Welcome to the Communication Workshop at the Museum of Human Disease.

In this workshop you will be working in groups around twelve different stations

that have been set up within the Museum. At each station you will be

completing an activity to do with sight, sound or speech as well as the nerves

and the brain and their role in communication.

Important things to remember:

You will have TEN minutes at each station, please listen carefully to

instructions and move to the next station as quickly as possible.

For the courtesy of the group following you, we ask that you return all

items, activities and information to the way that you found it when

arriving at the station.

Make sure you read all instructions in your worksheet.

Biology: Communication Option Workshop Worksheets

NAME:

SCHOOL:

1. Read the “The eye: structure and function” info sheet provided at this station.

2. Find the set of laminated cards at your bench, showing:

Structure in a purple box and

Function in an orange box

3. Lay out all the cards on the bench and using the information you have been given, match

the structure cards to the function cards.

4. Once you have successfully matched each structure to function, fill in the questions

below.

In this station you will be looking at the structure and function of the human eye. (9.5.2)

Q. Which structures of the eye have a

function related to light?

Q. Which structures of the eye have a

function related to maintaining shape?

Optional Activity… Read the information on “The eyes of the giant squid”. Q. Why is it useful to giant squids to have such huge eyes? Q. How does the functioning of a giant squid eye differ to that of a human?

Q. List, in order, the structures of the eye, through which light passes to get to the retina.

.

In this station you will be looking at myopia and hyperopia and the use of concave and convex lenses

for sight correction. (9.5.3)

1. Read the “Myopia and Hyperopia” information given, and view the images of myopia

and hyperopia provided as well.

2. Find the set of four (4) cards and using the information provided match myopia and

hyperopia to the image of actual vision that you would see with each condition.

3. Once you have successfully matched both conditions, answer the questions below.

Q. Circle true or false for the statements below:

Short sightedness is the term used to define a person with hyperopia

A person with hyperopia will have clear vision when looking at objects that are far

away

In myopia the cornea or lens may be too weak

In hyperopia the eye is too short and the cornea may be too strong

There are two (2) pairs of glasses at this

station, one labelled +1.5 and another labelled

+3.0. Feel free to try them on. It will most likely

look very blurry. These are reading glasses and

are used to correct vision.

Q. If a positive number indicates hyperopia and

a negative number indicates myopia, which of

the following would be used for short

sightedness? (Circle the correct answer)

+0.3 -0.3

Q. Which lens type would a +0.3 set of glasses

be using? (Circle correct answer)

Convex Concave

Optional activity… Try the test for

short-sightedness.

Who do you see, Marilyn Munroe or Albert

Einstein?

How is this activity able to test for short-

sightedness? (How does it work?)

True/False

True/False

True/False

True/False

In this station you will be trying on a number of vision simulation glasses, demonstrating a number of

diseases and conditions of the eye.

At this station you will find a set of six (6) glasses, each pair simulating a different type of eye

disease. Try each set of glasses on to get an idea of what an individual might see with each

particular condition. Try the activities given on the activity sheet while wearing them. Once you

are ready move onto the activity below.

Dot points

1. Take out the laminated activity cards, there should be 18 cards all together.

2. Separate the cards into three piles as follows:

a. Pile 1: Name and description

b. Pile 2: Opthalmoscopic image

c. Pile 3: Actual view

3. Read the description of each disease and use the information given to match each disease

to its opthalmoscopic view and to actual vision.

4. Once you have correctly matched the set of cards, answer the questions below.

Q. Name three daily activities that

a person with tunnel vision might

find difficult?

Q. Can you think of some possible

causes of retinal detachment?

Q. What steps could you take to prevent a

condition such as diabetic retinopathy?

Q. Shade over the photograph below, to show

what a person with diabetic retinopathy might see.

In this station you will be learning about colour blindness and will perform a few colour blindness tests

to check for your own colour perception. (9.5.4)

Light travels and enters the eye in waves. Structures in the eye are able to detect these waves,

depending on the length of each incoming wave. The human eye has four types of light

receptors, these are:

Rods: These respond only to black, grey and white light

Red cones (Long wavelength)

Blue cones (Short wavelengths)

Green cones (Medium wavelengths)

Colour blindness is the inability or decreased ability to see colour and the most usual cause is a

fault in the development of one or more of the above mentioned cones.

Read the information provided on “colour blindness” and then complete the activities below.

There is a standard test for colour

blindness, known as the “Ishihara”

test. Five (5) Ishihara plates have

been provided for you to view and

try.

Q. Give the test a try. What

numbers can you see?

Q. List five daily activities that a person with colour

blindness might find difficult.

