Category Archives: MICROMODULE Overview

MICROMODULE Overview

MICROMODULE Overview

Title: Our Five Senses: Exploring How We Experience the World

Age Range

6-8 years (Grades 1-2)

Lessons

4 lessons (one focused on each sense grouping: sight, hearing, smell/taste, and touch)

LEARNING OBJECTIVE Statements

By the end of the unit, students will be able to:

  • Students will gain the ability to demonstrate their understanding of the unit’s key concepts by performing several tasks related to human senses.
  • Students should understand the five senses which include sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
  • Describe how our five senses function to collect information about our environment.
  • Perform basic experiments to examine the functionality of our sensory systems
  • Explain the way human senses collaborate to help us comprehend the world around us.
  • Understand how people adjust to limitations in one sensory function
  • Connect sensory experiences to everyday life situations

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL) Connections

  • Multiple Representation Methods: We will deliver content via videos, illustrations, hands-on activities, songs and interactive demonstrations to accommodate various learning styles
  • Multiple Engagement Approaches: The course activities will consist of solo exploration tasks along with paired exercises and group discussions while students work on choice-based projects to satisfy various learning preferences and requirements.
  • Multiple Expression Options: Students have the opportunity to show their understanding through drawings and digital recordings as well as physical demonstrations and verbal descriptions.

INTRODUCTION VIDEO Description

  • Title: “Meet Your Five Super Senses!”
  • Description: Students learn about the five senses from a friendly animated character in a 3-minute video that demonstrates sensory usage every day. The video demonstrates each sense function and the corresponding body parts while explaining the significance of our senses.
  • Accessibility: The video features straightforward narration along with visible captions and descriptive visuals while also providing audio descriptions. The video uses basic language and captivating visual elements to reach a broad range of students.

ESSENTIAL Questions

  • Our senses provide the information we need to understand our environment.
  • Why do we need different senses?
  • How do our senses work together?
  • What are the consequences if one of our sensory systems becomes impaired?
  • What methods help us explore our surroundings safely through our senses?
  • How do different animals use different senses?

INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT Overview

  • Content 1: “How Our Eyes Work” Video
    YouTube channels such as SciShow Kids and Science4Us offer short educational videos which explain eye functions by describing basic eye parts and how light enables vision. Select animated videos that last between 3 and 5 minutes and are suitable for children.
  • Content 2: “Hearing and Sound” Educational Video
    A BrainPOP Jr. video or an alternate educational resource that explains auditory system functioning. Educational videos explain ear structure and sound waves along with volume control through interactive age-appropriate content.
  • Content 3: “The Sense of Taste” Educational Video
    A Smile and Learn video that explains the sense of taste is important for humans basic needs when considering the effects it has on everyday life. Taste has nutritional factors that help differentiate between healthy and unhealthy, yummy and disgusting, spoiled or rotten, etc. Taste has a major role in humans pleasure in eating and influences the appetite. Taste is heavily reliant on smell, which will be discussed in your lesson plan.
  • Content 4: “How does the sense of smell work” Educational Video
    A Smile and Learn video that explains The sense of smell is important for humans basic needs when considering the effects it has on everyday life. Smell can help detect hazards, such as smoke from a fire, smell can help connect us to past memories and even forgotten memories. Smell has the influence of attraction, and malaise. Smell is an essential being in everyday life.
  • Content 5: How Your Skin Works Video
    The Nemour KidsHealth YouTube channel explains how the skin works in a fun, interactive way, via a conversation between two cartoon characters. The idea is to present the concepts to the students in a manner where one of the characters is also confused and asking questions, and the other is teaching them. The video is 6 minutes long and specifically made for kids.
  • Content 6: Skin diagram
    The skin diagram provided is more advanced, and more anatomically detailed. Here, the idea is to show the students exactly what our model of the skin looks like. Here, the students are challenged to apply their intuition gained from the video to learning the anatomy rigourously.
  • Content 7: ‘How Your Ears Work’ Educational Video
    A video by Nemour KidsHealth that is part of a series intended to teach kids how different parts of the body works. This video focuses on the ears and its delivery is suited for children with its cartoon style. Two characters interact with each other with one asking various questions and the other answering them. The video describes the parts of the ear and their function.
  • Content 8: Ear Diagram Quiz
    A supplemental teaching aid for the ‘How Your Ears Work’ Educational Video. It features a diagram of the ear similar to the one in the video and lets learners apply their knowledge on the location of the different parts of the ear.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES Sequence

  • Activity 1: “Sight Explorers”
    In this guided observation activity students examine everyday objects through magnifying glasses and document their observations with drawings and brief descriptions. Students will analyze their observations and explore how visual perception enables them to identify specific details.
  • Activity 2:“How Smell and Taste work together”
    The interactive learning activity demonstrates to students the combined functionality of their smell and taste senses through a blindfold taste test experiment. Students will observe significant changes in their food identification ability when their sense of smell is blocked compared to when it operates with their sense of taste.
  • Activity 3:“Exploring the Sense of Touch”
    This lesson uses video instruction alongside hands-on experimentation to teach students about how our sense of touch operates. Students will gain knowledge about the structure of skin as well as the functionality of touch receptors and the mechanisms our bodies use to sense textures and temperatures. The lesson consists of educational video viewing about skin structure followed by diagram examination and hands-on exploration in a “Tactile Treasure Hunt” activity which allows students to experience tactile sensations through various materials. Students will link their sensory experiences with daily life applications and safety concepts through collaborative activities and reflective exercises.
  • Activity 4:“How we Listen to the World”
    This instructional session designed for children aged 6 to 8 lasts 60 minutes to teach students about ear functions and the significance of hearing. The lesson starts with students participating in a sensory activity to listen to the sounds produced by different materials placed inside containers. Participants view an educational video about ear anatomy while they work through a diagram quiz to identify ear parts and their functions. The main activity, “What Have you Heard? Students participate in an exercise where they identify everyday sounds and then create drawings and rank them according to volume, pitch, and resonance. Students work both on their own and as teams to produce visual interpretations of the sounds they encounter and then work together to arrange these representations. Students review ear protection measures and safety procedures during the final discussion of the lesson. During this lesson students learn vocabulary for sound characteristics while understanding how hearing enables their interactions with the world.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

  • Teaching Strategies: Always prioritize safety by not tasting unknown substances and handling fragile objects carefully during tactile activities.
  • Potential Challenges: Teachers should identify students who have sensory sensitivities or impairments and implement suitable modifications for them.
  • Inclusive Considerations: Teach students to appreciate sensory diversity and adaptations by highlighting that individuals perceive senses in unique ways.
  • Extension Opportunities: Link activities to appropriate science standards about light waves sound waves and biology.

RESOURCES & REFERENCES