Activity 1B: Brain Works & the Wave Topic: Brain Health & Brain Anatomy Part of: Unit: It's All in Your Mind Lesson 1: Brain Anatomy

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Cellular Anatomy of Neuron Figure Teacher Handout

Brain Works Student Handout

Keywords

anatomy, neural, health promotion, neurotransmitter, dendrite, axon, myelin sheath, synapse, simulation, kinesthetic activity, macrophage, neuron, glial cell, neural message

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Activity Description

In this activity the students will read about what makes up the brain and how messages are passed along brain cells. You may wish to give the students the handout "BRAIN WORKS" or you may wish to use it as a reference with the overhead. After discussing this with the students they will participate in an activity that will demonstrate how messages travel from the brain to other parts of the body and vice versa. Place the students in rows of two or three. This activity would be appropriate in a gym or outside area. Instruct the students to do "the wave" by throwing their arms in the air. The wave should go down each row and work its way across the room. Record, on either the board or overhead, the amount of time it takes for the wave to travel across the group. This demonstrates a message traveling along a nerve cell without a sheath of myelin (made of fatty molecules). Next, have the class do "the wave" with only every other row participating. Be sure to time this and record it on the board or overhead. The students who do not participate represent the sheath on the axon. Ask the students to compare the times of "the waves." Why were the times different? What would be the advantage of having a neuron carry messages faster? Explain why.

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