Science Fact & Fun: Making Sense of It Teacher s Guide

Transcription

1 Teacher s Guide Grade Level: K-3 Curriculum Focus: Life Science Lesson Duration: Two class periods Program Description Science Fact & Fun: Making Sense of It Our senses are important scientific tools. This video demonstrates how scientists and students use their five senses to observe and investigate their surroundings. Geologists use the sense of sight and touch to identify rocks while ecologists apply hearing, sight, smell, and even taste in studying nature. All five senses are used to classify and identify everyday objects. Discussion Questions What are your five senses? Why are your five senses important scientific tools? If you cannot see, what other senses help you learn about the world around you? Why is it important to use more than just your eyes when studying a plant, an animal, or an object? Lesson Plan Student Objectives Make observations utilizing all the senses. Identify living organisms and nonliving objects through use of the senses. Materials Science Fact & Fun: Making Sense Of It video and VCR, or DVD and DVD player, or access to the program in downloadable or streaming format online Computer with Internet access feet of rope with knots tied at intervals of approximately 18 inches Bandanas or blindfolds one for each student Print resources about local ecosystems, plants, and animals Optional: Chart paper and markers Optional: still or video camera to record the sensory hike

2 Teacher s Guide 2 Procedures 1. A sensory hike allows students to use their five senses in an outdoor setting. Your school's playground or a nearby park or field will serve as a convenient location for this activity. To ensure plenty of open space for your students and to allow optimum use of their hearing, plan this activity for a time when no other large groups of students are using your chosen site. 2. Before the sensory hike, read aloud, or ask students to read, books about local habitats. This will familiarize students with the plants and animals they might encounter on the hike. 3. To prepare for the sensory hike, tie one knot for each student in your class along a piece of rope 30 or 40 feet in length. According to the size of your students, space the knots at 12- or 18-inch intervals. If possible, have one or two older students or parents volunteer to accompany your class on the hike. 4. Before beginning the activity, review the five senses with your students. What are our five senses? How can we explore our world with each one? Then, explain to the students that they will be going on a sensory hike. A sensory hike is a short walk that encourages students to use all their senses. During part of the trip, they will be blindfolded. Ask the students what they believe the purpose is in removing the sense of sight. What happens when we cannot see? What other senses do we have to rely on? 5. Next, ask students what they think they will hear, see, smell, taste, or touch on the hike. Using a chalkboard or chart paper, make a prediction chart from their responses. Label five columns with "See," "Hear," "Smell," "Touch," and "Taste." In each column list the creatures and objects they think they might encounter with that sense. Some items will appear in more than one column, while others might be in only one. For example, they may hear a bird but not see it. Or they might see a bird without hearing it. If it s windy, they will feel the air, but won t see it. Encourage students to list a wide range of living and nonliving things. 6. Explain the procedures for the hike. Once outside, each student will be assigned a place along the rope. They will hold onto their knot on the rope until an adult or other volunteer asks them to release it. At the beginning of the hike, students will be blindfolded. So, it is important to be careful when walking. 7. Lead your class to the sensory hike site. Distribute the bandanas or blindfolds. Arrange students along the rope and blindfold them. Remind them to walk slowly and carefully. Next, lead them on a 5- or 10-minute walk around the area. If volunteers are available, space them out along the length of the rope to help guide students. Ask the students to be very quiet so they will hear your instructions as well as any tiny sounds that animals might make. Encourage students to think about all the things they can hear, smell, and feel. 8. Ask the students to stop and have them sit down, still holding the rope. What can they hear? What can they smell? Now, ask them to let go of the rope. Using their hands, have the students touch the ground around them. Have them pick up a small rock or twig. What does it feel like? Smell like? If you have sufficient volunteers to monitor the students, also ask them what their object tastes like instructing them to ask one of your volunteers whether their object is okay for tasting.

