Saturday, SAVY Day 1 “Science of the Senses” (3rd/4th)
What a fantastic start to our SAVY adventure! This week, our young scholars launched into a journey of discovery by using their five senses to explore the world of matter. Their curiosity was sparked as they began thinking like designers—imagining, creating, and asking thoughtful questions.
We built on our understanding of matter by diving into the tiniest building blocks of everything around us: atoms! Students were full of insightful questions about how atoms work, and they’re already buzzing with excitement for next week’s hands-on chemical reactions with acids and bases. (If your student had to leave early, be sure to check out this video!)
To support their scientific thinking, students reviewed the scientific method and practiced using it as they explored with their senses. We also took a fascinating look inside the brain to learn how it helps us interpret sensory information—connecting science to how we experience the world.
Our exploration of taste was especially fun! Students learned how the tongue works and tested their knowledge in a popcorn lab, identifying flavors like sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. They made amazing connections between taste and smell, which we deepened with a Skittles experiment—comparing flavors with and without using their noses!
We continued our sensory journey by investigating smell. Students learned about the olfactory epithelium and how scent travels to the brain. Working like true scientists, they designed their own experiments to identify different odors such as orange, banana, mint, vanilla, and lemon. They even created graphs to analyze and share their findings.
To wrap up the day, students began designing their own learning games to review what they’ve learned about the senses. Their creativity truly shone as they designed game boards, wrote rules, and set goals. I can’t wait to play their finished games next week!
To further enrich your child’s understanding of these concepts, consider the following activities:
- Check out these notes and these notes on atoms: Students can learn more about the elements. As a challenge, students can create a model of an atom!
- Discover! Try these taste and smell experiments.
- Tasty Test: Does an apple, lemon, and onion really taste the same?! Try eating without smelling. Follow the scientific method to investigate.
- Flavor Blind Test: Blindfold participants and give them small samples of sweet, salty, sour, umami, or bitter foods. This shows how taste and smell work together to identify flavors.
- Tongue Map Activity: Ask participants to notice where on their tongue they perceive different tastes, highlighting that taste is distributed across the tongue rather than confined to specific regions.
- Scent Identification: Place different scented objects (herbs, spices, fruits) in small containers, blindfold participants, and ask them to identify the scent. This can also show how memory is linked to odors.
- Cold vs. Warm Smell Test: Explore whether temperature affects scent perception by comparing the smell of cold versus room-temperature food. Remember to hypothesize first!
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. I look forward to another week of discovery, learning, and more sensory science!