“Let’s Hear It for Ears”

Age Groups suggested: 2^nd or 3^rd graders

Objective:

Students will be able to understand and explain how sound is heard and different parts of the ear and their functions. Given the Ranger Rick article, “Let’s Hear It for Ears,” students will see how ears help animals to survive and how each animal’s ears differ and serve different purposes.

Sources:

Mugford, S (2003). “Seeing Sound.” My Big Science Book, New York, NY, pg 21-22.

Richards, J (2000). “Sound and Music” The Science Factory. Brookfield, CT, pg 114-135.

Schleichert, E (2004) “Let’s Hear It for Ears.” Ranger Rick. Vol. 38. pg 4-9.

www.helpkidshear.org

Description of article-

The article talks about different animals and their use for ears. Animals that are described are elephants, rabbits, owls, frogs, bats, insects, and whales. The article does a good job of describing how the different ears work and their purposes. It has really good pictures that students will enjoy looking at and finding the animals’ ears. The pictures tell where the ears are and are circled so that they can locate the ears.

Why I chose this article:

I chose this article because children love animals. If children are interested in how sound works through animals then that is good. By learning about animal’s ears then students will also tie in how their ears work, how sound travels, and how humans hear. They can connect the two in how they are different and how they are the same.

Background:

Sound is air moving and the way that we perceive the air is the sound we hear. Eardrums pick up the vibrations and send the information to the brain, in which is perceived as sound. The pinna of the Outer ear is the part that collects the sound. The ear canal is where the earwax lies. The wax serves as keeping the ear canal clean. The eardrum vibrates when the sound hits it, sending signals to the brain. Animals use their ears also for hearing. They use their hearing to detect danger or search for prey. They can also use them for communicating like elephants, frogs, and beluga whales. Ears can also regulate their temperature like the black tailed jackrabbit. If an animal has huge ears then those aides in collecting sound waves.

Explanation of Lesson:

I will start off the lesson by hanging pictures of ears all over the room. I will be putting up both animal ears and human ears. This will engage students. When they first come into the classroom they will have a chance to look at all the pictures. This is so they can explore. Next, students will get into 3 groups, each sitting at a different table. On each table there will be a big model of the human ear. I will then ask what they think sound is. After possible answers are given we will conduct Experiment #1. (See Experiment #1 Explanation) We will then discuss how ears receive sound. As we discuss students will be able to see the ear up close and touch it. After this we will do the seeing sound experiment. This experiment shows how sound makes movement and how our ears pick up sound. (See Experiment #2 Explanation) After the experiments students will record what they saw. This will all be done on the first day. The second day will start off with the student’s coming in to see all the pictures of the human ears gone. All that will remain is the pictures of the animals’ ears. I will hand out copies of the “Let’s Hear It for Ears” article in the magazine Ranger Rick and as a class we will read the article and examine the pictures. We will discuss how ears help animals in the wild using the article, the article pictures, and the classroom pictures as guides. We will discuss ears as being helpful for survival, predator and prey relationships, emotions, communication, and temperature regulation. We will then play a little game that shows how ears help wit survival and food. (See Game Explanation) After we play the game we will see a short movie on animals and animal hearing entitled, “Animal Hearing.” The third day of class only the human ear pictures will be up and a huge diagram of the parts of the human ear. ON each table there will be a card labeled with Outer Ear, Middle Ear, or Inner Ear. We will then go to the computer lab to find out all the parts of each category and what they do. Groups will gather the information as a group and have it ready to present the following day. The next day students will tell the class their findings. We will label the big diagram and children can locate the parts on their own table’s model. We will talk about them as we go. On the tables there will be supplies to make an “artificial ear” (See Experiment Explanation #3) After this experiment is made and conducted I will go over it and explain what is going on.

Time	Project	Objective
10 Minutes	Looking at different pictures of humans and animal’s ear	Students will be able to see that all ears are different and get questions for later discussion
20 Minutes	Vibration project and discussion	Students will be aware that sound is air that is being moved. They will be able to feel it.
15 Minutes	Seeing Sound project and discussion	Students will be able to see that air travels in waves in different directions making things vibrate
30 Minutes	“Let’s Hear it for Ears” article and discussion	Students will notice that animals all have different ears and that the ears have different purposes
20 Minutes	Predator vs Prey Game	Students will understand through playing the game that ears play an important part in getting food and saving their lives.
20 Minutes	“Animal Hearing” video	Students will be able to see other animals in their natural habitat and learn by watching the video
5 Minutes	Showing the diagram and giving out part assignments	Students will now be able to see the ear and visualize where their parts are located
30 minutes	Researching assigned ear parts	Students will look through the internet to find important facts on their part
20 Minutes	Ear part presentations	Students will not only master their ear part but all the others through classmates’ presentation
30 Minutes	Making artificial ears	Students will actually see how their ear works by observing this experiment

Experiment #1 Explanation-

Using a piece of string, a rubber band, and metal spoon students will cut off a piece of the string then using the rubber band attach the spoon to the midpoint of the string. Students will then wrap the ends of the string around their fingers and rest their fingers in their ears. Next, standing next to a table they will rock their body back and forth so that the spoon taps against the side of the table. What happens is that the eardrums pick up the vibrations and send signals to the brain which interprets it as sound.

Experiment #2 Explanation-

By using a bowl, plastic wrap, rice, a metal tray, and a metal spoon students will see how sound waves make things vibrate. First, they will stretch the piece of plastic wrap over the bowl tightly, then scatter some rice over the wrap, and lastly hold the tray close to the bowl and hit it with the spoon. Students should see the rice move due to the sound waves sending vibrations. The human ear works in much the same way.

Experiment #3 Explanation-

Using cardboard, a straw, a ping pong ball, a foil tray, plastic wrap, glue, tape, and a bowl of water students will make an “artificial ear.” First they will make a cardboard base for the ear which is big enough to support the tray. They then will cut a hole from the bottom of the foil tray and stretch the plastic wrap over the top. Next they will cute one end of the straw and pull apart the halves. After that the straw is pushed into the ping pong ball and then they glue the flaps onto the ball. Then they will tap the other end of the straw to the middle of the plastic wrap. Lastly, they will place they foil tray on the stand and then place the bowl of water so that the ping pong rests on the water’s surface and speak into the straw to watch the ball bob up an down.

Game Explanation-

Some students will stand in the middle of the room with their eyes closed. Those are the prey. Other students will stand outside the circle. The game leader will point to one student at a time and have them make a small noise. Those are the predators. The students in the center will try to listen where the noises are coming from to determine the predators. They will first try it by just listening and then they will cup their hands behind their ears. Students will try to determine if it is easier to tell where the noises aer coming from with their ears cupped. The connection is that animals with bigger ears have better hearing.

Assessment:

Having a short quiz on the 3 main sections of the ear, which are the Inner Ear, Outer Ear, and Middle Ear, will assess students. They will have to show where the sections are on a diagram. I will also be watching throughout the lesson to notice class participation, knowledge of experiments, and the presentation about the ear.

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Jessica Drinkwine
Email: drin0348@mail.plattsburgh.edu
Site hosted by: SUNY Plattsburgh
last updated: August 31, 2006