Grade Six Science

How are you planning to celebrate our country’s anniversary of Independence? When did Guyana become an independent nation? How many years ago was that? Name the symbols that show that Guyana is a nation.

How was your past week? Have you received the results from your mock exam? How well did you perform? I’m sure you have improved from the last mock exam in February. Look carefully at the areas in which you are weak and work on strengthening them. Do remember to really pay attention to your teachers. Remember to work hard, help a friend who is struggling with understanding the work, and revise more often. Completing past papers is also a helpful practice.

In previous lessons we found out that we have five senses that help link our bodies to the world around us. We were reminded that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. Which organs do we taste with? smell with? Feel with? We also observed diagrams of the parts of the eye.

Let’s see how much you remember: Do you remember This

the name given to the hole at the front of the eye? what regulates the size of the hole?

on what is the image formed in the eye?

how the image is seen?

what interprets the image so that it is seen the right way?

what the outer ear is called?

what is the number of tiny bones found in the middle ear?

which part of the ear helps us to keep our balance?

week, we will take a look at the senses of smell, taste and touch and their organs.

Do you remember the last time that you had a bad cold? Your food probably didn’t seem to have much flavour. Most people think that they use only their tongues to taste food; but the odours that your nose picks up also help to give food its flavour. This is why it is difficult for a person with a stuffy nose to taste food.

The Tongue

Have you ever taken a close look at your tongue? Do so now with a mirror. You can see that it is covered with tiny bumps. Each bump has several taste buds in it. Each taste bud is made up of cells that are connected to nerve endings. The taste of food is picked up by these nerve cells.

The tongue can detect four different tastes. Did you know that? What are these tastes? That’s right. The tongue can tell us whether something is sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Look at the picture below.

Do you see the taste buds in different areas of tongue? They detect different tastes. On which part of your tongue could you taste: a piece of cake? a drop of lime juice? saltfish? grapefruit?

The Nose

Did you know that in the back of the inside of the nose are thousands of nerve endings? Look at the diagram and picture below.

When you breathe normally, very little air goes into the front part of the nose. Can you tell what happens when you sniff air? Sniffing causes air to rush up into the back of the nose. There the nerve endings pick up odours in the air. The nerve endings send signals to the brain. Have you ever sniffed a flower or some cologne? Signals your brain gets from that sniffing let you know how good the flower or cologne smells.

Another sense organ for us to look at is the skin. It can detect many things! What are some of them? Your skin can detect a mosquito on your arm. It can tell warm from cold. If someone squeezes your hand, your skin can detect the pressure. The skin also lets you know pain. How can the skin do all these things?

Look at the diagram above.

The Skin

As you can see, the top layer of skin is the epidermis. The epidermis has a thin waterproof covering made of dead cells. Below the epidermis is a thicker layer called the dermis.

There are many types of nerve endings in the skin. Some of the nerve endings are used when you touch something. Other nerve endings detect pain, pressure and changes in temperature. Having a sense organ that detects pain is important; so, we see the skin is important. Feeling pain is the way your body warns you that something is wrong. Can you imagine not being able to know that you cut your foot? What could happen if you could not feel this kind of pain?

Besides being a sense organ, the skin also protects you. It keeps out germs and helps to keep your body warm. It also protects you from the sun.

To care your skin, you should keep it clean. You should treat cuts and bruises properly. A cut should be washed and covered with a bandage.

That’s all for now. Until next week, DV, goodbye, Boys and Girls! Continue to be safe – wash your hands often, wear your masks, and try not to borrow, but use your own things.