Thursday, November 17, 2011

Ch. 5/6 SENSATION FAIR... it's sensational!!!

The 3rd Annual Stranahan Classic Sensation Fair 2011

ANNOUNCEMENT: 2ND PERIOD WILL HAVE BOTH SENSATION FAIR AND TEST ON THE SAME DAY THIS FRIDAY DEC. 1. WE HAVE AN EXTENDED PERIOD SO BE PREPARED FOR SENSATION FAIR AND TEST 5/6. DO YOUR ONLINE QUIZZES AND BRING COMPLETED FLASHCARDS WITH YOU!

SENSATION FAIR INFO:

You and your group will be assigned a station based on one of the senses. The purpose of each station is to give a better perspective on sensation and perception.

Projects are due on Wednesday, November 30 for period 3
and Friday, December 2 for period 2. On this day we will hold the Sensation Fair! You will have 10 minutes for setup and the fair will run for the rest of the period. Feel free to invite teachers or other faculty members to participate!

Sensation Fair Instructions for Individual and Group Grades:

Group responsibilities:Create labeled visuals that show how your sense works and display them at your booth. Include:
a. a visual that shows how the sensation is detected (sense organ) as well as
b. one that shows how the sense is perceived (pathway/structures involved in brain).
c. visual(s) that are useful to understand your research (optical illusions if your question is about optical illusions, etc)

Individual responsibilities:
I. Create a FUN ‘sensory experience’ or demonstration of some sort that demonstrates the biological principles associated with the sense. The demonstration should be one that people can participate in or try when they come to your booth at the sensation fair! It should only take two minutes maximum to complete your demonstration. Directions for each station are recommended; please print them out so that fair-goers can travel through your station quicker. Two people in a group may work together to prepare a demo. There must be at lease two activities per group.

III. Research a question regarding your assigned sense. Ideally your question and demonstration will match.
Display the question and your research findings at your station, along with two (2) sources you use to answer your question!
Research must be typed, cite sources APA style, and be at least one page. (times, double spaced, 1 inch margins)

One good question for all senses could be: How is the development of (your sense) affected by nature and how is it affected by nurture?
Your question can be anything related to the sense that is of interest to you.
Below are more sample questions to research - you may use one of these or choose your own.
SIGHT
- Why do some people need glasses? How do glasses improve vision?
- What causes nearsightedness? How is it different from farsightedness?
- How does corrective laser eye surgery work? How does it improve vision? What risks are involved?
- Why are some people colorblind?
- How do optical illusions work? How do they “fool” your brain?
- How do red-and-blue “3D glasses” work?
HEARING
- How do sounds reach the brain?
- Why do some sounds have a low pitch, while others have a high pitch?
- Why are animals such as dogs able to hear sounds that humans cannot?
- When someone is “hard of hearing,” what are some possible causes?
SMELL
- Why do certain smells instantly evoke specific memories or feelings?
- How are the senses of smell and taste related?
- If you hold your nose while eating, how are tastes affected? Why?
TASTE
- How do taste buds work? How does the tongue recognize different tastes, such as the bitterness of a lemon or the sweetness of sugar?
- Which taste cannot be detected by the tip of your tongue: bitter, sour, salty, or sweet? Why?
-What does it mean to be a "super taster"?
TOUCH
- How does your hand tell the difference between hot and cold surfaces?
- How do blind people use braille to read?

Note
If you need a laptop at your station for your visual or for your demo, please let me know in advance! If your demo involves sound, please bring headphones that go outside of the ears for your peers to use :)

Other announcements:
-Notecards (Vocab cards and concept cards for each objective) for ch. 5 & 6 are due on Monday when we return from TG break.
-Test Chs. 5 & 6:
per. 3 on Thursday Dec. 1
per. 2 on Monday Dec. 5

HAVE FUN! PLEASE POST YOUR FIRST NAME, PERIOD, AND IDEA BELOW, I WILL CHECK PERIODICALLY AND COMMENT! THIS WAY WE WILL AVOID TWO PEOPLE IN A GROUP HAVING THE SAME QUESTION.