Heidi A. Everett
Lesson 1
This lesson is designed for visual-spatial intelligence and verbal-linguistic intelligence.
Goal
At the end of this unit, students will recognize the significance that science and technology have played in advancing our understanding human anatomy in the medical field as well as in art.
Objectives
1. Students will create a drawing representing how they think their bodies are connected to their brains.
2. Students will compare and contrast ancient cave art of human anatomy to modern art depicting human anatomy.
Teacher Materials (see appendix)
Student Materials
Pen/Pencil, Paper, Journal
Learning Activities
The unit will begin with a simple art activity. The students will be asked to simply draw the insides of their bodies. Using a pen and paper, they will represent how they think their brain is connected to the rest of their body. These drawings will be collected and shown to the students after the unit has been completed. This activity will allow the students to identify any misconceptions they had at the start of the unit concerning the anatomy associated with the nervous system. The students will then be introduced to the unit as an exploration of the anatomy involved that provides the sensory information associated with the five senses. The students will play a quick game of charades where they act out the five senses that we will be investigating in the unit (hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing, touching).
The unit will then continue with a discussion of the importance of diagrams when learning new material. The students will be asked to define what constitutes a diagram and could it be a piece of art work? The students should view photographs of anatomical figurines such as the "Medical Venus," an anatomical wax figurine that was created in the 18th century for medical students to study human anatomy (Hilloowala, 1995). This figurine is a classic example of art and science fused together to provide a teaching tool (National Library of Medicine, 2004).
Next, the students will briefly review a sampling of art history regarding the depiction of the human form. The students will first view images generated by ancient people groups (cave drawings) and end with the current modern day representations of human form. A good example of a cave drawing depicting a very simplistic human form can be found in the cave drawings found in France (1). The students will be asked to compare and contrast the earlier images with the modern ones. They will be asked what they think influenced the images as they become more complex over time. The students should come to a conclusion that society's technological advancements have caused the evolution of how the human form has been depicted in art (Kelves, 1997).
Lesson 1 Closure
Next, the students will review the source of these changes in the depiction of human form by reviewing a history of medical imaging starting with the X-ray and ending with CT scans, ultrasounds, PET, and fMRI. The students will make conclusions as to how advancements in medical imaging have improved their health and their understanding of anatomy by writing a journal entry (Kelves, 1997).
Lesson 2
This lesson is designed for tactile-kinesthetic, visual-spatial intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligences.
Goal
At the end of this unit, my students will distinguish between the two major divisions of the nervous system and relate how the two divisions work together in maintaining the homeostasis of the body. The students will also examine the part of the brain that is responsible for processing motor and sensory information.
Objectives
1. The students will distinguish between the central and peripheral nervous systems and describe the structure and function of the two main divisions of the central nervous system.
2. The students will identify the major anatomical structures of the brain and summarize their functions.
3. The students will construct a cerebrum representing the four major lobes of the brain.
Teacher Materials (see appendix)
Student Materials
Pen/Pencil, Journal, Biology Text book
Learning Activities
The brain is the key anatomical structure that the students will be investigating as they relate the information their senses provide. The brain is the processor of all of the information that is taken in by the body via the five senses. The cerebral cortex is being created at the beginning of the unit so that this three-dimensional model can serve as a reference point for the students as they explore their five senses and the areas of the brain that process this sensory information.
First, the students will be introduced to basic features of the central nervous system anatomy mentioned in the nervous system section of the unit. The students will record this information in their journals. The students will be provided with a view of a homunculus cartoon based on Wilder Penfield's map depicting the areas of the body that the motor cortex is responsible for (Beatty, 1995). This cartoon provides an excellent visual aid for the students to use by providing a foundation for where in the brain certain functions take place. Although, Penfield's cartoon dealt with the motor cortex, knowledge of the somatosensory cortex was increased due to Penfield's experimentation with electrodes on the brains of epileptics (Afifi, 1998).
There are two homunculus cartoons, one represents the motor cortex and the other represents the somatosensory cortex. Provide the students with a copy of each in order for the students to analyze the similarities and differences between the two. The students will examine each cartoon and then create their own cartoon representations of the somatosensory cortex by drawing various parts of the body based on the proportions in their homunculus examples. They can then cut these drawings out and glue them to toothpicks. These tooth pick creations will be used to stick in their clay cerebral cortexes in order to identify the regions of the somatosensory cortex devoted to finger tips, the mouth, etc. The students should note that the mouth and finger tips are the most sensitive spots on our bodies and have the most areas devoted to them on the cortex. A great website to visit concerning Penfield's contributions is offered through PBS (3).
Before the students are provided with modeling clay, they will be given time to explore the brain through an interactive website that provides a three-dimensional image of the brain (6). A plastic model of the brain can also be made available to the students to examine. This exploration will provide them with a familiarity of the parts of the brain that are more interactive then an illustration in the textbook. The website mentioned above, can be used with each of the five senses and the anatomy associated with each of the senses. This art activity is a tactile activity focusing on the student's sense of touch as they mold pieces of clay to represent the lobes of the brain along with fissures found within the gray matter of the cerebral cortex. The clay provided will have different textures (smooth and sandy). The students will be given four colors to represent the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes of the brain. The class should decide which colors will represent each lobe and each student should follow this key. It is crucial that every student uses this color key, in order for there to be no confusion as the use the class as we go through the unit and make references to our clay cerebral cortexes. This model provides a visual aid to refer to as the class discusses the somatosensory and motor cortex areas of the brain after each lesson.
The students will diagram the major structures of the brain (the four lobes, longitudinal fissure, and corpus callosum) and then create a clay model of the cerebral cortex placed on a piece of cardboard. The students should start by creating a core to hold the outer shell of the cerebral cortex. This can be done by rolling a piece of newspaper into the shape of an ostrich egg or an oval grapefruit. Masking tape should be wrapped around the shaped paper in order to keep it steady and then the core should be taped to the piece of cardboard. Then the students can begin molding their four lobes making sure to include the longitudinal fissure and the central sulcus. These two fissures are critical in allowing the students to locate the somatosensory cortex on the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe and the motor cortex in the precentral gyrus on the frontal lobe (Grabowski, 2000). The brain stem will not be created in order to allow for the cerebral cortex to stay flat on the card board.
The students should decide which senses were used to complete this art activity and record how they came to their conclusion in their journals. The students will then refer to the homunculus cartoons they were given at the beginning of class and determine where they should place a toothpick to represent the amount of space on the somatosensory cortex that is devoted to processing sensory receptors in the fingers. The students should also identify the frontal lobe as it is the main processor for motor function and mark it with a toothpick.
Closure Lesson 2
Students will discuss the importance of wearing helmets while riding a bicycle and review a case study of a student who hit the back of their head after falling from their bike while not wearing a helmet. The student describes having vision problems after the accident. Students will hypothesize as to why this injury affected the student's vision even though the student's eyes were not damaged.
Lesson 3
This lesson is designed for visual-spatial, tactile-kinesthetic, and logical-mathematical intelligences.
Goal
At the end of this unit, students will be able to identify a neuron and describe its structure and function in allowing communication between the two major divisions within the nervous system. The students will also identify the two major divisions of the nervous system and relate how the two divisions work together in maintaining the homeostasis of the body.
Objectives
1. The students will describe the structures of a neuron and analyze each of their functions.
2. The students will determine the path that an electrical nerve impulse takes as it conducts along one neuron and then transfers to neighboring neurons of various tissues and organs.
3. The students will make conclusions as to how their five senses have allowed for the creation of art.
Teaching Materials (see appendix)
Student Materials
Biology text book, Journal, Pen/Pencil
Learning Activities
At this point in the unit, the students will be asked to name the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste) that they acted in playing charades. They will be asked to decide in groups which of the five senses they feel are the most important and to explain why, recording their conclusions in their journals. The students will then brainstorm which of the five senses they could conduct a scientific investigation on using the resources available to them in our classroom. Then the students will be asked to determine which sense is most important to them when producing a piece of art work and to explain why.
The students should come up with vision as their most important sense, though answers may vary from class to class. The students should review the importance of the rods and cones found under the sense organs section. The students will be given a case study where a student with a very poor diet of only sugar cookies and hot dogs has started to experience problems with their ability to see at night. In small groups, students will discuss what part of the eye they think is being affected by the student's inability to see at night time. Once they have come to a consensus, the student's will be asked if they think there is relationship with the diet of the student and their vision problem. The students may be given a hint by being asked what have they heard about eating vegetables and eye sight. Once they have come to a conclusion, they will read about night blindness or nyctalopia and how a deficiency in vitamin A leads to rod cell destruction (Grabowski, 2000).
