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Lesson plan, student handout(s), overheads, info sheets, and related materials for a classroom lesson.
WebQuest: Structure of the Nervous System
Exercise your students' web search skills while they learn about the structure and function of the nervous system.
The quest consists of going to three different websites - the last two of which show flash animations of the synapse. The student guide attached below includes full instructions and worksheets.
This lesson and the accompanying student guide were written by Kevin Molohon, teacher at Champlin Park High School in the Anoka-Hennepin School District and a recent BrainU participant.
Attention and Sensory Processing
The brain integrates sensory
information in ways that we do not always recognize
consciously. This activity utilizes multimedia devices in
order to explain how the brain takes in sensory
information. Students will learn about how the brain can
change information provided by the senses.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 1 class period
Ways of Knowing
Models represent neuroscience in important ways but are not precisely the same as neurons or brains themselves. In this lesson, students are introduced to models through questions posed by the teacher.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: Part of 1 class period
Makes Me Sweat
Under stress the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is activated. Body temperature rises and, in an effort to maintain normal body temperature, the body starts to sweat. In this exercise, students will be placed in different - potentially stressful - situations and then will measure palm sweating as part of the body’s response to stress.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 1 class period
Mindflex Activity
Students use the Mindflex™ game to explore and measure different homeostatic autonomic nervous system functions while trying to figure out how the game works.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 2-3 class periods
Card Sort
This lesson explores the relationship between motor response time and cognitive load, using a simple deck of playing cards. It offers opportunity to explore data analysis and critique experimental design.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 1 class period
What's the Deal? Addiction Card Game
Students play a game that models the
unknown potential for individual addiction, as well as some
scientific inquiry processes. This lesson is based on information originally from the NIH curriculum The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology through the Study of Addiction.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 1 class period
Neurotransmission Model
This lesson allows students to apply engineering principles in the science classroom. Students learn how neurons convey information through designing and building a physical model of neurotransmission.
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Length: 1 class period
Mirroring Emotions
The ability to identify with and understand another person's situation, feelings, or motives is called empathy. Recent developments in neuroscience have focused on a system within the brain called "mirror neurons" as a likely explanation for emotional empathy.
In this lesson students explore emotions and the behavioral aspects of empathy through mirroring the emotions of other students while watching emotionally evocative videos.
Dendritic Spines Lab
The brain physically changes when exposed to drugs. This activity utilizes scientific thinking and assessment without the need for laboratory equipment. Students investigate how neurons change their connectivity when exposed to the drug morphine.