Your Senses and You! Background Information: The five senses are sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. The sense of sight, which uses your eyes, determines colors, shapes and light. The sense of touch, which uses all of your body except for hair and nails, identifies textures and feelings of substances. The sense of hearing, which uses your ears and ear drums, takes in vibrations in the air and turns it into sound. The sense of smell, which uses your nose, differentiates smells and is very connected to the sense of taste. The sense of taste, which uses your tongue, divides food into four flavors: sweet, salty, bitter and sour. Without your sense of smell, it is very difficult to taste as well. Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to have first grade students identify and demonstrate uses of the five senses of the body. Hypothesis: After conducting the experiment, students will have used their senses in new ways and discovered how each of the senses work. Materials: ● a series of optical illusions ● textures for students to feel ○ sandpaper ○ duct tape ○ plastic ○ fake fur ○ cotton ○ lotion ○ silk ● handkerchiefs for blindfolding ● objects / actions that make sounds ○ a jar of pennies ○ a bell ○ paper ripping ○ clapping ○ snapping ● food coloring ● different liquids with distinctive smells ○ lemon juice (colored red) ○ chocolate milk (colored blue) ○ marshmallow sauce (colored green) ○ hand sanitizer (colored orange) ● poster with a diagram of the tongue and areas with what it tastes ● cut outs of foods (salty, sweet, sour, bitter) ● pencils Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011
Procedures: Testing your sense of SIGHT 1. Pick three of the five optical illusions around the room. 2. Start at one optical illusion. 3. Stare at the optical illusion for 60 seconds. 4. Describe how the picture looked after a minute. Does it appear to be moving? Has it changed color? 5. Record all observations in the data table below. 6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 for each optical illusion. Describe what the picture looked like before staring at it for 60 seconds.
Describe what happened while you were staring at the picture.
Optical Illusion 1
Optical Illusion 2
Optical Illusion 3
Testing your sense of TOUCH 1. Pick 4 of the textures laid out to be felt. 2. Feel each of the textures with fingertips, elbows and knees. 3. Describe the textures of each. Did it feel different depending on the body part you used? Was it smooth, fuzzy, rough, sticky, greasy, soft? 4. Record all observations in the data table below.
Material
How did it feel?
Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011
Sandpaper Duct Tape Plastic Fake fur Cotton Lotion Silk
Testing your sense of HEARING 1. Find a partner. 2. One partner blindfolds the other partner so nothing is visible. 3. The partner who is not blindfolded picks 3 “sounds� out. 4. If you are blindfolded, listen carefully as your partner makes the sound next to your ear. 5. Try to identify the sounds. 6. Switch positions (the partner who was blindfolded is now making the sounds, while the other partner is blindfolded. 7. Record guesses in the data table below. 8. Compare to what the actual sound was.
Partner 1
Gues s
Actual Answer (ex. jar of pennies, bell, paper ripping, clapping, snapping)
Sound 1 Sound 2 Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011
Sound 3
Partner 2
Gues s
Actual Sound (ex. jar of pennies, bell, paper ripping, clapping, snapping)
Sound 1 Sound 2 Sound 3 Testing your sense of SMELL 1. Pick three of the different colored liquids to smell. 2. Smell each one separately and record what you think the liquid is. 3. Compare to the actual liquid.
Gues s
Actual Liquid (ex. lemon juice, chocolate milk, marshmallow sauce, hand sanitizer)
Smell 1 Smell 2 Smell 3 Testing your sense of TASTE 1. Organize the food cut-outs into four categories: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. 2. Place each food onto the correct section of tastebuds on the poster of a tongue. 3. Label the sections of the tongue below with the flavors it tastes (salty, sweet, sour and bitter)
Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011
Data Analysis: Sight 1. Which optical illusion was the most confusing? 2. How did each optical illusion change over time? Touch 1. Did the textures feel different depending on the body part you used to feel it? 2. Are there any parts of your body that cannot feel? Hearing 1. Was it hard to guess what each sound was? 2. How many did you guess correctly? Smell 1. Was it hard to guess what each smell was because they were the wrong color? 2. How do your eyes and nose work together to identify liquids or objects? Taste 1. What are the four groups of tastebuds? 2. Describe where each taste is on the tongue. 3. Give an example of a food that would go in each taste. Teacher Notes: â—? The best way to set up this lab would be set it up in stations and have students rotate through in small groups. That way, it can be done in a shorter amount of time. â—? Setting up the experiment Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011
○ Sight: Print pictures of optical illusions (up to your discretion depending on the students’ levels) and put them around the station for students to look at. ○ Touch: Obtain different textures for students to feel. Set them out where students can easily feel them with fingertips, elbows and knees. ○ Hearing: Gather the objects that make some of the sounds (jar of pennies, bell, etc.). Set out objects and blindfolds for students to use. ○ Smell: Gather all the liquids and place them in equal size cups (ex. dixie cup). Dye the liquids with food coloring based on the materials. ○ Taste: Create a giant poster of a tongue. Cut out various foods that are obviously sweet, salty, bitter or sour (at least three foods per category). Have tape or poster putty on the backs of the cutouts. Hang the poster up where students can easily add the cutouts to the poster. ● For all experiments there are multiple options for students to choose from. Do not let them do all options. Procedures direct how many they should pick. ● For higher level students, include experiments and questions that combine the senses, demonstrating how they are connected. ○ Have them research a connection between smell and taste. What happens to taste when the sense of smell is obstructed? ○ Which sense is most reliable for identifying substances (ex. objects, liquids, etc.)? ○ Do other senses overlap? If yes, which ones and how do they work together? If no, explain why not. ● Optical illusions and parts of the experiment that are not expected would be the best way to introduce the lab because students would be more likely to want to find out more.
Created by: Addy Buigas-Lopez and Ashley Loyd Coppell High School Anatomy 2011