Theories of Sound: Exploring through imagination, experimentation, and collaborative discovery

Written by Nellie Gibson, Early Childhood Foundations Teacher

In ECF 5, we recently delved into the fascinating concept of children as builders of theories - ideas formed through imagination, experimentation, and collaborative discovery. 

This journey led us to an intriguing question posed by Yulia, a student in our class: "How does sound move?" And so, our theorising began.

Another class member, Wells shared, "The sound moves because the earth and sun and everything around it makes it move." A further student, Caleb, added, "When you clap it, the lines that you can't really see go there without the air blowing it. It just goes without the air." These early ideas opened a gateway to deeper exploration.

As we investigated how sound travels, Thomas and Caleb began to reflect on the very nature of theories themselves:

Caleb: "What is a theory?"
Thomas: "A theory is like a story."
Caleb: "It's like a story that never ends."
Thomas: "It might be a dream, just like a story that connects together and then it gets into a theory."

Through hands-on experimentation, the children expressed their evolving understandings in creative ways: drawing, sculpting, constructing, and capturing sounds from their environment. Their curiosity soon turned toward the idea of 'sound catchers': devices or designs to capture and hold sound.

Yulia theorised, "The sound goes into your ear and it keeps on going into your brain. And then you can draw it." Luisa imagined, "It floats. So it vibrates. When you clap then the sound goes off your hands and there are some lines that you actually don’t see." Caleb observed, "We have learned that sounds can be made by lots of things… not just instruments but other stuff."

Inspired by these ideas, the children began designing ways to catch and hold sound:

Wynter: "We can build something that we can make sounds."
Caleb: "We can try to build something that can keep the sound in it so it doesn't run away."
Thomas: "We can take the top of it and listen to the sound that we made to see if we could know how to make the sound."

Their explorations expanded with the use of recording apps on the iPad, capturing and revisiting the sounds they created. A special highlight of this journey was the collaboration with musician Dr Nick Haywood, who visited our classroom with his double bass. The children not only felt the vibrations of the instrument, but also worked with Dr Haywood to compose and record their own 'sound catching' compositions using symbols and a written score.

The class’ musical exploration culminated in a final performance of their composition. Our Theatre Manager, Joshua Stewart, provided invaluable support, helping us film and record the children's performance - a celebration of their ongoing inquiry.

The children continue to build their theories about how sound is created, how it moves, and how we might ‘capture’ it.