3 Teacher s Guide 3 9. Next, have students take off their blindfolds. Have one of the volunteers gather them up. Ask the students to look around carefully. What do they see? Are they surprised by anything? Do they see a bird that before they only heard? Can they now see a flower that they had only felt? 10. At the end of this part of the hike, ask students to stand and pick up their knot. Now, they will walk back to the classroom. Encourage them to continue with their observations. What can they now see on the return trip? 11. If possible, photograph or videotape the students as they participate in the sensory hike. When viewed later in the classroom, this helps students to discover creatures or other things they did not observe on the hike. 12. Back in the classroom, review the prediction chart. What other animals, plants, or objects did the students see, hear, smell, touch, or taste? Add new items to the chart. 13. In summary, ask students to list two things they saw, heard, smelled, touched, and/or tasted while on the hike. Accept duplicate answers but encourage unique ones. 14. Extension activities could include making a class big book about the sensory hike, having students make individual mini books of the plants and animals they observed, or creating a class riddle book featuring the different plants and animals students identified on the hike. 15. As a follow-up activity, have students read these texts created for primary students. Around One Cactus: Owls, Bats, and Leaping Rats Anthony D. Fredericks. Dawn Publications, Rhymes and colorful illustrations show the small community of living things that make their home in a giant saguaro cactus. Field Notes and Fantastic Facts encourage children to discover the wonders of this special habitat. Nature Upclose Series John Himmelman. Children's Press, Designed for primary students, these 32-page books combine realistic color paintings with one or two simple sentences per page. Titles include An Earthworm's Life, A Dandelion's Life, A House Spider's Life, A Hummingbird's Life, A Ladybug's Life, A Monarch Butterfly's Life, A Mouse's Life, and A Woodfrog's Life. One Small Square Series Donald M. Silver, McGraw-Hill, Detailed drawings and lively narrative help young readers investigate one small square of life in a variety of habitats. Titles include African Savanna, Arctic Tundra, Backyard, Cactus Desert, Cave, Coral Reef, Pond, Seashore, Swamp, Tropical Rainforest, and Woods. Under One Rock: Bugs, Slugs, and Other Ughs Anthony D. Fredericks. Dawn Publications, This short book reveals the hidden world of the creatures that live under rocks. Field Notes and Fantastic Facts also inspire children to take a peek beneath the next rock they find.

4 Teacher s Guide 4 Assessment Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students' work during this lesson. Vocabulary 3 points: Students were highly engaged in the sensory hike; identified many living and nonliving things from the hike; appeared to use all five senses on the hike. 2 points: Students participated in the sensory hike; identified some living and nonliving things from the hike; appeared to use most of their senses on the hike. 1 point: Students participated minimally in the sensory hike; identified few living and nonliving things from the hike; appeared to use few senses on the hike. classifying and identifying Definition: Putting objects into groups and then naming them Context: Scientists often classify and identify trees by the shape, color, and size of their leaves. ecologist Definition: Scientist who studies the relationships between living things and their surroundings Context: Ecologists spend a lot of time outdoors studying plants and animals in the places where they live. fungus Definition: Plantlike living things including mushrooms and toadstools that, unlike green plants, cannot make their own food through photosynthesis. Instead, they fed on dead plants and animals. Context: Shelf fungus and mushrooms help break down the wood of dead trees that litter the forest floor. geologist Definition: A scientist who studies rocks and the history of the earth Context: A geologist often scratches a rock with a sharp knife to test its hardness and find its true color. larval stage Definition: The part of an insect's life cycle after it has hatched from an egg and before it changes into a fully-formed adult Context: In its larval stage as a caterpillar, the graceful monarch butterfly crawls on leaves of the milkweed plant.

5 Teacher s Guide 5 senses Definition: Specialized body functions that allow humans and other animals to receive information through sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell Context: Our senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell help us learn about the world around us. Academic Standards American Association for the Advancement of Science Benchmarks for science literacy, developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), state what all students should know and be able to do in science, mathematics, and technology by the end of grades 2, 5, 8, and 12. To view the standards, visit this web site This lesson plan addresses the following national standards: The Nature of Science Scientific Inquiry: Students learn about things around them by just observing those things carefully. The Human Organism Basic Functions: The human body has parts that help it seek, find, and take in food when it feels hunger eyes and noses for detecting food. Senses can warn individuals about danger. Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) McREL's Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education addresses 14 content areas. To view the standards and benchmarks, visit This lesson plan addresses the following national standards: Science Life Sciences: Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms Science Nature of Science: Understands the nature of scientific inquiry Language Arts Viewing: Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media National Academy of Sciences The National Science Education Standards provide guidelines for teaching science as well as a coherent vision of what it means to be scientifically literate for students in grades K-12. To view the standards, visit This lesson plan addresses the following science standards: Life Science: The characteristics of organisms Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry; Understanding about scientific inquiry

6 Teacher s Guide 6 Support Materials Develop custom worksheets, educational puzzles, online quizzes, and more with the free teaching tools offered on the Discoveryschool.com Web site. Create and print support materials, or save them to a Custom Classroom account for future use. To learn more, visit Credit Kay Jackson, freelance education writer and nonfiction children's author