Q. What methods might you need to use for simple

tasks, such as getting dressed?

Q. How might colour blindness affect your career

options? List three careers/jobs that would require

you to have normal colour vision.

Optional activity… In what

way do other animal species

utilise colour vision for

communication purposes?

In this station you will be looking at human hearing and will develop an understanding of how the

human ear works. (9.5.6)

At this station you will find a large blue information board as well as a model of the human ear.

Use the information on the board provided to answer the questions below and to see if you can

identify the different structures on the ear model provided.

Q. Put the following

parts of the human

ear into the order in

which sound

progresses through

them (1-6).

____ Hammer

____ Ear canal

____ Anvil

____ Cochlea

____ Ear drum

____ Stirrup

Q. Why might a blocked Eustachian tube cause pain during a flight?

Q. Name three things you can do to protect

your hearing:

Optional activity… Try the audio

test on the iPad to check your

range of hearing. Enter results below

(lowest and highest frequency heard)

___________________________Hz

Q. What am I? (Use the blue board for information)

I am smaller than a grain of rice ___________

I am connect to the auditory nerve and I contain thousands of hair

cells and fluid _______________

I help you to detect where sound is coming from___________

I am an abnormal bone growth due to wind and water

irritation_________

I cause the eardrum to vibrate__________

I am sent along the auditory nerve to the brain__________

I am mainly responsible for your sense of balance__________

I allow fluid in the middle ear to be displaced____________

For this station you will be accessing a number of audios and videos on hearing and hearing loss

simulations, please make your way to the COMPUTER ROOM at the back of the museum.

1. Find a computer in the computer room.

2. Open up Mozilla (Firefox), by double clicking the icon on the desktop.

3. Enter the URL: www.diseasemuseum.wordpress.com

4. At the top of the page, you will notice the menu, which allows you to visit six separate

pages, each page associated with a particular part of this workshop.

5. For this activity, you will be looking at videos in STATION 3. Please open to this page.

6. Follow the instructions below to complete the activities.

If you are able to utilise headphones please do so, but they are not necessary. If you cannot

hear anything from your computer, check that the sound is not muted using the sound icon in

the bottom left of your screen.

Watch and listen to VIDEO 4. This video and audio simulates

mild, moderate and severe forms of hearing loss. Notice how

muffled the sound becomes and you are less able to

distinguish between each individual sound.

Now, watch and listen to AUDIO 13, “Unfair hearing/spelling

test”. Enter your results below into the three columns:

Listen to the following

videos, each simulate a

particular type of hearing

loss or device:

Video 3

Video 7

Video 5

Optional activity… Click on Station 2 and watch the two human larynx videos in preparation for station eight on sound production. You can also have a look at any of the other videos in station 2, on animal sound production and echolocation.

Device name:

For this station you will complete an adaptive tutorial on communication technologies using one of our

computers in the COMPUTER ROOM at the back of the museum. (9.5.6)

1. Find a computer in the computer room.

2. On the “desktop” you will find an icon titled “Communication Technologies”. Please

double click on this icon to open the program.

3. You should be looking at the first title page of the program “Human Communication &

Technology”. If not, please click on the blue “restart lesson” button in the top right hand

corner of the page.

4. You may now begin the tutorial by clicking the “next” button in the bottom right hand

corner.

5. Once you have successfully completed the tutorial and the “Let’s compare” section,

complete the activity below, by entering the type of energy transfer occurring.

Device name:

In this station you will be looking at frequency, amplitude, pitch and wavelength and will look at

human versus animal sound production. (9.5.5 & 9.5.6)

At this station you will find a set of tables showing hearing frequencies for humans and a

number of other animals. Graph human hearing and select 5 other animals to chart below.

Q. Can you think of any devices or purposes humans might utilise animal and human

frequency ranges?

1. Find the activity pack. There should be 12 laminated cards in total.

2. Read the information on frequency, pitch and amplitude

3. Group cards into three piles:

1. Voice and pitch (4 red border cards)

2. Amplitude and frequency (4 blue boarder cards)

3. Wave images (4 Cards)

4. Start with pile 1, match to a card in pile 2 and then to a card in pile 3.

5. Once you have matched all cards move on to the activity below

In this station you will be looking at human sound production and will compare this to the sound

production methods of other animals. (9.5.5)

Q. Label the following diagram of the human

larynx:

Q. Use the instructions provided in this station's activity pack to produce sound using the balloons.

What is causing sound to be produced in this way?

_______________________________________________________________________________

How does the sound produced, change as the space or gap for the air flow changes?

