Grade 6 (Lesson 4b/2015/2016) : A Religious Festival (Kerala, India- All Ears)

Objective

Students learn how ears function in humans as well as other animals.

Procedure

• Review the diagram of the human ear, explaining terms like “frequency”.
• Review hearing chart, pointing out the low frequencies of earthquakes and volcanoes.
• What other sounds might register that low? Thunder or a bass drum, perhaps.
• Answer the questions in the question box. 

Wild Child rides an elephant through Pooram, an annual temple festival in Kerala, India. The celebration includes thirty priests, holy men of the Hindu religion, carrying parasols while riding elephants. Thousands of Hindu followers make pilgrimages to the Krishna Temple every year to receive a blessing and to hope for peace and prosperity.

Amid the procession of drums and horns, we see the elephants flapping their massive ears. In this case their ears act as giant fans, cooling their bodies, a well as devices for receiving sound.

In this section we will explore how our ears work so that we can hear the rhythms and music of our world.