Very soon we will meet our new students and their parents. Everyone is excited but a bit nervous and perhaps anxious. Intuitively, we know smiling will help put others at ease. Everyone has heard the old wives’ tale that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile; thus, smile more and decrease the energy needed!

But is there more to the relationship between extrinsic triggers, emotion, and physical manifestation in facial expression? Is this a question that lends itself to scientific investigation, or is it somewhat mystical, outside the bounds of empirical evidence? How could one test the relationship?

Results of a new study indicate that when people read words associated with laughing and smiling or frowning, they have involuntary muscular contractions associated with smiling or frowning. In addition, one’s perception of how funny a cartoon is can be influenced by subliminal messages containing laugh/smile/frown verbs.

How to Turn This News Event into an Inquiry-Based, Standards-Related Science Lesson

What a great way to help put students at ease while introducing them to the nature of science! Empathize with your students by telling them you are always excited, but a little nervous and anxious too, at the beginning of the school year. Let them know you consciously try to smile. Ask them why they think you do this.

Ask students what they think they know about the effect of smiling on others. How do they know that? Upon what evidence are they basing their claims? Do they respond that people often smile back when one smiles at them? Are there other ways of getting people to smile, perhaps on a less conscious level? That is, one might smile as a response to some other, less-obvious cue than another’s smile, without being conscious of it.

Ask students if they’ve heard that old wives’ tale in the first paragraph above and ask what it implies. Ask students if there is a relationship between emotion and facial expression. What causes facial expression? Muscle contractions, of course. Be explicit in identifying that physical aspect and how it differs from emotion. The physical aspect has a definite biological foundation. The emotional aspect is not so definite in its biological foundation, even though we can observe the biological results of emotions, such as increased heart rate.

Finally, ask if the question of obvious or subliminal emotional triggers and subsequent physical manifestation of emotion through facial expression can be tested scientifically. You’ll need to be very clear here. Consider breaking this down into a couple of simpler questions, putting them in print or projecting them clearly. Make sure each student commits to an answer of yes or no without being judgmental.

For those students who answer yes, they should elaborate; how would they test the question scientifically? They can work in pairs or threes and brainstorm a while, writing out a sequence of steps they would use in their test. For those who say no, they should describe why this question cannot be tested. That is, why is the question one that falls outside the realm of science? Refrain from interfering too much here. If students ask you a question, try to respond with another question, rather than “giving” them an answer. The goals are to allow students to collaborate, to think scientifically, and to evaluate the potential of their proposed tests, not to actually devise a perfect test.

After the groups are satisfied with their responses, let the naysayers present their arguments, a la communication in science. Then allow the other camp to respond. Have any students changed their mind or do they still believe they can conduct an empirical test? After the test descriptions have been heard, ask students to re-evaluate their initial yes/no answer. You could ask for a show of hands; how many students changed their answers? It is not necessary for anyone to say which way they changed, or why, at this point. But this underscores that scientific explanations do change as new evidence emerges.

Then share the article Smile As You Read This: Language That Puts You In Touch With Your Bodily Feelings (ScienceDaily, August 15) with the students, making sure they understand the two tests and why the results appear to be valid. For assessment, ask them to defend the theory (a tested hypothesis with supporting evidence) that unconscious physical manifestation of emotions can be triggered subliminally. Don’t be afraid to use these “big” words with students; just be prepared to explain their meaning.

Here are additional resources from the National Science Digital Library Middle School Portal: Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes; Nature of Science - Scientific Method; and Methods of Science.

We Need Your Help

We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and observations. What would you like to know more about? What questions have your students asked? Do you have a favorite activity that you would like to share? We invite you to share with us and other readers by posting your comments. Please check back each week for our newest post or download the RSS feed for this blog. You can also request email notification when new content is posted (see right navigation bar).

Let us know what you think and tell us how we can serve you better. We want your feedback on all of the NSDL Middle School Portal science publications. Email us at msp@msteacher.org