We started the sense of touch. Did you know the skin is your biggest sense organ with the most nerve endings? You have touch receptors all over your body including your lips and tongue! We did an activity students worked in pairs to describe how an object felt. There were soft stuffed animals, hot water, ice pack, etc. We determined that a single object can have multiple touch characteristics. For example, the ice pack was both hard and cold. We made a list of all the different descriptors. | Then we watched a really old Disney movie to learn more about touch. I selected this movie because it talks about how our sense of touch has adapted to help us survive and gives a good overview. It's an oldie, but goodie... |
The students determined that not all body parts have the same sensitivity. And more sensitive areas have more sense receptors. | Most - sensitive
| Least-Sensitive Belly Upper Arm Back Shoulder Thigh Calf |
Nervous System Colin wants to know "How the sense gets through your body" When your hand touches something, the touch receptor is activated and sends a signal through the nervous system to your brain where it processes the information. The brain can ask for more information or it can respond. |
The Brain's Role in Touch
Adaptation Here's a fun fact about our senses (not just touch). Our brains tune out the things that don't change - like the touch of the clothes against your body. It enables us to focus on just the things that are changing. It's called "adaptation". |
Pain Carter wants to know “how pain works”. Chloe wants to know “how does your brain reacts.” Pain helps protect us. Did you ever wonder why we automatically pull away when we feel sharp pain? In response to a sharp pain, the pain receptors send signals to the spinal cord which triggers an automatic muscle response. It is almost instantaneous and happens before the brain can register that the pain sensation has set in. Source |
Rubber Hand Illusion The rubber hand illusion demonstrates how the brain can be convinced it owns a body part that it doesn't. This is called "body ownership". | |