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Brain Builders

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OUTLINE

  • Neurons
  • YOUR Brain
  • Retraining your brain

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The Neuron

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Part 1: Introduction

What does your brain do?

  • Makes decisions
  • Controls your muscles
  • Anything else?

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Parts of the Brain

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/_images/Brain-lobes-functions-labelled_tcm9-155258jpg

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What are neurons?

  • Information has to come

in and out of our brain - this needs a transport system!

  • Neurons help carry

information (nerve impulses)!

  • Can you guess how many neurons are in our brain?

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Parts of the Neuron

Action Potential

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Action Potential

  • Today, we will all become neurons and do what the brain does
  • Your arms are long axons that carry the action potential while your fingers will be axon terminals

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Credit: Chemistry Experiment Vector Illustration By Vecteezy

ACTIVITY TIME!

Credit: Chemistry Experiment Vector Illustration By Vecteezy

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Instructions

  1. To get between different parts of your body, a signal has to travel through many neurons and neurons have to communicate with other neurons.

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  1. A thumbs up is the stimulus or green light.
  2. If you receive the stimulus, squeeze the next person’s hand!

Action Potential

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  1. When the wave gets to the muscle, the muscle will contract (jump!) in response to the signal. Muscle contraction makes your body move.

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The Great Neuron Race

  • Team ______ vs. Team ______

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  • WHO WILL WIN?!

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02

Your Brain

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Your Brain

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Part 2: Hemispheres of Your Brain

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Part 3: Brain Teasers

  • Our tongues and noses convey signals to our brain about the flavor of certain foods
  • We will be using JELLY BEANS for the next experiment. One lucky volunteer will get to taste some jelly beans!

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Why is it harder to taste when we plug our nose?

Question Time!

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By “cutting off” the signal from our nose to our brain, a neuron impulse responsible for taste that results from our perception of smell is not received in the brain

This is why it’s hard to taste when you have a cold

What’s happening?

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Retraining Your Brain

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Is it possible to retrain your brain?

  • Yes, the brain will make new connections when they learn new things
  • For this part, we will be retraining your occipital lobe

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Instructions

  1. First, walk in a straight line while wearing the goggles
  2. Try to throw a ball to another student !

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What happened?

  • What the student sees is different from what is actually there
  • It is difficult to do these tasks
  • However, the brain adjusted by using a different pathway

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Credit: Chemistry Experiment Vector Illustration By Vecteezy

ACTIVITY TIME!

Credit: Chemistry Experiment Vector Illustration By Vecteezy

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QUESTIONS?

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