DO NOW THURSDAY
• Write down what you know about the brain.
LEARNING TARGETS
• Describe the structure and function of the brain.
The Brain
www.brainpop.com
Interesting Facts About Your Brain
• Your brain weighs about 3 pounds.
• It is made of about 78% water.
• Therefore, you need to drink 8-12 glasses of water each
day for your brain to maintain peak function.
• It is soft enough to cut with a butter knife.
• It is about the size of a grapefruit.
• It gets about 8 gallons of blood each hour to provide it
with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function.
• Your brain uses about 20% of your body’s energy and
oxygen.
Why is your brain important?
• Your brain is very important to the function of your
entire body.
• Functions include
– Interpret information from environment (collected with
five senses)
– Monitor and regulate body functions such as
temperature, blood pressure, hunger, etc.
– Responsible for thinking, learning, emotion, memory
– The list goes on and on….
Parts of Your Brain
• Your brain contains three main parts:
1. Cerebrum
2. Cerebellum
3. Brain Stem
The Parts of Your Brain
The Cerebrum
• The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain.
• In fact, your large cerebrum is what separates you from
all other animals.
• Your cerebrum is responsible for your higher mental
functions such as thinking, problem solving,
understanding speech, and using words.
• Your cerebrum is divided into four parts, called lobes:
•
•
•
•
Frontal lobe
Parietal lobe
Temporal lobe
Occipital lobe
The Cerebrum
Parietal lobe
Frontal lobe
Temporal lobe
Occipital
lobe
The Cerebrum: Frontal lobe
• The Frontal lobe is involved in
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reasoning
Planning
Problem-solving
Emotions
Speech
Personality
Frontal
lobe
The Cerebrum: Parietal lobe
• The Parietal lobe is involved in
• Senses such as temperature, taste, pressure, touch, and
pain
• Language
Parietal
lobe
The Cerebrum: Occipital lobe
• The Occipital lobe is involved in:
• Visual processing
Occipital
lobe
The Cerebrum: Temporal lobe
• The Temporal lobe is involved in
• Auditory perception (hearing)
• Memory
• Speech
Temporal lobe
The Cerebrum
• The commonly-used terms “left-brained” and “rightbrained” refer to the two hemispheres (halves) of the
cerebrum.
• Although both sides are involved in all of the activities
previously mentioned for the lobes, brain research
shows that the left side is used more for language and
logical processing (math and science), while the right
side is used more for visual and intuitive processing
(creativity).
• Damage to the cerebrum, such as from a stroke, can
result in a wide variety of symptoms, depending upon
the location and severity of the damage.
Cerebral Hemispheres
Cerebral Hemispheres
Which are you??
Left-brain Right-brain quiz:
http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/
The Cerebellum
• Makes up about 10% of the brain’s total weight, but
contains about half of the brain’s neurons (cells).
• Regulates voluntary muscular movements such as
posture, balance, coordination, speech, and smooth and
balanced muscular activity.
• Damage to the cerebellum probably would not result in
paralysis or affect the intelligence of the person, but
could lead to lack of balance, slower movement, and
tremors (shaking).
The Cerebellum
The Brain Stem
• The brain stem is made of three different parts
(midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata), however, you will
not be required to know the names of these.
• All of the parts of the brain stem together are
responsible for vital life processes. These are the
processes that keep you alive. The processes include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Heart rate
Breathing
Sleeping
Eating
Blood pressure
Sleep/wake
Swallowing
The Brain Stem
DO NOW FRIDAY
• Write what you think a traumatic brain injury is.
LEARNING TARGETS
• To describe the structure and function of the brain.
What is Traumatic Brain Injury?
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to damage to the
brain caused by an external physical force such as a
car accident, a gunshot wound to the head, or a fall.
• A TBI is not caused by something internal such as a
stroke or tumor, and does not include damage to the
brain due to prolonged lack of oxygen (anoxic brain
injuries).
Protecting the Brain
• The brain is composed of extremely delicate, soft tissue
floating in a clear fluid within the skull.
• Under the skull there are three layers of membranes that
cover and protect the brain.
• The fluid, called cerebrospinal fluid (or CSF) along with the
membranes (spinal meninges) and skull, help to cushion and
protect the brain.
• However, when there is sudden speeding up and/or slowing
down, such as in a car crash or fall, the brain can move
around violently inside the skull, resulting in injury.
Why is it important to wear a helmet?
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thats-you-wearhelmet-cyclist-6531840
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olPmaGPSQVc
Helmet Lab Activity
Purpose: To design a “helmet”
that protects the “brain” and
understand how injury may
impact brain functioning
Your Model
•
•
•
•
Your model for this activity will be an egg.
The shell = skull
The yolk = brain
The white = CSF
• The egg has been glued to a piece of egg carton for
stability.
Procedures
• Your group may use up to 5 different materials for your
helmet.
• You will drop your egg in front of the class from a 30
cm height.
• Constraints:
– Helmet has to stay on the “head” during the impact.
– Helmet has to prevent “skull” from cracking.
– Helmet can’t cover “eyes”.
– Helmet can’t fall apart/must be reusable.
DO NOW MONDAY
• Tell which part of the brain performs the following functions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Thinking
Understanding language
Vital life processes
Voluntary movements
Vision
Memory
Hearing
Balance
Learning Targets
• To describe the structure and function of a
sensory/motor neuron.
• To gather and synthesize information that sensory
neurons respond to stimuli by sending messages to the
brain for an immediate response or for storage as
memory.
Neurons (Nerve Cells)
www.brainpop.com
Neurons
•
•
•
•
Are nerve cells
Are the longest cells in the body
Function like the wires in electronics
Carry messages from the brain to the body or the body to the
brain
Types of Neurons
• There are two type of neurons:
– Sensory: allow you to sense your environment;
• carry messages from your body to your brain;
• connect your brain to your five senses (eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose)
– Motor: allow you to respond to your environment;
• carry messages from your brain to your body
• connect your brain to your muscles to allow movement
Structure of a Neuron
Function of Neuron Parts
• Dendrites: receive the chemical signal (neurotransmitter) from
the adjacent nerve cell
• Cell body: produces the energy and protein that builds and
maintains the nerve cell
• Nucleus: control center of the nerve cell, direct its function
• Axon: the “wire” of the nerve signal; conducts the electrical
impulse
• Myelin sheath: the fatty insulation that keeps the electrical signal
on the axon
• Axon terminals: send the chemical signal (neurotransmitter) to
the next nerve cell or another cell such as a muscle cell
How does a Neuron send a signal?
Chemical
Signal
Chemical
signal
Electrical
Signal

How does a Neuron send a signal?
Neurotransmitter
dendrites
axon

electricity
chemical signal

Axon
terminals
How does a Neuron send a signal?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Dendrites receive neurotransmitter from adjacent neuron.
Neurotransmitter generates electrical signal in neuron.
Electrical signal travels down axon and axon terminals.
Neurotransmitter is released by axon terminals.
Neurotransmitter travels across synapse and is received by
dendrites of next nerve cell.
6. Steps 1-5 are repeated over and over as message is sent from
brain to body (by way of motor neurons) or body to brain (by
way of sensory neurons).
NOTE: The receiving cell of the neurotransmitter
can be a muscle cell if the sending cell is a motor
neuron.
What happens then?
• Once the message reaches its destination, what happens depends
upon the destination.
– If the destination was the brain, then the brain will process the
information and send a response message out to a part of the body
or may store the information for future use (memory and learning).
– If the destination was a body part, then that body part will do what
was instructed by the brain.