Brain Basics

Facts and Misconceptions

Lance Pearson

Number of Learners: 90 Students

Date: 05/14/05

Grade (or Age): 8th grade

School/Town: Timilty Middle/Roxbury

Estimated Length of Session: 40-50 minutes

Curriculum Area: Science (Biology)

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

None is necessary.

CONTENT TO BE TAUGHT

This lesson plan is aimed at presenting some of the basic facts and dispelling some common misconceptions about the brain that people at all levels tend to have.  Functions of various areas of the brain, the mechanisms of brain drug addiction and the purpose of the wrinkles in the cerebral cortex are among the information addressed.

RATIONALE

This lesson plan is aimed at presenting the nuts and bolts of the way the brain works; including the size of the brain, function of different lobes, basic parts of a brain cell (neuron) and various misconceptions.

In so doing, it follows up and (obviously) substantially extends for higher grades the Massachusetts Frameworks Life Science (Biology), Grades K-2 curriculum standard: 6. Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.  It also touches upon Grade 6-8 standard: 6. Identify the general function of the major systems of the human body (sensation, digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, protection from disease and movement, control and coordination) and describe ways that these systems interact with each other. This lesson in particular addresses some of the properties of neurons in the brain and as such fulfills some of the requirements of Grade 6-8 curriculum standard: 4. Recognize that within cells, many of the basic functions of organisms (e.g., extracting energy from food and getting rid of waste) are carried out.  The way in which cells function is similar in all living organisms.

GOALS

  • Students will be presented with a variety of facts about the brain ranging from size to functions of various parts.
  • Students will have various misconceptions dispelled so that students among other things: (a) people do not use only 10% of the brain and (b) drug addiction is unavoidable because it hijacks mechanisms of the brain that are intended to cause addiction even when they are functioning normally.
  • Students will be presented with some basic facts about the cells of the brain (neurons) that do the bulk of computation in the brain.
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    PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

  • Students will be asked to fill out a worksheet documenting the most essential facts about the brain.
  • Students will be asked to participate in a discussion of some common misconceptions about the brain and to fill out a worksheet restating the correct statement dispelling one of those misconceptions, and stating the basic properties of and labeling the parts of a neuron.

    • MATERIALS

  • Computer with MS Powerpoint capability
  • LCD projector for the presentation
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    Alternatively
  • The material can be presented in a pure lecture format (without the visuals) and students can be responsible for pulling out the information.
  • Information from the slides can also be printed out onto transparencies and shown on an overhead.
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    PROCEDURE

    This curriculum is essentially pure lecture format. Simply pass out the worksheets and encourage student questions and participation.  The only difficulty tends to be keeping student questions from hitting on tangents (asking interesting but somewhat unrelated questions about the brain).

    A. Opener
  • Students should fill out the first worksheets as we move through the brain facts part of the lecture.
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    B. Development
  • The brain misconceptions section of the lecture tends to provoke questions.  Questions should be strongly encouraged as long as they are on topic.
  • Students should fill out the beginning of the second worksheet as we go through the misconceptions portion.  Students are only required to discuss one of the misconceptions on the worksheet so that students can be free to discuss topics of interest.
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    C. Closing
  • The last portion of the lecture addresses some properties of the neuron.
  • Students should fill out the rest of the second worksheet for this section.
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    ACCOMMODATIONS

    Establishing a word wall with key brain regions like Brainstem, Cerebellum, the Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, and Occipital Lobe and a key function that each performs can assist with student retention of information.

    EVALUATION

    The accompanying worksheets provide a baseline measure of attentiveness and participation.  Most of the topics are provocative enough (especially the drug addiction topics) for students that participation in discussion could reasonably be used to judge performance as well.

    EXTENSION

    Additional lesson plans in the series present various examples of visual, auditory and tactile illusions.  Students can be asked to explore almost any of the topics addressed in the lecture on the internet or (preferably) on the pdf data sheet listed in the references section.

    REFERENCES

    Information sheet on most of the topics addressed

    (from the Society for Neuroscience)

     

    Search for:

    Brain lobes (Frontal, Parietal, Temporal and Occipital Lobes)

    Brainstem

    Cerebellum

    Cerebral Cortex

    ASSOCIATED APPENDICES

    Appendices for "Brain Basics" Lesson Plan