_______________________________________________________________________________

How does this balloon activity demonstrate sound production from the larynx?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Optional activity… Circle each part

of the body below that is involved in

human speech and sound production:

Brain

Tongue

Oesophagus

Mouth

Nose

Lungs

Trachea

Diaphragm

Q. Select a bat, dolphin, cricket or cicada and describe the method by which they produce sound.

In this station you will be looking at an “action potential” and will use checkers to demonstrate the

different phases of a potential. (9.5.7)

1. At this station you should have a large board with 4 phases on it, a set of red and green

checkers and a set of information about “action potentials”

An action potential is a nerve impulse that acts like an electrical signal. Action potentials run along

nerve fibres and are what allow information such as what we see, hear and touch to be relayed to

the brain.

2. Use the checkers to demonstrate each phase of an action potential using the information

provided.

Remember RED checkers are Sodium ions (Na) and GREEN checkers are Potassium ions (K)

3. When you have successfully demonstrated each phase, try it again from memory.

4. Once you are confident with each phase complete the activity below.

Q. Label the letters from the graph below, to show the different phases of an action potential,

including: Resting, Depolarization, Repolarization and Hyperpolarization

Time

Membrane

Potential

+40

0

-70

A

C B

D

A_________________

B_________________

C_________________

D_________________

A

In this station you will be creating an “action potential” and will use dominoes to demonstrate phases

and the “all or nothing” characteristic of an action potential. (9.5.7)

1. At this station you should have a set of black and white checkers and a set of

instructions/information on “action potentials”

An action potential is a nerve impulse that acts like an electrical signal. Action potentials run

along nerve fibres and are what allow information such as what we see, hear and touch to be

relayed to the brain.

2. Grab the pack of dominoes and setup the dominoes in a straight line or configuration of

your choice.

3. Once they are set up you need to demonstrate the “all or nothing” principle of an action

potential. To do this, gently tap the first domino, so that it just moves, but does not fall

down.

4. Now this time, push the domino with enough force for it to fall and in the process trigger

the other dominoes to also fall over onto each other.

5. Set the activity up again, but this time take note of the phases as you are completing the

activity (use the information provided)

6. Complete the question below.

Q. Draw a line to match each of the images below to a phase in the action potential

Resting Phase

Depolarization

Repolarization

Hyperpolarization

In this station you will be looking at the human brain and the different regions and sections that are

associated with different functions and activities. (9.5.7)

Using the information provided about the brain and its regions and functions colour in the

following two brains, using the pencils provided at your station.

Optional Activity… Select one region of the brain and outline how it can be affected by

alcohol consumption.

Colour in and label the

regions:

1. Frontal Lobe 2. Parietal lobe 3. Occipital lobe 4. Temporal Lobe 5. Cerebellum 6. Medulla Oblongata

Colour in and label the parts

associated with:

1. Speech

2. Vision

3. Hearing

The following are some activities you might like to try at home or back at school.

Try some OPTICAL ILLUSIONS…

An optical or visual illusion is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from

objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give a

perception that does not match with any physical measurements received. Magic eye illusions,

like the strawberry images above, are austereograms. These allow some people (not everyone

can do them!) to see 3D images by focussing on 2D patterns.

For more optical illusions and images visit www.magiceye.com and www.eyetricks.com

Don’t forget to try the optical illusions available on our Communication Workshop Blog…

www.diseasemuseum.wordpress.com

STATION 1, Videos 3 to 9 will test your visual perception…

Are you really seeing what you think you’re seeing?

Check out all the other amazing videos and audios at our Communication Workshop Blog:

www.diseasemuseum.wordpress.com

Our favourites include:

Is your red the same as my red? (Station 2)

Virtual barber shop (Station 3) - Make sure you use headphones for this one!

Inside the voice – the larynx (Station 4)

Cochlear implant activation (Station 5)

Man sees with a “bionic eye” (Station 5) – This is not what you think!

The McGurk effect (Station 6)

Daniel Kish has been blind since he was a baby but that has not stopped him living an incredibly

active life that includes hiking and mountain biking. To do this he has perfected a form of human

echolocation, used by bats, dolphins and whales, using reflected sound waves to build a mental

picture of his surroundings.

For more on Daniel’s amazing ability, have a look at the video on our blog (Station 4, Video 6) or

visit: http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org/

Ethical and Social

Implications of

Communication

Technologies

Hopefully you have had a

chance to learn about cochlear

implantation. It is important to

note that many advances in

medical and health

technologies, both modern

and those through history have

come with a number of social

and ethical implications. Have

a look at the newspaper

clipping to the left. This

clipping shows one particular

attitude towards implantation

of the device in children. How

do you feel about the use of

the device? Do you think there

is any merit in this view?