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FEEL WHAT YOU DON’t see
LISTEN AND GUESS
KITCHEN POTPOURRI
SOUND & DIRECTION
INERTIA
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/busking
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Can you feel what you don’t see?
Prepared by: Chin Chee Keong
Introduction
Our body is made up of different parts.
How sensitive are the different parts of our body?
What do we need?
3 pencils
Adhesive/Cellophane tape
What do we do?
1. Use some masking tape and tape two pencils together.
1
2. Get a person to place his palm facing up.
2
3. Ask the person to close his/her eyes.
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Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Chin Chee Keong
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4. Touch the tip of his / her finger once with the tip of one pencil.
5. Ask his/ her how many tips he / she felt.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 and touch the back of palm, neck and forehead.
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Body part
Number of pencils used Number of tips felt
Finger tip
1
Finger tip
2
Back of palm
1
Back of palm
2
Back of neck
1
Back of neck
2
Back of forehead
1
Back of forehead
2
Feel What You Don’t See
What happened?
How sensitive the skin is depends on the number of nerve endings present in the skin as well as the thickness of the epidermis. If the skin is very sensitive, one can accurately tell the number of times the pencil tips
touched the skin.
Curriculum Specifications Link
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Science Form 2: The Sensory Organs
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Biology Form 5: The Nervous System
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Chin Chee Keong
PET
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Listen and Guess
Prepared by: Rohaizad Mohamed Akhir
Introduction
Observation is a science process skill that is often misunderstood as being limited to ‘seeing’ with our eyes. The
purpose of this activity is to highlight the fact that observation actually encompasses the usage of other senses
as well, which in this case is the sense of hearing.
What do we need?
10 dark/black film canisters (labelled A-j)
Five 1 cent coins
1 tablespoonful of:
Lux
Fine sand
Rice grains
Cooking Oil
Small gravel
Water
Small screws
Paper clips
Soap (cut into small cubes)
Apple (cut into small cubes)
What do we do?
1. In a film canister labeled A, add one tablespoonful of water.
Close the lid.
Water
1
A
2. In another film canister labeled B, put five 1 cent coins.
Close the lid.
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Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Rohaizad Mohamed Akhir
B
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3. Do the same for the cooking oil, rice grain, fine sand,
small gravel, small screws, paperclips, soap and apple cubes.
Cooking oil
3
C
4. Label the film canisters respectively up to J.
A B C D
E F G H J
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5. Shake the canisters next to your ear and listen to the
sounds produced.
a. What kind of sounds do you hear? (Soft/rusting/sloshing/clicking etc).
b. Can you guess or name the materials inside the canisters?
5
A
What’s happening?
As you shake each canister, the materials inside them will hit against each other and against the canister’s
inner wall.
This will cause the wall of the canister to vibrate, which leads to vibration of the air molecules. This gets
transformed into sound energy.
We detect sound energy by using the ear - our hearing organ. Hearing is one of the five senses we make
use of in making a scientific observation.
The other four senses are: smell (nose), touch (skin), sight (eye) and taste (tongue),
Curriculum Specifications Link
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Science Year 1: Our sense organs
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Science Year 1 to 6: Science Process Skills
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Rohaizad Mohamed Akhir
PET
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Kitchen Potpouri
Prepared by: Bebe Zarjan bt Mirbas Khan
Introduction:
Can you identify food just by smelling it?
What you need?
1 turmeric leaf
A blindfold
3 curry leaves
4 kesum leaves
Some rubber bands
13 small plastic bags
1 pandan leaf
Preparation
1. Place a curry leaf in a plastic bag as an observation sample.
1
2. Cut netting cloth into 4 small squares of 6cm x 6cm.
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Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Bebe Zarjan bt Mirbas Khan
netting cloth
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3. Cut the remaining remove curry leaves and put it into a square
netting cloth and secure it with a rubber band.
4. Place the potpourri in a small plastic bag, so the smell
doesn't mix.
5. Repeat steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 with other leaves.
6. Also prepare a few bags of potpourri by mixing two types of
leaves together.
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What to do :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Ask a friend to observe the samples in the plastic bags.
Blindfold him/her.
Bring the small potpourri bags to his/her nose.
Ask him/her to identify the leaves.
Record the number of correct answers.
Repeat the activity with the mixed leaves potpourri.
Was he/she able to identify all the leaves according to their natural scents?
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What’s happening?
Our nose is an important sensory organ. We smell things through the nerve cells that have hairy projections.
These projections are covered with receptors that are sensitive to odour molecules in the air. There are at
least 10 million receptors in our nose. When the receptors detect an odour, they send nerve signals to the
brain. The brain identifies the odour. A good smell makes the food we eat tastier because the sense of smell
works closely with the taste buds.
Curriculum Specifications Link
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Science Year 1: Smell (Our Senses)
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Bebe Zarjan bt Mirbas Khan
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Sound & Direction
Prepared by: Chin Chee Keong
Introduction
How well can you tell the direction of a sound source?
What do we need?
•You and a friend
What do we do?
1. Have someone sit on a chair.
2. Tell him/her to close his/her eyes.
3. Snap your fingers above, at the front and back of his/her head.
4. That person has to tell the position of your hand each time you snap your fingers.
Did he/she guess the position correctly?
Bird’s eye view of the head and finger snap locations (Red)
X Front
X
What’s happening?
X
Back
We can tell the direction of sound source based on the strength of sound that reaches our left and right ear
respectively. When you snap your fingers at the center of the head, the ears receive the sound with equal
intensity, causing confusion and difficulty in identifying the direction of the sound source correctly.
Curriculum Specifications Link
• Science FORM 2: Sensory Organs
• Biology FORM 5: Nervous System
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Chin Chee Keong
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50 se
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3.CARD AND COIN
What do we need?
50 sen
1 coin, the heavier the better
1 playing card or business card
Card and Coin
What do I do?
1. Balance a playing card on the tip of your forefinger.
2. Place a coin at the centre of the card so both of the card and coin is balanced.
3. With your other hand, rapidly draw the card away from your forefinger.
4. What happens to the coin?
50 sen
1
50 sen
2
50 sen
3
What’s happening?
Although the card was pulled away, the coin stayed on the forefinger. This shows that the coin
has inertia. Inertia is the reluctance of a body to move/stop when it is at rest/in motion.
Curriculum Specifications Link
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Physics Form 4: Inertia
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Aziah Yahaya
PET
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In a Spin
Prepared by: Aziah Yahaya
Introduction
This simple activity is to introduce the concept of inertia in the classroom.
What do we need?
A raw egg
A hard-boiled egg
A Smooth table
What do we do?
1. Place the eggs in the middle of a smooth table.
2. Spin both eggs at the same time.
3. Gently touch both eggs with your forefingers, and then quickly take your fingers away.
4. What happens to each egg?
What’s happening?
The hard-boiled egg stopped spinning after it was touched. However, the raw egg continued to
spin as the liquid inside it was still spinning.
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Aziah Yahaya
PET
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2.SPINNING
What do we need?
•Yourself
What do we do?
1. Position yourself outdoors in an open area.
2. Turn around or spin rapidly for five times.
3. Sit on the ground.
4. How do you feel?
What’s happening?
You will feel dizzy for a short time after you stop spinning. This is due to the movement of the
Teacher fellowship program 2006/COL/Busking
Prepared by: Aziah Yahaya