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Mystery of the Senses—Touch
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Viewing Ideas
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Before Watching
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This episode explores some of the ways that humans use touch to
communicate. As a class, discuss when and why people touch each
other in daily life. What kind of touching do students commonly
see between children and adults? between a doctor and a patient?
between strangers? friends? members of a sports team? As
students watch this episode, have them write down the kinds of
touch they see and how each kind of touch affects its recipient.
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We often use our sense of touch in conjunction with other senses
to examine objects and materials. For instance, when we buy
clothes, we look at the style of the clothes, but we also feel
the cloth that the garments are made of. Ask students to list
some other situations when we use our sense of touch to gather
more information about an object. As students watch this
program, have them look for ways that people use their sense of
touch.
After Watching
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Build a "touch exploratorium" so that students can experience a
wide variety of touch sensations without the aid of vision.
Build a walkway or a tunnel that will be completely dark. Attach
several large refrigerator-sized boxes end to end. Collect
samples of materials with different textures, such as carpet
remnants, sheet metal, panty hose, rubber gloves, sand (in
plastic bags), dry beans (under cloth or in bags), grass, smooth
and bumpy plastic, StyrofoamTM, corrugated cardboard, rocks and
sandpaper. Secure the materials to the inside of the tunnel.
Have students crawl through using only their sense of touch to
examine the various textures. When they finish, ask them to
write down the names of the objects they have touched. Which
items were easiest to identify? Why? Which were most difficult?
Why? In what ways did students use any of their other senses to
identify the objects? Invite other classes to experience the
exploratorium.
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