Nervous System Webquest
Name: __________________________
Mrs. Gardner
Go to the websites listed below and then answer the questions that follow. Please write your answers
in complete sentences.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/brain.html
Click on the flickering box that says, “Body Basics, click here” and a window will open up with a
diagram of the brain. Scroll over the various parts of the brain and describe what each part does.
1. cerebrum:
2. cerebellum:
3. thalamus:
4. hypothalamus:
5. pons:
6. medulla oblongata:
7. spinal cord:
8. pituitary gland:
Then click on “Go to Brain, Side View”, and it shows the lobes of the brain. Scroll over each one and
then briefly write what happens in each lobe.
9. frontal lobe:
10. temporal lobe:
11. occipital lobe:
12. parietal lobe:
Now go to the following website to learn about neurons....
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/cells.html
and then label the following diagram with the appropriate term.
13. Take the quiz at the bottom of the page that says, “quiz about the parts of a neuron”. How’d you
do?
Now click on the following:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/index.html
14. Click on “mind illusions” and try one of the illusions. List which illusion you chose and explain how it
tricks your brain.
15. Click on “The Teenage Brain” and explore why teens sleep more than adults. Briefly explain why.
Now read about Phineas Gage, one of the most famous people to have survived a horrible head injury.
However, he was not ever “quite the same” again...
http://www.deakin.edu.au/hbs/GAGEPAGE/
Be sure to look at the pictures of the physical damage that was done to his skull.
16. Explain why Phineas’s personality is thought to have changed due to his injury.
You can now check out any of the following websites (or go back to one of the previous websites in the
webquest), in order to write 10 interesting facts that you learned.
http://www.nsta.org/publications/interactive/nerves/index.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/brain/
http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/nervoussystem/nervoussystem.html
http://www.kidinfo.com/health/human_body.html
http://www.kidsbiology.com/human_biology/index.php
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