Guiding Documents

National Science Education Standards

Life Science Content Standard C: As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of structure and function in living systems. Principles that underlie this standard include structure and functions of cells, tissues, organs, systems for movement, control, and coordination. A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms. (pp. 155-157).

AAAS Benchmarks

By the end of 5th grade, students should know that the brain gets signals from all parts of the body telling what is going on there. The brain also sends signals to parts of the body to influence what they do. (p. 136)

Human Identity Grades 6-8: By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that human beings have body systems for providing coordination of body systems. (p. 129) "Students can now develop more sophisticated understandings of how organs and organ systems work together." This includes the carrying of messages by nerves to help the organism respond to its environment. "Asking 'What if?' questions such as 'What might happen if some other parts weren't there or weren't working?' can stimulate students to reflect on connections among organs." (p. 137) By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that interactions among the senses, nerves, and brain make possible the learning that enables human beings to cope with changes in their environment.

National Science Teachers Association Scope Sequence and Coordination

"At the 6-8 grade level, the curriculum should emphasize the human organism." (p. 48) Students should explore the different systems.

Nebraska Science Standards

"Grades 5-8 At the middle school level, students expand their scientific inquiry skills through knowledge, observations, ideas, and questions. Middle school students will begin to recognize the relationships between explanation and evidence. They understand that background knowledge and theories guide the design of investigations, the types of observations made, and the interpretation of data. Student investigations will shape and modify students' background knowledge. (p. 24)

"8.1 Unifying Concepts and Processes

"8.1.1 By the end of eighth grade, students will develop an understanding of systems, order, and organization.

Student demonstrations:

• Recognize and describe integral parts and functions of any system.
• Analyze and predict the interactions within a system and between systems.
• Create and use classification schemes.
• "Interpret cause and effect relationships within and between systems."
  p. 25
  

"8.4 Life Science

8.4.1 By the end of eighth grade, students will develop an understanding of the structure and function in living systems.

Student demonstrations:

• Investigate and describe the levels of organizations: cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.
• Investigate and describe the specialized function performed by specialized cells, such as muscular and skeletal, in multicellular organisms.
• Investigate and describe the internal human body systems.
• Investigate and explain how disease affects the structure and/or function of an organism."

Objectives

Students will

• Construct a neuron and learn that within the neuron there are different organelles and with specific functions
• Complete a simple neuronal circuit which concretely demonstrates how neurons are wired in a functional unit
• Participate in a learning module to reiterate the key points and apply what they have just learned

Science Content

• Neurons are the structural building blocks of the nervous system
• Through specialized processes, neurons are "hard-wired" to each other to form functional circuits
• In these circuits neurons communicate with each other through electrical and chemical signaling

Science Process Skills

• Making Connections
• Communicating
• Modeling
• Predicting
• Reasoning