Studying Our Senses

In the lab, Studying Our Senses, students investigate how a person identifies different flavors of jellybeans, including the contribution of smell to taste sensations. Students also explore the surprising ways the brain interprets the patterns of light and dark that reach our eyes; visual illusions illustrate general principles of sensory processing.

Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format

Download Teacher Preparation Notes: PDF format or Word format

We invite comments on this Hands-On Activity and the accompanying Teacher Preparation Notes, including suggestions for other teachers who are planning to use the activity, useful preparatory or follow-up activities, additional resources or any questions you have related to the activity, or a brief description of any problem you might have encountered. If you have a relevant Word document you would like to have posted on this comments page, such as a version of the protocol you have used in your classroom, or if you would prefer to send your comments or questions in a private message, please write Ingrid Waldron at iwaldron@sas.upenn.edu.

See also a complete list of activities:
Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School and Middle School Students

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Comments

May 2009 revision of this activity

Submitted by iwaldron on Mon, 05/25/2009 - 11:45am.

The only changes in this revision of the Student Handout and Teacher Preparation Notes provide updated information on taste physiology.

The mammal in studying our senses

Submitted by Ingrid Waldron (guest) on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 6:57pm.

This is a picture of a cow, but hard to see because crucial edges are missing and many extraneous edges are shown; it's a terrible picture, but very useful for showing how much we emphasize edges in our processing of visual input. Some people find it easiest to see the cow if you look at the picture from some distance. If you still can't see the cow, it's a fun activity to show the picture to a bunch of friends or family members and very likely one of them will be able to see the cow and then show it to the rest of you.

Good luck!
Ingrid Waldron