|
Overview: Children
use their sense of smell to observe a variety of scent
containers, find matching pairs and infer scents, and learn
about the sense of smell in humans and other animals.
Booklink: Body
Detectives: A Book About the Five Senses by Rita Golden Gelman,
Scholastic Inc., New York, 1994. ISBN 0-590-47019-1
Science Activity Link: Children
are arranged into two lines facing each other. One line is
designated "Parents." The other line "Babies." Parents select
one scent container, smell it, and are encouraged to remember
the scent. The same containers are then distributed to the
Babies. The Parents walk down the Baby line sniffing all
containers until they find their own (the one they originally
sniffed.). That child is their Baby. The activity is followed by
an identification of scents and a discussion of smell.
Objective: Children
will observe scents, infer their identity, and describe the
sense of smell.
Science Processes and Content: Processes-observing,
inferring, and communicating. Content-the sense of smell and how
it works and how humans and other animals use smell.
National Science Education Standards: Unifying
Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (3) Life
Science, and (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Materials: Book
Body Detectives, film cans, cotton balls, masking tape, and a
variety of materials for scents e.g. vanilla, vinegar,
peppermint, maple, lemon, rubbing alcohol, Vick's Vaporub,
coconut, toothpaste, perfume, and others. Materials that you
already have at home in the kitchen or bathroom will likely work
just fine. You need only small amounts, one different scent for
every two children.
Procedure:
1. Before getting started, make 10 or 12 scent containers, one scent for every two children. In the film cans place 2 cotton balls down inside each. Now add a little of the scents, a different one to each can. How much scent material you will use differs with each scent. Soaking is usually not necessary. Now place a cotton ball on top of the other two. Each scent can with the cotton balls in it should look alike, to keep children from identifying them by sight. Finally, test the scents yourself to see if you can smell them.
2. Use tiny pieces of tape to mark the cans on both the tops and the bottoms. Use number on the tops of the lids and letters on the bottoms. Keep a key to these codes, for example 1-A vanilla, 2-F peppermint, 3-J witch hazel, and so on.
3. You might begin the lesson by using a KWL, by asking what the children know already about smell. Or you might begin by bringing to class a scent, asking them to close their eyes, wafting the scent into the room air and challenging them to identify what it is. You can share with them that the focus of this lesson is on the sense of smell.
4. Divide the class into two teams. Tell one team that they are the Parents and the other team, the Babies. Explain that each mammal has a scent that is different from all other mammals. Also tell them that each mammal's mother and/or father knows its Babies scent and can pick their Baby out of a group of similar Babies.
5. Have the Parents and Babies stand on opposite sides of the room facing each other. Give each of the Parents a film can with a scent in it. Tell them to take off the caps and keep them until the end of the lesson. Now tell them to smell the scent, the scent of their Baby, and commit it to memory--to remember it when they smell it again.
6. Collect the cans and mix them up, then give one to each Baby. Encourage the Babies to sniff the cans to observe their special scents.
7. Now explain that each Parent must try to find the right Baby by sniffing the cans. You can have each Parent take a turn or, to save time, have the Parents move down the line of babies sniffing them until they find their Baby. Once they think they have found their Baby, ask them to sit together and discuss the identity of the scent until all pairs of Parents and Babies are found.
8. Ask each group to identify (infer) their scent and share with them ( from your previously-made key) the scent's identity. Have them read you their letter and number combinations to determine whether the Parents have been successful in finding their Babies.
9. Smell, scents, and odors are then discussed, e.g.
| |
Human taste is based mostly on smell. |
| |
Smells in humans are linked
to long-term memory. |
| |
Human smells are sensed by
nerve endings in the upper nose and transmitted to the
brain. |
| |
Dogs sense of smell are about
a million times better than humans. |
| |
Many mammals use odors to
find food, signal mating, and establish territories. |
| |
Pheromones direct the
activities of bees, ants, wasps, and termites. |
10. Read and discuss the smell sections of Body Detectives.
Safety:
Do not use scents that may be harmful to children's noses, e.g. large amounts of ammonia.
Related Books:
Teacher Reference:
Amazing Mammals, Part 1, Nature Scope, National Wildlife Federation, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-07-047103-7 (The foregoing activity was taken, in part, from page 9, "Keeping Track of Baby.")
Children's Books:
What's That Smell?, Simon Spotlight, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999. ISBN 0-689-83567-6
The Best Smelling Alphabet Book Ever by Harriet Ziefert and Laura Rader, Little Simon, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-689-80160-2
Parts by Tedd Arnold, Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, 1997. ISBN 0-8037-2040-8
The Holes in Your Nose by Genichiro Yagyu, Kane/Miller Book Publishers, New York, 1994. ISBN 0-916291-50-2 |
