Welcome back to Ingenia’s Otolaryngology Clinic where you will be learning more about how ears work! Give a thumbs up if you remember what otolaryngology is focused on. (wait for student response: the ears, nose, and throat) Last time, you created and tested different animal ears. Which ones worked best for you? (Wait for student response)
Today, you’ll use all you’ve learned about ears and how they work to design a set of ears that are best for you. Your ears might be similar to human ears, animal ears, or they could be something completely different! To start, we’ll review some of the amazing animal ears that exist in nature.
Do Your Ears Hang Low Song and Dance [5 min]
Have students stand up and get ready to sing and dance to a familiar song: Do Your Ears Hang Low? Play through the song at least twice as students get familiar with the lyrics. Encourage children to dance like different animals with different kinds of ears as you go through each verse!
* Song recording and video on Youtube accredited to https://www.youtube.com/@muffinsongs
Song Discussion [10 min]
Script: Let’s talk about the different kinds of ears we heard about in the song and see if we can think of any animals that have ears like the ones described:
Materials: A projector and large screen for viewing would be helpful.
As a class, view the National Geographic Kids Animal Ears Gallery (Copyright © 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved).
Look through each of the eight pictures one at a time. Prompt students to guess what type of animal it is before reading the caption. Discuss the gallery images using one or more of the following prompts:
Using what they’ve learned from making animal ears and ears outside of nature, students will now determine the type of ear they’d want for themselves, construct it, and test it to see if it meets their requirements.
10 min Script: Last time, you designed your own set of animal ears and also tried making ears that don’t exist in nature. Ask:
Today, you’ll use what you’ve learned about the shape and size of ears to design the right ears for you. You’ll use The Right Ears for Me worksheet to document whether you want your ears to help you hear sounds better or to soften sounds and make it quieter. You’ll also think about size and shape.
[Show students the various materials] There are new materials, recyclables, you can use to make your ears.
After everyone has a set of ears, we will test out your new ears as a class.
35 min Dismiss students to complete the The Right Ears for Me worksheet, gather materials, and create their ears.
Materials:
Testing Procedure*
* Testing procedure simplified and adapted from this activity: LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE EARS (1 Hour) - Siemens STEM Day
Script: Today you used what you learned about shape and size of ears to design the right ears for you. Just like an Otolaryngologist, you had to learn about the parts of ears in order to know what size and shape of ears would help you hear the way you wanted. Let’s go around and share our ear designs and talk about the testing results! If students wish, have them share their ear designs. Encourage discussion and reflection using one or more of the following prompts:
Students can take home the ears they designed to show family and caregivers. Family and caregivers can be encouraged to ask students one or more of the following prompts:
Based on the tests run in class, students may wish to continue building or redesigning their ears at home! Encourage caregivers to provide students with materials to continue iterating on their Right Ears for Me designs at home.
