Baylor College
Neural Network Signals
Using a simple circuit with the battery representing the brain, future physiologists test to see which solutions conduct electrical "nerve impulses." Enlighten learners with plentiful information on electric signals in the nervous system...
Baylor College
Crossing the Synaptic Gap
As part of a unit on the chemistry of the brain, thinkers learn how chemicals work to transmit messages between individual neurons and how controlled substances impact the synaptic cleft. They do so by playing a dice-and-card game in...
Curated OER
How To Calm Back-to-School Nerves
Set students up for success with these tips for getting the year off to a smooth start.
University of Minnesota
Blind Spot
Your eyes each work independently, so how do we only see one image? The quick hands-on experiment encourages young scientists to test their blind spots on each eye individually. After learning where the blind spot is and why it exists,...
Curated OER
Nerve Racking
Fifth graders study the components and function of the nervous system. They investigate how engineers design biomedical equipment to assist the nervous system and explain how the five senses are affected during spaceflight.
Curated OER
Self Portrait, What Nerve!
Students conduct an experiment to determine the distance between touch receptor fields in parts of the right-hand side of the body. They enter data into the data table.
University of Minnesota
Virtual Neurons
It's electric! Young anatomists use Virtual Neurons software to build, control, and analyze complex nerve circuits within the body. Colorful and packed with content, class members enjoy interacting with the nervous system at a personal...
University of Minnesota
Get the Point(s)
Do all areas of your skin have the same sensitivity to touch? Playing with the sense of touch, this experiment has scholars guessing how many pin heads gently touch their arm and hand. In the second part, pupils answer questions about...
Nuffield Foundation
Assessing Skin Sensitivity—Touch Discrimination
How do we distinguish between the number of things touching our skin? Scholars explore an interesting lesson through an experiment. They learn that there must be an unstimulated sensory unit between two touches to distinguish them. They...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Senses: Touching
Beauty is only skin deep, but knowledge goes deeper with this brief presentation! Three of the five slides are photos of a hand touching an object, one is a colorful graphic display of the epidermis and dermis, while another may be an...
Curated OER
Quick Concept Demonstrations
Young scholars research the nervous system. Demonstrations on how to pick up keyed information in text is shown daily and weekly. Reviewed for content is Nerve Impulse, Polarization and Depolarization and perception. A spreadsheet will...
Curated OER
Bat Ecology
Students, through hands on games and activities, discover how bats live and how bats benefit ecosystems. They play a game designed to show them how echolocation works and another to show how mother bats locate their young through their...
Curated OER
What's Covering You? and Why?
Students take a closer look at human skin. In this biology lesson plan, students describe the four functions of the skin as they complete a hands-on activity.
Curated OER
Applied Science - Science and Math Lab
Students explore the senses. In this Applied Science lesson, students investigate the items in "feely" boxes with their hands, both touching the items and shaking the boxes to hear the sound the items make. Students also smell and taste...
Curated OER
Prosthetic Limbs
Students create a simple model of the muscles in hand opening and closing the it. They make the model move a block in a specified direction.
Curated OER
What Does Your "Homunculus" Look Like?
Students determine the density of touch receptors in various parts of the body on the right hand side. They use collected data to draw a picture of the
"homunculus" of an experimental subject.
Curated OER
Learning to Hate Math
Give your class a different kind of reading assignment with the text included here. Anne Miller's essay "Learning to Hate Mathematics" details a hatred of math that grew from early childhood and still haunts the author today. After...
Curated OER
Give Me Five!
Students become familiar with their five senses and how their experiences would change without them. In this observations instructional activity, students observe using their five senses in a garden. Students illustrate what they've...
Exploratorium
Depth Spinner
Put a new twist on your collection of optical illusion activities. Affix the linked printable spiral to a drill, record player, or some other rotating tool. Have learners stare at the spinning disk for only 15 seconds and then look away....
Serendip
How Do We Sense the Flavors of Food?
We taste with our taste buds, so why do flavors change when we have a stuffy nose? Scholars experiment with taste testing while holding their noses and then while smelling. They record their observations in pairs and come together to...
Curated OER
Body Image
Students read and answer questions on neural processing and the Pinocchio Illusion. They relate and discuss these topics in conjunction with body-image disorders such as anorexia and bulimia . This lesson plan include video extension...
Curated OER
What Does Your "Homunculus" Look Like?
Young scholars investigate the density of touch receptors in various parts of the body. They discover how the body senses various stimuli, then maps a picture of the "homunculus" of the experimental subject.
Curated OER
Cervical Vertebrae
Eighth graders investigate the cervical vertebrae through models and diagrams. In this cervical vertebrae lesson plan, 8th graders use rice cakes, straws, marshmallows and thread to model the vertebrae. They simulate a cervical vertebrae...
Curated OER
Memory and Learning
Students identify parts of the brain and what each part does. In this brain anatomy lesson, students participate in activities that focus on the job of each part of the brain co connect the task to the brain section. Students make a...