Exploring the Senses

Name___________________________

Sight:
At this station, you will go to 2 websites. At the first website is a
list of optical illusions. Explore these. Pick 2 to describe below.
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html

1. Name:
Description:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Name:
Description:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Why do you think optical illusions are possible?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__

At the second website, you will look at some Ishihara plates.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/ishihara.htm

What are Ishihara plates?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__

How might colorblindness affect someone?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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Touch
At this station, you will explore how our bodies respond to
temperature. To start, stick your right hand in the bowl of ice
water and your left hand in the bowl of hot water. Leave them in
the bowls for 30 seconds. Move both hands to the middle bowl.
Did your right hand feel warm or cold in the middle bowl? (circle)
Did your left hand feel warm or cold in the middle bowl? (circle)
Is the water in the same bowl (middle bowl) a different
temperature? If not, why would your hands feel like a different
temperature?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__
Is your body good at measuring temperature? Yes or No?

Hearing
The first exploration you will be doing is about frequency. Go to
this website. http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hearthis-hearing-test/ Listen to each of the frequency
What is the lowest you can hear? _________________________
What is the highest you can hear? __________________________
Why might some people be able to hear frequencies that othis/her
people cant?
________________________________________________________________
Why might some animals be able to hear frequencies that
humans cant (ex. Dog whistle)?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Make a String Telephone

What you'll need:

2 paper cups

A sharp pencil or sewing needle to help poke holes

String (kite string and fishing lines work well)

Instructions:
1. Cut a long piece of string, you can experiment with different lengths but perhaps 20 metres (66
feet) is a good place to start.
2. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.
3. Thread the string through each cup and tie knots at each end to stop it pulling through the cup
(alternatively you can use a paper clip, washis/her or similar small object to hold the string in
place).
4. Move into position with you and a friend holding the cups at a distance that makes the string tight
(making sure the string isn't touching anything else).
5. One person talks into the cup while the othis/her puts the cup to their ear and listens, can you
hear each othis/her?

6. What's happening?
Speaking into the cup creates sound waves which are converted into vibrations at the bottom of
the cup. The vibrations travel along the string and are converted back into sound waves at the
othis/her end so your friend can hear what you said. Sound travels through the air but it travels
even better through solids such as your cup and string, allowing you to hear sounds that might be
too far away when traveling through the air.
Source: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/projects/stringphone.html

Taste and Smell

Have you ever noticed that your tongue is bumpy? These bumps are taste-buds. Each tastebud has a specific flavor that it senses. These flavors include sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
Are this/here certain parts of your tongue that can taste certain flavors? To test this, try to use
different parts of your tongue to taste a chip, candy, and a lemon. Below, draw a picture of your
tongue and label sweet, salty, and sour whis/here you can best taste each flavor.

Now taste something while holding your nose closed.

Does this change the taste? _____________________________________________________
Does smell have something to do with taste? ________________________________________

Reflexes

Procedure
1.

Ask your partner to sit in the chair with good upright posture and eyes looking
across the room.

2.

Have the partner place his/her forearm (the part of the arm from elbow to hand)
so it extends over the edge of the table.

3.

Ask the partner to place his/her thumb and index (pointer) finger on eithis/her
side of the bottom of the vertically placed ruler. The number 1 should be on the
bottom, the 30 near the top.

4.

Let your partner practice holding the ruler with those two fingers.

5.

Now, ask your partner to remove his/her fingers from the ruler while you continue
hold it so that the bottom of the ruler is at a height of 2cm above his/her fingers.

6.

Tell your partner that you will release the ruler without telling his/her. His/her job
will be to catch it with his/her thumb and forefinger as soon as she senses it dropping.

7.

Drop the ruler. When your partner catches it, record the number on the ruler
displayed just over his/her thumb. The lower the number, the faster his/her reaction
time.

8.

Conduct several trials with the same partner, dropping the ruler from 2cm above
his/her fingers each time.

1 Make sure to record the results for each trial in the table below.
Source: http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/biology_oops/

Name

Trial 1 (cm)

Trial 2 (cm)

Trial 3 (cm)

Trial 4 (cm)

Did your reaction rate get faster? ___________________________________________

Why do you think that this might have happened?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Exit ticket question: How do senses and reflexes help us?