Children Education System

The Way Things Work - Telecommunications & Other Amazing Discoveries (Vol 6)

"Humorous, informative and very educational. Explanations are clear and relevant, with necessary diagrams to explain exactly how things work...These are exceptional physics videos that merit a place in all educational collections." - USA School Library Journal

The Way Things Work is an animated children’s series based on the award-winning international best-selling book by David Macaulay. Each fun-filled episode enables children to understand how the principles of physics affect daily life. On the mythical Mammoth Island, a group of Islanders and their indigenous mammoths are caught up in a series of entertaining adventures which are motivated and inspired by their need to find solutions to various everyday problems. Our guide and interpreter, the Inventor, offers the islanders friendly advice and as they make their amazing discoveries we learn how these fundamentals apply to us today.

The series poses questions such as “Have you ever wondered what a wheelbarrow and a bottle opener have in common? “Did you know that a dentist's drill is a direct descendant of the first windmill?” and sets about explaining the answers using animation. From aircraft to zippers and axles to zoom lenses, The Way Things Work brings to life core principles of physics in a fun and engaging way for children.

SCIENCE CONCEPTS:

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The inventor introduces the telephone – a device that uses electricity, light and radio waves to transmit sound messages to improve the islanders’ primitive communication system.

SOUND: While herding their mammoths through a maze of canyons, someone sneezes and the sound reverberates, startling the timid mammoths and causing them to run away! The inhabitants learn how sound energy travels in waves and use the principles of sound to reunite the mammoths.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: At a concert, the inhabitants learn that sound waves of different frequencies result in different pitches, and instruments of those different pitches are combined to produce music. The islanders learn the principles behind various wind, string, brass and percussion instruments and the various sounds they produce.

PUMPS: Brenda's baking shed has caught fire and the Mammoth Island Fire Brigade arrives and attempts to put the fire out, using water-filled mammoths. With the help of the inventor and other islanders, Olive builds a water pump that is soon put to the test and saves the summer barbecue!

PRESSURE: The islanders work together to retrieve a wedding ring that has fallen down a sink drain. With the help of the inventor, they discover that a straw, plunger, vacuum and jackhammer are useful tools that operate by manipulating a force called pressure.