Pre-lab activity for the Special Senses
This is a partially developed activity description. It is included in the collection because it contains ideas useful for teaching even though it is incomplete.This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project
In this activity, students identify organs involved in the 5 special senses. They must identify each organ's location and function and then explain why each sense is vital to survival of the human species. The idea is to get them thinking about how our senses have evolved and if they are still "vital" to our survival. The students have not received this information from lecture material when they do the activity so it makes them look things up on their own. We then discuss their answers throughout the lab session that week.
Context for Use
This activity is an example of Just-in-Time Teaching.