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ParkWise
> Teachers >
Nature > Fly
Away! > Unit Outline
Activity
6:
Homing Experiment
Students
perform their own experiment on sense of direction in humans.
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Unit:
Fly Away
Guiding Question:
What cues does an
animal use to know when to migrate? How do animals orient
and navigate during migration?
Critical Content: Animals
follow seasonal and life-history cues to know when to migrate.
Animals use specific senses to navigate on their way.
Grades: 3-8
Duration: 45-60
minutes
Group size: small
groups of 2-3 students.
Setting: Outdoors,
preferably.
Materials: Blindfolds,
one for each group. Copies of the
Homing
Experiment Worksheet
for each student.
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Procedures:
Students
will gather data to see if there is evidence that humans are able
to locate a building after being turned around while blindfolded,
or if they are able to indicate north after being turned around.
They will then answer questions and draw conclusions from their
results.
- As a class, develop a hypothesis or pose a question for scientific
inquiry concerning humans ability to locate when blindfolded.
- Identify which direction is north so all students are oriented
correctly.
- Fill in the "Before you begin" section of the Homing
Experiment Worksheet.
- One student will blindfold another. Have one student walk the
blindfolded student around in an unpredictable pattern for 2 minutes.
They may spin them a few times but not enough to make them dizzy.
You want to try to disorient them.
- When two minutes are up, the student should be asked to point
north. Record the results on the worksheet.
- Students should be blindfolded again and this time after 2 minutes
they should be asked to point to the school building. The data
should be recorded on the worksheet.
- Conduct three trials for each student, taking turns and recording
the results as they go.
- Complete the remainder of the worksheet.
Discussion
Questions:
- Do you think humans have an innate sense of direction?
- What cues did the students use to orient themselves while blindfolded?
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