1. Alexander was a not a good student. His family sent him to spend time with his grandfather.
   What happened during this time in Alexander's life?
2. The family moves to Canada and Alex takes a job in Boston. He becomes curious.
   What was he curious about? What did he learn?
3. What is curiosity?
4. What are you curious about?

This eBook includes short biographies about several inventors.
Read Chapter 1 Alexander Graham Bell. Then, enjoy reading about the other inventors.

Click to Read the Book

Read about Alexander and answer the questions.

1. List four facts that you learned about Alexander.
2. Write a summary paragraph which includes these facts.

The Listening Stick

Sound & Vibration

Understanding Vibration & Pitch

1. What did you learn about the "listening stick"?
2. What did you learn about sound & vibration
3. How is pitch different than vibration?
4. Which video did you like best? Why?

Experiment 1 - Sound Collector

Materials

1. Large sheet of paper
2. Scotch Tape

Background Information

Everything that moves makes a sound by causing vibrations or movement of air. So this vibration or movement of air is the basis for sound. 

Our ears collect these air movements and change them to nerve signals that are sent to our brain. 

Our brain interprets these signals as sound.

So what if we could collect more sound waves than normal?  Would we have super-human hearing?  You bet.  In this experiment, we'll construct a sound collector . 

Directions:

1. Take the large sheet of paper and roll it into a cone shape.  One end should be as large as possible.  The smaller end should  have a hole about the size of a dime.
2. Tape the paper so the cone does not come unraveled.
3. Hold the narrow end of the cone to your ear.

WARNING: Do NOT stick the narrow end of the cone in your ear (it can damage your ears). 
Now, turn around the room noting carefully the sounds that you hear.

Our homemade hearing aid works by collecting the sound waves in the large end of the cone and funneling them through the narrow end of the cone into our ears. 

Since more sound waves are gathered than would normally be possible, you should find that you are able to hear quiet sounds much more clearly. 

You may notice that the shape of our ears naturally works the same way - they gather sound waves for us!

Adapted from: Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab