Chapter 6 Lesson 4 "Coordinating Bodily Activities"

(Two Days)

Materials:

• Chapter 6 Vocabulary Review
• Venn diagram of Endocrine vs. Nervous System

Objective:

• Students will explain how the endocrine system coordinates activities.
• Students will explain how messages travel through the nervous system.
• Students will describe the features of some invertebrates nervous systems
• Students will describe the organization of the vertebrate nervous system.

Alaska Content Standards:

• SCI A-10 Students will understand that living things are made up mostly of cells and that all life processes occur in Cells (Cells)
• SCI A-12 Students will distinguish the patterns of similarity and differences in the living world in order to understand the diversity of life and understand the theories that describe the importance of diversity for species and ecosystems.
• SCI A-14 Students will understand the interdependence between living things and their environments; that living environments consists of individuals, populations, and communities; and that a small change in a portion of an environment may affect the entire environment (Interdependence);
• SCI A-15 Students will use science to understand and describe the local environment.

Anticipatory Set: At the beginning of class I need classroom teachers to scare your students! Suprise them with a sudden loud noise such as a whistle or air horn blast. Start a discussion about how the students felt and describe their reactions. This is a fight-or-flight response. What happens is that adrenaline is pumped into your bloodstream and causes the heart to race which gives a rush of energy to the rest of their body. This response prepares an animal for a threatening situation. Have a student tell or a teacher tell a story about a time when they had an adrenaline rush that lasted for several minutes.

In this lesson we will explore two body systems that coordinate this response and other body activities. (define coordinate)

Teacher Input: Remind the students that they have the Venn diagram and as we go through the material they should work on it. Most animals have two systems for coordinating the activities of their parts, see worksheet on comparing Both systems use chemicals to tell tissues and organs what to do. (Show student were to write that on the Ven diagram. Start out explaining the endocrine system using these pictures. pic 1, pic 2, pic 3. Make sure and include these key points:

• Parts, glands, blood, vessels, heart, hormones. (define hormones)
• secreting cells are found in glands, target cells are somewhere in the body, and receptors are found on target cells.
• When target cell's receptors collect the hormone they change their activity.
• Hormones are found in Vertebrates and Invertebrates.
• Read the example of how a hormone works in the third paragraph of P 133
• movement of hormones is slow.

Teacher Modeling: What is the second system that coordinates activities in animals? What are the parts of a nervous system? Are the parts of a mammal nervous system the same as an invertebrate?

Show the picture of a nerve cell from page 134 Pose the question, "Is there any animal that doesn't have a nervous system?" lead to sponges and then cover these points:

• except for sponges all animals have nerve cells and a nervous system.
• some nerve cells are very long. In a giraffe a nervecell going from near its hoof to its back may be 8 feet long.
• go through the parts of the nerve in the picture and what they do. Pose the question, "How fast can a nerve impulse move?" (120 meters per second) How fast is that in miles per hour? (268 miles per hour)
• Define: impulse and neurotransmitter
• As you type in the definitions mention that the typing is done through the nerve system. It is used for sending messages quickly.

Guided Practice: Show the picture of an Invertebrate nervous system and cover these points:

• Simplest system is found in the cnidarians, like the hydra. (do not have a brain, instead have a nerve net) show picture and then define nervenet
• Show a picture of Invertebrate nervous system and a picture of an Arthropod Brain, the next most complicated system is the Flatworms, segmented worms, and arthropods. These organisms have structures to sense their environment. Have a clump of nerve cells in the front of the body, (simple brain)
• Show a picture of a clump of nerves. Segemented worms and arthropods have a clump in each body segment. They are all connected to coordinate movement, feeding, reproduction, and other activities.
• Does anyone know what this is a picture of? Cephlopod brain (Squid or octopuses) This is a center for the most complicated invertebrate nervous system. Does anyone know what kind of animal this brain belongs to? (squid)
• Can invertebrates be taught? ( Yes, did you know, P 135 + Octopuses can even be taught to solve simple problems.

More: Guided Practice: Show the picture of the vertebrate nervous system. Ask, what two parts makes up the vertebrate nervous system? Show the picture of the Central nervous system and define it. Then show a picture of both systems and define the peripheral nervous system.

Hit these points:

• Bones protect brain and spinal cord. Does anyone know the names of the bones?(skull, backbone)
• Brain is the control center (muscle response, breathing, balance, emotions ect)
• Spinal cord relays information as well as some balance, and reflexes more as you get to humans.
• Show the picture of vertebrates brains, (vertebrates do not all have the same brains)
• Compare the different brains with the students; Are they all the same size? Compare the brain to the body size which type of vertebrate has larger brains to body size? (the brain of a 10 lb mammal is 10 times larger than a 10 pound fish) Are all the parts of the brain the same compared to the rest of the brain? What is the front part of the brain? (define cerebrum)
• Does the number of nerve cells matter for an animal? (yes, the more nerve cells and animal has the more it can learn and remember). Show the picture of this porpose brain. The number of folds in a brain increase the number of nerve cells. Judging by the folds in this brain, is it a smart animal? Any guesses what animal this brain is from? Other than humans the poroises brain has the greatest number of folds.

Closure: Go through the review questions on P138

Independent Practice: Complete Venn diagram and have the students read section 6-4 (after break from first day), after day 2 have them complete the Vocabulary Review, and take the quiz over section 6-4.

Duration:

40-45 minutes lecture, 2 parts + 20-30 for Independent Practice.