How Our Bodies Take In Information With the Adventure Primes (4-5 year-olds)

In recent weeks the Adventure Primes have been thinking about the many ways that our bodies take in information about the world around us.

Teachers often ask students, "What do you notice?" so we began by checking in with the children about their understanding of what it means to notice and how exactly our bodies notice things.

What does it mean to notice? How do we notice things? What parts of our body do we use to notice?

H  Notice means see something that other people don’t see.

N  If you don’t see it, or see it in a different way. You can use your eyes.

V Touching things.

E  You can notice with hearing.

R  You can… you know my mom told me that you can actually kind of see things through your nose.

V That’s smelling.

R  Another person sees another thing different. 

Q Your brain notices things.

H  And then you can know about it because of your brain.

H  You can smell something, like you can notice a bad smell.

N  If we could use our feet, like step on things.

F  I notice when I step on an acorn!

K  Tasting is noticing.

H  These are all our senses. Using our senses help us notice.

After November break we introduced a classroom microscope, framing it as "a tool that helps us notice details that our eyes might not be powerful enough to see."

Now, the microscope is available daily during free choice time. Adventure Primes often choose to sketch or draw what they see while observing a variety of objects, both natural and human-made. 

Last week we offered opportunities to practice the skill of noticing while trying out two classic science experiments: Mixing vinegar and baking soda, and mixing cornstarch and water.

While the children experimented, they shared some of what they saw, heard, felt, and smelled.

Here are some comments the children made while mixing vinegar and baking soda (we also added blue and yellow paint to the vinegar):

" It smells like salt and vinegar potato chips."

"I can see it bubbling!"

"It's turning kind turquoise!"

"It's getting pretty watery."

"It's kind of gunky and it's gooey now."

"I'm going to make it more fizzy!"

"I can hear it bubbling."

Here's a bit of what we overheard while the children were mixing cornstarch and water to create "oobleck." Many children noticed that when they first added a small amount of water to the cornstarch, the powder became hard and crumbly. After adding a large amount of water, the mixture felt wetter and stickier."

"The powder kind of feels smooth and rough at the same time."

"I wonder if this is how people make cement."

"This is hard, too. Actually when I add water it gets harder."

"Maybe it's the powder that makes it harder."

"The pressure is firming up!"

"This is a good experiment. It's new information that water sometimes makes things wet, but it makes this feel dry."

"This is really gooey stuff now."

"Look, it's dripping off my spoon now!"

"It's getting thicker and harder to pick up when you add water."

"It's sinking and getting stickier!"

"It feels like goo and water mixed together."

"When you put a spoon in it, the spoon gets really yucky."

"Now mine looks like yogurt."

"It looks really shiny, but it's still hard and not that wet!"

In addition to the well-known senses, the children are learning that scientists have discovered that people have even more senses. 

We introduced the sense of interoception, explaining that:

 "People used to think we only had 5 senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Now, scientists are learning that we have other senses, too! One important sense is called interoception. This is the sense that tells us what is going on inside our bodies. When our body sends us signals to say that we are hungry or thirsty or cold or have to use the bathroom. Interoception helps us figure out what messages our body is sending us."

This is a new concept for the children (and for many adults). We are trying to familiarize the Adventure Primes with the interoception sense, and finding opportunities to narrate examples of using interoception in our day-to-day routines.

“You are eating snack a little early today. Your interoception told you that you are hungry now.”

"Oh wow, my interoception is letting me know that I am really thirsty. I am going to fill my water bottle and take a drink before I start reading this book."

“You put your gloves back on. Your interoception let you know that your hands were cold.”

"Interoception check! I notice that you don't have gloves or mittens on. How are your hands feeling?"