Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
How do our ears hear?
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/ears/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/ears/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- Sound enters the ear and makes the eardrum shake.
- The cochlea turns the shaking into a signal that goes to the brain.
- Ears also help with balance.
- Look after ears: move away from very loud sounds and never poke anything inside.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Everyone is silent for 30 seconds. What sounds can you hear? |
| 10 min | Read the text together and point to the parts on a picture of the ear. |
| 15 min | Big ears! experiment as a class. |
| 10 min | Play Kind to ears or too loud? or do the quiz. |
| 5 min | Talk: how can we look after our ears? |
Materials for the experiment
- A ticking clock, or soft music played quietly by the teacher
- Your hands
- Optional: a paper cone (rolled from a sheet of paper)
Safety: Keep the sound soft. Only use your hands or a paper cone around the ear: never put anything inside your ear.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| We hear with the outside part of the ear. | The outside part only catches sound; the hearing happens deep inside and in the brain. |
| Ears need cleaning with cotton buds. | Earwax normally comes out on its own; don't put anything in your ears. |
| Hearing that is hurt by noise always gets better. | Hair cells hurt by loud noise cannot grow back. |
Worksheet answers
- A drawing of an ear with an arrow going into the ear canal (towards the eardrum).
- Usually yes: cupped hands catch more sound.
- Any of: move away from loud sounds, cover your ears, keep headphones quiet, don't poke anything into your ears.
Quiz answers
- What part of your ear starts to shake when a sound comes in? The eardrum. Sound travels down the ear canal and makes the eardrum shake.[1]
- The cochlea deep inside your ear is shaped like… a snail shell. The cochlea is snail-shaped and filled with liquid.[1]
- What carries the signal from your ear to your brain? A nerve. The auditory nerve carries the signal to the brain.[1]
- What should you do when a sound is far too loud? Move away or cover your ears. Very loud sounds can damage the hair cells, and they cannot grow back.[6][5]
- Should you clean inside your ears with a cotton bud? No, earwax normally comes out on its own. The NHS says not to use fingers or cotton buds.[8]
Going further
Make paper cones of different sizes. Does a bigger cone make a soft sound louder? Talk about animals with big ears.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] How Do We Hear? (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD, NIH)): reliability High
- [2] Biology 2e, 36.4 Hearing and Vestibular Sensation (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [5] What Noises Cause Hearing Loss? (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)): reliability High
- [6] Hearing and Hair Cells (Stanford Medicine, Ear Institute): reliability High
- [8] Earwax build-up (NHS (UK National Health Service)): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/ears/sources/
Privacy: the lesson pages have no ads, no tracking and no cookies. Quiz answers and game scores stay in the pupil's browser. A short video for each age is coming.