Tricking Your Ears

Scripture: I Samuel 28

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will learn it is wrong to use witchcraft as it gives power to someone other than God.
  • Students will learn Saul had stopped trusting in God and was desperate for anyone to tell him what he wanted to hear.
  • Students will learn God’s will does happen eventually, even if we don’t like it.
  • Students will learn about audio illusions.

Guiding Question: How does our brain handle audio illusions?

Materials: Links in procedure section

Procedure:

Review the story of King Saul and the Witch of Endor, being careful not to make it sound too scary. Explain that the fact that she could call up Samuel seemed to surprise even the “witch”. Tell students that today many people have carefully watched people who pretend to talk to dead people and/or tell the future and have realized that they use tricks and not real magic.

Explain that witches try to trick others,. Tell students about auditory illusions – our brain “hears” sounds we can’t really hear because of background noise and fills in the blanks so we think we are actually hearing it when we aren’t. Our brain also tries to make sense of a sound like when the noises an animal makes sounds like human speech. After watching several videos about audio illusions, have the students try to create their own.

Audio Illusions:

Additional Questions: How can our eyes trick us?
Supplemental Activity: Have students look up and create their own optical illusions.

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