Curricular Resources > 1981 Volume IV > Unit 10 (81.04.10) > Section 12

Writing Across the Curriculum

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 81.04.10

Unit Guide

Perception and Sense Organs A Writing Unit for Biology

Elisabet O. Orville

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TABLE OF INVERTEBRATE PHOTOTAXIC RESPONSES

Euglena	positive
Daphnia	somewhat positive
Brine shrimp	positive (ventral surface towards light)
Sow bugs	negative
Fruit flies	positive
Pond snails	negative
Earthworms	negative

Materials needed ; (work in teams of two)

microscope and slides

magnifying glass (there are 15 at the Teachers institute)

shoebox

penlight ( 15 available at the Teachers Institute)

petri dish

foil

dropper

various invertebrates

To the students: You have studied eyes and vision in humans. Most invertebrates (animals without backbones) have simple eyes which can’t form pictures the way our eyes do. They can perceive light though and will usually move towards it (positively phototaxic) or away from it (negatively phototaxic).

In this lab you will investigate the responses of various invertebrates to light and then try to answer three questions about each:

1. Is the animal positively or negatively phototaxic?
2. Make an educated guess as to how that response is useful to the animal.
3. Look for the animal’s eye(s) using the microscope or magnifying glass.
4. Draw the animal and describe its behavior.

Procedure for Euglena;

1. Pour some Euglena into the petri dish and cover (water should look green).
2. Wrap the petri dish tightly in foil.
3. Cut a small hole in the middle of the foil and shine the penlight on it for a few minutes.
4. What do you notice when you remove tie foil?
5. Why do Euglena respond to light in this way?
6. Put a drop of Euglena culture on a slide and observe under a microscope.
7. Do you see a red eyespot?
8. Write down all the things that Euglena do and draw one.

Procedure for the Other Invertebrates;

1. Use only the bottom of the shoebox and turn it over. Then cut a hole in the middle of the box the same diameter as the penlight. Cut a viewing slit in the side of the box so you can watch the responses of the animals.
2. Put the invertebrates into the petri dish and place under the center of shoebox.
3. Shine the penlight through hole onto middle of petri dish and observe response of animals.
4. Why do you think it responds to light in this way?
5. Using magnifying glass or microscope find the eye(s) of the animal.
6. Write down all your observations and draw one animal.

At the end of the lab there will be an INVERTEBRATE PHOTOTAXIS CONFERENCE so we all can compare results.

LESSON 2: Writing Science Fiction—Perception on Imaginary Planets

To the teacher: In this writing exercise, which comes at the end of the unit, students are asked to write about imaginary planets whose inhabitants rely almost wholly on one sense for survival.

Remind your students that different animals on Earth rely on different senses in order to get food, escape predators and find mates. ( vision; birds of prey and most predators: hearing ; bats, dolphins and nocturnal animals in general: smell ; sharks, salmon and moths: touch ; earthworms, cockroaches and spiders)

An animal that relies mainly on hearing will of course have much more developed ears than an animal that relies mainly on smell. It will also have a totally different perception of the world it lives in than an animal with highly developed olfactory organs.

Encourage your students to use their imaginations when they write their science fiction stories.

To the students: Imagine a planet where the imaginary animals rely mainly on the sense of smell ( or hearing or vision or touch).

1. Draw one of these animals showing its sense organs.
2. Give your animal a scientific name.
3. Describe the environment on this planet.
4. Describe a day in the life of this imaginary animal telling how it locates food and friends and stays away from danger.

LESSON 3: Crossword Puzzle of Perception and Sense Organs

(figure available in print form)

A Review of the Unit

Across:

1. Jelly like substance that fills the eyeball.
4. Cells in retina that see black and white.
5. The _____ nerve carries impulses from ear to brain.
8. Humans can’t see ultraviolet but this insect can.
9. The “white” of the eye.
10. Small, round, clear, it focuses light on the retina of the eye.
11. This plant closes its leaves when you touch it.
14. A system of raised dots that blind people can read.
15. The sense of _____ is located in our skin.
19. Most mammals can’t see _____ because they have only rods in eyes.
20. A structure of the eye that controls the amount of light that enters.
21. The transparent front of the eye.
22. It is coiled like a snail and located in the inner ear.
23. Sound that is too high for human ears.
26. A membrane of skin between outer and middle ears.
27. A synonym for smell.
28. The place where the optic nerve exits from the retina is called the blind _____ .
29. Bats can hear sounds with a _____ of 150,000 vibrations/sec.
30. Light is waves of energy coming from the _____ .

Down:

1. The most important sense for humans.
2. Three little bones in the middle ear that vibrate with sound.
3. Don’t trust your eyes when you look at one of these.
4. The inner layer of the eye that contains cones and rods.
6. This is an important sense for nocturnal animals.
7. A destructive insect. The male finds the female by her smell.
8. This flying mammal catches insects at night.
12. Daphnia and Euglena have one simple _____ that responds to light.
13. Bats find insects by bouncing ultrasound off them. This is called .
16. The _____ nerve carries impulses from the nose to the brain.
17. Humans can see colors because of cells in our retina called _____ .
18. The semicircular help us keep our balance.
24. Many people have learned to communicate by sign language.
25. All our sense organs send their messages to the by nerves.

ANSWERS: (figure available in print form) DIAGRAM 1: THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM (wave length in meters) (figure available in print form) DIAGRAM 2: THE HUMAN EYE (figure available in print form) DIAGRAM 3: OPTICAL ILLUSIONS

a. Optical illustrations of perspective

(figure available in print form) b. Optical illusions that are reversible images (figure available in print form) c. Optical illusions that are impossibilities (figure available in print form) DIAGRAM 4: THE HUMAN EAR (figure available in print form) DIAGRAM 5: CARD PATTERNS FOR ESP EXPERIMENT (figure available in print form)

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