The Human Sensor

1. What your child learns and why

A sensor turns something from the world into a number. Your child becomes a “human sensor”: measures temperature and noise, records them in a table and chooses an action — air the room, drink water, lower the noise. The lesson is completely screen-free. The new skill: a number alone is not enough, we have to understand it and do something.

2. Three questions for dinner

• “Where at home is it warmest and where is it noisiest? Was your guess right?”
• “How can we tell a room needs airing — without a device?”
• “A sensor measures just one thing, but you notice many. What do you notice when you need water or a rest?”

3. 10 minutes together, no screen — a round

1. Print the sheet from the lesson (or draw it in a notebook). Share out the roles: Thermometer, Ears (noise from 1 to 5 by ear, not an exact device), Window (opened by you or with you), Jug (reminds about water).
2. Three times a day you walk through the same room for two minutes and write down: degrees, noise, aired ✓, we drank water ✓. The thermometer stays away from sun, stoves and radiators.
3. After three days, put the sheets side by side and choose one action (for example “we air the room before dinner”). Measure again and compare.

4. What success looks like

• Your child has a filled-in sheet and tells the path in words: I measured → I wrote → I understood → I did something.
• Suggests just one simple action and then checks whether the number changed.

5. Common difficulties

• “Which number is the right one?” → there is no single right number; we compare and look at the change.
• The thermometer is in the sun or near a stove and shows something “odd” → a great chance to ask: “Why does it show more? Where should we move it?”

Say: “You measured and wrote it down — that is how researchers work.” Avoid calling a room or the air “dangerous” or “safe” from a child's measurement: these are learning measurements, not an official check and not medical advice.

6. Safety

Your child does not touch a hot stove, radiator or heater and does not put the thermometer on them. A glass thermometer — only with you; if it breaks, do not touch it with bare hands and keep your child away. A thermometer never goes in the mouth. A window is opened with an adult, without leaning out. There are no names or addresses on the sheet.

7. Where to go next

Next lesson: DB-IS-05 “Classroom Air: CO₂ and Fresh Air” · Previous: DB-IS-03 “Light and the Sun” · Ask a grandparent: “How did you tell it was going to rain before there were forecasts?”

You don't need to know the answer. Say: “Let's find out together.”