Sophronia L. Gallop
Student Objective
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The student will be able to describe the functions of the parts of the brain.
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The student will be able to explain the action of a reflex.
Preparation
Much interesting research has been done on right- and left-brain dominance. Have students research the phenomenon and share the descriptions.
Draw the brain on the chalk board. Have students come up, label a part, and explain to the rest of the class what it does.
(figure available in print form)
The physical self-exploration that children carry on throughout early childhood indicates that a considerable degree of pleasure is obtained by means of the sense of touch. Sexual exploration of other children also begins at this stage. Young children manifest a high level of curiosity about, and a developing awareness of, the anatomy of other persons—adults as well as children.
This alertness also extends to words, gestures, and other cues that have Sexual connotations. Instead of using this innate curiosity and taking advantage of the opportunity the home environment provides for imparting information, many parents, following tradition, chastise the child.
Increased sexual awareness and exploration, together with a number of other experiences during the middle years of childhood, combine to form the child’s sense of gender identity. Most children are gradually programmed for sex-role identification through selected clothing and toys, teachings, confrontations, and parental models.
The developmental stage of puberty is significant in all respects, and the appearance of the secondary sex characteristics perhaps most Significant of all. (Hormonal changes during puberty will be discussed throughout this paper.) The capacity to produce reproductive cells first occurs during this stage. On the average, girls experience the onset of menstruation at about age 12, but ovulation does not begin until approximately one year later. At about age 13 or 14, boys normally begin to be capable of ejaculation, although a number of them have already been experiencing satisfying Sexual play.
Any distinctive departure from the norm regarding the size of the adolescent breasts or penis may cause an individual acute embarrassment and suffering. Adolescent boys and girls prefer to remain inconspicuous at this stage of development and to appear as much like their companions as possible. Although today’s youth are often considered to be more worldly and precocious than their counterparts in the decades before the 1960’s, adolescence, nevertheless, continues to be a period of confusion, embarrassment, and sometimes fear. Some young females are kept in such total ignorance about their sexual development that the first menstrual period becomes a surprising, if not terrifying, event.