Grade 12 Nervous System Lesson Plans
Teaching about the Brain and Reflexes to High School Students
Oct 18, 2009
Teaching Grade 12 Biology consists of delivering large amounts of complex information. It is small wonder that students, and teachers alike, sometimes become confused or have trouble retaining all of the material covered in class. Experiential education, where students learn through doing, strongly assists with students remembering newly acquired concepts. Interactive activities also allow scholars to enjoy themselves, directly participate, and to have a break from tedious note taking and text reading sessions. Below are a few activities that can be used as part of the nervous system unit. Notice, that they are not formal labs, but introductory sessions to get students revved up to learn more.
Creating a Diagram of the Brain
This activity can be used as an introduction to the nervous system. Groups of four or five students will create their own poster or diagram of the brain. Pupils are encouraged to tap into their creative sides using pictures, sketches and words to form a collage in each section of the brain to represent the functions of these lobes. For example, in the frontal lobe section, drawings of people smiling, crying or communicating can be utilized. In the parietal lobe section, images representing the five senses can be pasted. Students should do some basic research and be innovative using a variety of mediums such as clay, photographs, and other craft materials. Sections of the brain to be represented are:
- Frontal lobe -- Involved with planning, interpretation, emotions, personality, deliberate movements, decision making, and turning thoughts into words.
- Parietal lobe -- Perceives sensory inputs and and also associates these inputs with past memories.
- Temporal lobe -- Deals with the senses of smell and sound and also is responsible for forming memories.
- Occipital lobe -- Decodes images and objects that are seen in order to identify or recognize them.
- Cerebellum -- Regulates movement, balance and coordination.
Reflex Lab
Before completing this lab, students should have a general understanding of reflex arcs. Simply put, a reflex arc is when there is a stimulus, (i.e. a hammer hitting a knee), which causes a sensory neuron to send a message to a motor neuron, which causes a muscle to move (i.e. a knee jerk reaction). The reason a "knee jerk reaction" is so quick is that the sensory neuron sends a message to a motor neuron in the spinal chord; the message is not sent all the way up to the brain. The brain does not receive the message until after the reaction has occured.
For the lab, the teacher can organize a series of tests for students to observe the reflexes of their partner. Some examples of reflex tests are:
- Knee reflex -- One student sits in a chair while the other student hits his/her knee with the side of his/her hand or a rubber hammer. Students write down observations regarding their partner's movements.
- Pupil reflex -- The lights need to be turned off in the classroom. One student closes his/her eyes for a a few seconds. His/her partner tells the student to open his/her eyes while shining a small flashlight in his/her eyes. The partner observes the change in pupil size.
- Ruler toss -- One student stands on top of a chair holding onto the very top of a metre ruler or yard stick. He/she releases the ruler and his/her partner, standing on the ground, catches it. Several trials can be performed and partners will write down how far down the ruler the student has caught it.
Earthworm Lab
When students get to class and see live earthworms on their lab tables, they will be enthusiastic to experientially learn. This lab is often done with younger grades; in order to make it a more advanced educational experience, teachers can have students perform extensive research on the nervous system and physiology of an earthworm first. Once the lab is finished, students can then explain, based on their research, the observations they wrote down of the worm's reactions to stimuli. Some suggestions of stimuli tests are:
- Sound -- Students snap their fingers, clap their hands, and make both high and low pitches noises close to the earthworm.
- Light -- Students shine a flashlight or pen light on either end of the earthworm's body.
- Smell -- Students hold a cottan ball or Q-tip dipped in vinegar near at either end and near the middle of the earthworm's body. The same procedure is repeated with a cottan ball dipped in nail polish remover.
Source: Van Cleave, Janice. 200 Gooey, Slippery,Slimy, Weird and Fun Experiments. United States: John Wiley & Sons Inc. 1992.
Teachers are encouraged to either use the above activities or come up with their own experiential lesson plans to teach the nervous system and other units that are part of the High School Biology curriculum. Students will look forward to coming to class and will have an easier time remembering newly learnt information.
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