The class will review the familiar structure of a somatic animal cell and review the various organelles and their function. The students will then view a diagram of a neuron from their text book and compare and contrast the differences they see between a neuron and a somatic cell. They will record this in their journal. After this discussion, students will draw neurons using the diagram in the student's textbook. The students will be provided with an index card to draw their neuron diagram. The students will then be told they will lose their sense of vision in this art activity. The students will then be blind folded to take away their vision. After they have completed their drawings, the students will remove their blindfolds and then discuss how the other four senses were enhanced in order to compensate for the loss of their vision's sensory input information. They will write in their journal, their experience of having lost their vision. Then the students will draw the neuron from their textbook using their eyes and then label the key parts of the neuron. They should color their diagram of the neuron and cut them out. The students will take each of their neurons and tape them inside the giant outline of a brain that is at the front of the room. The students should then locate on their clay cerebral cortex the occipital lobe and mark it with a toothpick as the location for the visual association area of the brain. The students should place a toothpick in the somatosensory cortex to represent the amount of area that is devoted to processing the sensory receptors of the eyes.
Lesson 3 Closure
The class will discuss how the brain is composed of billions of neurons (Johnson, 2004). The students will record in their journal how the brain filled with neurons created by the class shows the relationship between the neuron and the brain.
Lesson 4
This activity is designed for tactile-kinesthetic, logical mathematical, and visual-spatial intelligences. This lesson focuses on the sense of hearing. First, an introduction to the main structures of the ear and the ear functions in sending nerve impulses to the auditory centers located in the temporal lobe of the brain. The students should identify the temporal lobe on their clay cerebral cortices and mark it with a tooth pick. The students will then break into small groups in order to play a game that highlights hearing. The students will play a variation of Marco Polo where one individual is blindfolded and has to pinpoint the location of students who will make noises at various locations around the room. Before the game starts, the student will be informed of the various locations that the student making sound can choose to stand at. The students will take turns acting as noise makers and as the person identifying the origin of the sound. After one round is complete, the students will analyze what variables aided in their ability to determine the location of the sound. The students can brainstorm variables that may want to test during another round of Marco Polo. The students should journal concerning the variables they would want to test. The students will then be asked to rate how much time they spend listening to their iPods and how loud they typically have the volume on their iPods as well as other entertainment systems they encounter in their daily life (video games, concerts, car audio systems, etc). The students will then read an article describing noise and hearing loss (see appendix). Students should then consider what changes they can make in their life concerning noise levels and the damage that may have already taken place with the delicate hair cells in their inner ear at the base of the cochlea (Grabowski, 2000).
Lesson 5
This activity is designed for tactile-kinesthetic and logical-mathematical. This lesson focuses on the sense of taste and smell and how these two senses work together to provide taste. Students will take part in an activity, where they are blind folded and they are required to try to determine the mystery substance using their sense of smell. The same event will take place but the focus will be on taste and the students will be asked to plug their nose as they are sampling some of the mystery substances blindfolded. The students will be asked to compare and contrast how their sense of taste changed when they plugged their nose. They will record their observations and conclusions in their journals. The students will then locate the temporal lobe for smell and the parietal lobe for taste on their clay cerebral cortices and mark each region of the lobe that contains processing centers for these senses. The students should also represent the nose and tongue on their somatosensory cortices.
The students would then be given a case study where a student has a horrible cold with their symptoms being described as being completely congested and being unable to breathe through their nose. The student has lost their appetite because everything is "tasteless." Students should hypothesize as to why the student complains of not being able to taste any of the foods they eat. The answer is that the olfactory receptors located in the nose are not able to be stimulated by the odors of the food in the mouth (Grabowski, 2000). The tongue's receptors located in the taste buds are still intact but are only capable of distinguishing simple chemical forms of taste such as sweet, salty, bitter, and sour (Grabowski, 2000). The nose through olfaction provides the majority of what we taste through the odors of the food in the mouth entering the nasal cavity and stimulating olfactory receptor cells (Grabowski, 2000).
Lesson 6
This activity is designed for visual-spatial intelligence and tactile-kinesthetic intelligences. The closing activity will be to create a jumbo concept map using their clay cerebral cortices. The goal is to have the students recognize the connections between all of the activities and how their five senses activated certain portions of their brain and how the spinal cord acted as a channel to send this sensory information to the brain. The students will analyze how the five senses have allowed for human populations to increase their chances of survival through the adaptation and natural selection to take place in the human population.
