Try Angle

Students use an Etch A Sketch® device to trace a triangle shape, erase it, and repeat the trace a couple of times to test the effect that repetition has on the ease or difficulty of a task.

This Is Cool

A student tests heat/cold sensitivity by dipping a finger into containers of cold and warm water. Human sensory systems are highly adaptable. This activity demonstrates the process of sensory adaptation. Students investigate how the perception of temperature changes under three separate conditions. They also relate the process of sensory adaptation to homeostasis.

Tell Me About It

Two partners face each other; one builds a structure that the other cannot see. The builder describes the structure and the partner tries to build the same structure following only verbal instructions.

Once the partner's structure has been built, both builders discuss what parts of the brain may have been involved and consider the difficulty or ease of this activity. Key concepts include mirror neurons and memory.

Memory Box

Two students work together - one opens a box and looks at the contents for 10 seconds then, with the box closed, tells the other student all the items remembered. The task is repeated with a second box. Will more items be remembered the second time?

Heads or Tails

Students try to identify heads or tails on a penny by touch.

Get the Point(s)

Students create a tool with 2 points (eraser and 2 pins with plastic heads, for example) and work in pairs to test the sensitivity of the skin on their arms, fingers, and hands.

Do The Stroop

Students read two lists of color words - the second of which shows the word printed in a color different from the one the word represents - and ask their peers to identify which of the lists was more challenging and why.

Cool Tool

Using pencils, students explore touch and temperature sensitivity by finding cool receptors on their skin. Optional: Display Frames may be purchased at www.displays2go.com/product.asp?ID=520 or you may call to order them at 1-800-572-2194

Suggested keywords to use when describing your experiment and to find more information on this subject include: primary sensory cortex, cortical homunculus, thermoreceptor, and brain topographic map.

Blind Spot

Students move a test strip through their field of vision and determine at which position one of the symbols disappears, thus identifying their blind spot.

Experiential Station