Education:Science Projects: Making Sense of It All
Senses are the way we perceive the world. There are five main senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. When you look at an animal, it's often easy to see which of its senses is most important. If an animal has a big nose, it usually means the animal has a great sense of smell—check out the nose on a pig! If an animal has big eyes, it usually means they have a great sense of sight—how about an owl?
Here is a fun experiment about senses. Remember, always do experiments with an adult watching and make sure you follow the instructions carefully.
What you need
- a slice of an onion
- 4 pieces of chocolate
- a blindfold
- a friend
- a bowl
What you do
1. Keep the chocolate and onion out of sight of your friend, so he/she doesn't know what's coming.
2. Blindfold your friend. Tell him/her that you are going to do a taste test.
3. Ask your friend to pinch his/her nose tight (breathe through the mouth).
4. Ask your friend to open wide, then put a piece of chocolate on his/her tongue.
5. Ask: What do you taste?
6. Record your data. Your friend can stop pinching his/her nose now, but keep the blindfold on.
7. Hold the onion under your friend's nose, then place another piece of chocolate in his/her mouth. Ask: What do you taste? Record your data.
8. Hold a piece of chocolate under your friend's nose. Put the chocolate in his/her mouth. Ask: What do you taste? Record your data.
9. What do your results tell you?
Humans rely on all their senses working together. We rely on our sense of smell to taste our food. Our eyes tell us what we are going to eat, and our smell helps us taste our food. Weird, huh? NOW—one final thing. We don't want to waste anything. Your friend got to eat three pieces of chocolate. To end the experiment, why don't you eat the ONION? Yummy!!!
Catch Dr. Zoolittle in an entertaining show in the San Diego Zoo's Children's Zoo daily during the summer and every weekend and school holiday.
