visit to Caistor-on-Sea Middle School, my teacher partner asked the children in year 7 to draw what they thought I, their scientist, would look like, and what work I might do. I was not surprised to see that nearly all the drawings show middle-aged males, balding with beards and wearing glasses. They were a bit vague about what they thought I did: 'test things to see if they work out' was the general opinion.

So far, I have talked to them about how we carry out experiments, the importance of keeping detailed notes, and health and safety issues etc. My last visit, which was to do with their current topic, sound, saw me arrive with a car load of bits and pieces: my daughter's electric guitar and amplifier, an acoustic guitar and a borrowed oscilloscope as well as a load of everyday objects such as bottles, elastic bands, and wine glasses. I took small groups of children out of the lesson to expand the topic further with them, and using the guitars and objects I had brought with me, we investigated the sounds they made and found out about pitch and loudness and looked at their waveforms on the oscilloscope.