Sophie took 5 pages of notes on our field trip to Udvar Hazy and put this presentation together. She presented it to the class today. Bravo Sophie and Thanks!
Then we gave the students written instructions, dowel sticks, packaging tape and scissors and they assembled their kites. We gave them some cursory instructions on how to fly a kite and took them to Haines Point in Washington DC to fly them. The forecast was for rain, but it turned out to be the perfect day to fly kites (8 mph wind). It was fascinating to watch the kids figure out how to get their kites to fly. They experimented, watched each other, talked to their classmates, etc. Before you know it, everyone got their kites to fly. Everyone enjoyed themselves and felt successful.
Here are some answers to your questions that weren't answered in class...
Here is a video that summarizes all the information that we covered (and then some): The Brain's Role in Taste Carter wants to know "Can your taste buds get things wrong?" The students did a taste test where they were given two small glasses of lemon lime soda. They were asked to rate the one they liked best and explain why. I had two bottles of soda on the table - one was Sprite and the other was Wegman's lemon lime soda. I explained that Sprite was 2.5x more expensive. They were lead to believe that they had a glass of each (but I never actually said that), but in reality they had two glasses of Sprite. A handful of kids said the two glasses were identical, but many said they preferred one over the other and gave descriptions such as: It just goes to show you that your brain plays a role in your sense of taste. This has been proven again and again when it comes to wine (not that this would apply to students). People consistently say that expensive wine tastes better, even when it frequently doesn't prove out in blind taste tests. Spicy Foods Seneca had a question about spicy foods. I thought this might be a good way to end our talk on the 5 senses because spicy foods affect our taste, smell, and touch. Take a look at this video: Here are a couple of questions that I didn't get to in class...
Chloe wants to know "What is it <the nose> made of?"
According to the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, the human nose is made of bone, cartilage, skin and mucus membranes. The bone and cartilage provide the structure of the nose. The mucus membranes line the inside of the nose, and skin covers the outside. Source
SmellingNick wants to know "How does your nose trigger all the different smells?" Sophie wants to know "How the nose and the brain work together to know what a smell is?" Colin wants to know "How does the smell get to your brain.?" When you smell something - the air that you breath passes by the Olfactory Epithelium, a little (1 square inch) patch of skin. Olfactory is another way of saying "something having to do with smell". Chemical molecules (odors) dissolve in the Olfactory Epithelium where Olfactory Receptors respond to particular chemicals. You have 40,000,000 of these! These receptors are replaced every 4 to 8 weeks. The information is then passed to the nerves in the Olfactory Bulb which transmits the signals to the brain via the Olfactory Tract (a bundle of nerves).
How are Smell and Taste Related? Jack S wanted to know "What makes it taste in your nose?"
Odors coming from eating and drinking are also detected by the Olfactory Epithelium. Here's a fun video that shows an experiment of how smelling and eating can affect each other.
Ty wants to know "Why can I feel something when two atoms can't touch?" This is an interesting question. The following answer from Mousse_is_Optional on Reddit is one that I think is most understandable: You can take two permanent magnets, and use one to push the other across a table without ever actually touching one to the other. Same with atoms. The atoms of your hand and the atoms of the wall don't physically touch each other, but they're pushing on each other all the same. Your nerves "feel" this electromagnetic push, and your brain interprets it as touch because that's what makes the most sense on the macroscopic level. Source
Someone asked "I know there are pain receptors. What stimulus triggers pain?" The following stimulates the sensory nerve cells called nociceptors (source):
This lead me to wonder "If a knife cuts your finger, what is stimulating your pain receptors once the knife is gone (after the cut has been made)?" Here is the answer from klenow on Reddit (source): Cell damage is one of the big ones. When a cell pops open, it releases stuff (e.g., endothelin, bradykinins) that shouldn't be outside of the cell. This stuff hangs around and causes pain. Another factor is the arachidonic acid pathways. In response to damage, cells will start to convert membrane lipids into things eicosanoids. These are a class of molecules that do a lot of things to regulate the injury response. One of these things is cause pain (they also help stop blood loss and recruit inflammatory cells to the area). The "function" of the pain is to let you know you are injured and keep you from messing with it (and thereby worsening the injury). As an aside, it's these pathways that are partially blocked by NSAIDs like aspirin and ibuprofen.
The Brain's Role in Touch
Your Unanswered Questions
Interesting Things We Didn't Have Time to Cover
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Gretchen Komnik & Evelyn Chaleki Gallery
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June 2017
CategoriesSnow Day Rituals
Here are some rituals our fourth graders do when they hope for a snow day:
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