Objective: Students learn the parts of the nervous system and are able to explain the structures and functions of nerve cells (neurons).
5 minutes: KWL chart about Nervous system Have students get out a paper and start a KWL chart on the nervous system. They will be adding to the L part of this paper throughout the unit. 30 minutes: Demonstrate “distortion glasses” Teacher Background The capacity to learn is one of the most profound aspects of the human nervous system. Despite our knowledge of the anatomy and related circuitry or hard-wiring of the central nervous system (CNS), many neuroscientists continue to search for the underlying basis of the brain’s ability to adapt rapidly to new experiences. This adaptability, both conscious and unconscious, is often termed neuronal plasticity and is considered to be memory in the short-term and learning if remembered over the long-term. Neuronal plasticity is demonstrated easily in this laboratory when a subject wearing specially prepared goggles throws beanbags (or other objects) at a target. To demonstrate the normal state, a subject first tosses beanbags, from a distance of approximately 3 to 4 meters, directly at a target, such as a Post-it note, placed on a wall 0.5 m above the floor. Next, the subject puts on prism goggles that bend the light and throws at the target again. During this second trial, the goggles should cause the wearer to throw the beanbags approximately 15 degrees off target. Subsequent trials wearing the goggles will create an adaptive situation that influences motor performance that corrects for the lenses’ shift and becomes part of the brain’s interpretation of what the eye is seeing. As a result, if the subject performs a trial immediately after removing the goggles, the beanbags should land approximately 15 degrees from the target on the opposite side of the original displacement. Attention Introduce the activity with a spoon in a glass of water set up on the demonstration table. Ask the students to explain what they see. Questions to help students with their observations are: ■ Why does the spoon look like it is cut in half? ■ Are there other examples you can remember in which you were fooled by what you saw? For example, have you tried to retrieve a penny from the bottom of the pool? *I will do the following demonstration with a couple of student volunteers Materials: · beanbags (I used ping-pong balls) in the future I will use balls of clay · Diopter goggles · Target drawn on the white board · Student volunteer Procedure: 1. Have a student volunteer take 15 beanbags of clay and throw them rapidly, one after the other at the white board. Mark where they hit the board, in relation to the target, with the white board marker. 2. Have the same student put on the diopter goggles and repeat the procedure above with the goggles on. Mark where the beanbags hit. They should miss but student shot should get better as the number of throws increase. 3. Have the same student take off the goggles and throw again as is step 1, now the balls will be off in the other direction because the students brain was being rewired to the diopter lenses and will take a few throws to correct again. Ask the students to write in their notes what they think was happening. Explain that we will be doing a similar activity later in a lab and collecting data about our brain, learning and our nervous system. Today we will be learning about the nervous system. 20 Minutes – Note taking: PowerPoint slides 1 – 18; Nervous System and the Brain 25 Minutes – Read Chapter 31 section1 (pages 896 – 900); Fill out the worksheet and define the terms. This assignment will be handed in next class at the beginning of the class period. |
Rewiring the Brain. The following pdf file explains how I made the diopter lens goggles, and how this demonstration could be used as an inquiry lab. This activity was shared with me by a guest speaker, SuJean Choi, PhD, from a neuroscience conference at Snowbird in February of 2012.
This is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation that my I use to teach my students about the nervous system. All notes are taken by students using the "Cornell Method" of note taking. For this lesson, I will only use slides 1-18.
Below is the reading guide that students will work on for the last 25 minutes of class. If
they don't finish, they will need to take it home as homework, it will be due at the beginning of class next time.
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