Below you will find links to pdf's of some of the lessons I created and taught with Brain Explorers out of UNC.
Drumbeats are used to represent brain waves during different states of consciousness. Students are asked to describe drumbeats in both qualitative and quantitative terms. A distinction between qualitative and quantitative is derived from the class. Students record drumbeat frequencies over 10 second intervals. The class determined frequencies are then plotted in the form of wave patterns, each complete cycle from nadir to peak to next nadir representing a drumbeat, plotted over time.
Brain wave cycling during sleep is simulated with drum beats played over 5 second intervals. Each 5 second interval represents 15 minutes of sleep so 8 hours of sleep can be "played" in 160 seconds. Students record the relative speed of the beats (fast or slow) for each interval, discovering that there are 5 short periods of high frequency brain activity, separated by long periods of low frequency brain activity. Students are also given brain wave frequency in Hertz, collected at 15 minute intervals over an 8 hour period of sleep. The students are asked to graph this quantitative data.
Students pretend that we are in a sleep lab. Students play the roles of a sleep subject, monitors and data collectors. An 8 hour period of sleep is simulated over about 30 minutes during which "readings" are taken from the monitors and recorded by the data collectors on the charts provided to them. The student monitors have instruments and provide us with relative electrical activity rates of the subject's brain, heart, eyes and skeletal muscles. The speed at which the instruments are played reflects the activity of the body part monitored. The roles played by the students are changed throughout the activity so that everyone collects data. At the midpoint of the simulated test period, students are asked to look at the data compiled on their charts for patterns of body part activity i.e. when there are high frequency brain waves, the eyes are moving rapidly, the heart is beating quickly and there is no activity in the skeletal muscles. During the last part of data collection students are asked to hypothesize, making predictions for activity rates for data points before the monitors are read.
Copies of "Sleep Beats," the accompnying percussion ensemble, score and individual pieces currently available on paper upon request
This lesson introduces students to the concept that there is salt (NaCl) in our bodies as evidenced by the salty taste in our sweat. They discover that our bodies need salt. They learn that one area in which salt is used, in the body, is in the generation of the Action Potential in the nervous system. The students will also be introduced to the concepts that every tangible thing is matter; matter is composed of atoms, and salt is a form of matter that can be composed of atoms of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). They are told that salt is used in the generation of the Action Potential, because of the nature of the sodium and chloride atoms. They are left to ponder how these atoms could generate electricity.
Salt I Crystals
Students add salt to water and see that it “disappears.” They use the data collected during the activity to determine if the salt is still in the water.
In part 1 of this activity students see that salt dissolves in water. Students explore with magnets to get the idea that like forces repel and opposite forces attract. This idea is applied to the salt ions and water molecules to explain how the salt ions are separated in the water.
Salt II part 2
This lesson reinforces the connection between salt ions in solution and electrical energy. Students will be allowed to explore a "conductivity of solutions apparatus" and be given a brief overview of its operation. They will then be given a container of water, a tube of salt and a tube of sugar and be asked to figure out how they can use these materials to make the light shine. They will be asked to write and explain their hypotheses as to which material or combination of materials will make the light shine. Students are then free to discover that neither the salt crystals nor the sugar crystals alone will allow the light to work. They can then make sugarwater or saltwater and see that it is the salt in solution that allows the flow of electrical energy, lighting the light. A connection is made beween the electrical properties of the dissolved salt in the apparatus and the electrical energy generated by salt dissolved in the body.
Through manipulation of felt board figures, music and dance students, learn that the electrical signals in the neurons are generaed by the movement of sodium ions.
copies of individual pieces currently available on paper upon request.
