MODULE 2: INTRO AND LESSON 1
June 23
TODAY'S MESSAGE
Officially our first module is over. At NCVPS we offer what is called a Grace Period for each module. We understand life happens. You may still turn in assignments from Module 1. However, for each day they are late, 10 points are taken off. If an assignment is turned in 1 day late the highest grade you can get is a 90. The Grace Period is for 3 day and for this module goes to Tuesday, June 27th at 11:59 p.m. After this date the grades go in as zeros.
TODAY'S ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Complete the Module 2 Pre-Test.
2. Review the Module 2 Glossary and any vocabulary practice.
3. Review Lesson 1 Notes to learn about the nervous system.
4. Complete the Lesson 1 Practice Activity and Lesson 1 Assignment.
TEACHER TALK 1
There is A LOT of technical material to cover in this Module. It is important that you take the time to go through all of it, readings, links, interactives, etc.
Question: Why are we studying the nervous system in psychology? Any ideas?
It is because our brain affects our behavior, cognition, perception, moods and various reactions. The brain is the command center of our whole body so its state or nature is very important in understanding behavior and mental processes.
The nervous system is a complex system of nerves that connect and communicate with each other. Livescience.com describes the nervous system as, “essentially the body’s electrical wiring. It is composed of nerves, which are bundles of fibers that start at the brain and central cord and branch out to every other part of the body.”
The nervous system is the highway along which your brain sends and receives information about what is happening in the body and around it. This highway is made up of billions of nerve cells, or neurons, which join together to make nerves.
The two main parts of the nervous system are the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. At the end of each nerve cell there is a synaptic terminal. This is full of extremely tiny sacs which hold neurotransmitter chemicals.
- These chemicals transmit nerve impulses from one nerve to another or from nerves to muscle cells.
- An electrical nerve impulse travels along the neuron to these sacs which then release the neurotransmitter chemicals.
- The chemicals move along to the next neuron sparking an electrical charge which moves the nerve impulse forward.
- This happens several times until the message gets where it's going.
- It's a bit like you running around the house switching lights on. Pressing the switch causes electricity to flow through to the light bulb.
The Central Nervous System
The brain and the spinal cord make up the central nervous system. The brain lies protected inside the skull and from there controls all the body functions by sending and receiving messages through nerves.
The Peripheral Nervous System
The peripheral nervous system carries messages to and from the central nervous system. It sends information to the brain and carries out orders from the brain.
Messages travel through the cranial nerves, those which branch out from the brain and go to many places in the head such as the ears, eyes and face. Messages can also travel through the spinal nerves which branch out from the spinal cord.There are two major parts to the peripheral nervous system.
The somatic system
- sends sensory information to the central nervous system through peripheral nerve fibers. Sensory means that it sends the information coming from all your senses, touch, vision, hearing, taste, smell and position.
- sends messages to motor nerve fibers to get the muscles to move the body.
The autonomic system
- is responsible for making sure that all the automatic things that your body needs to do to keep you going, like breathing, digesting etc continue working smoothly without your having to think about them. How hard would it be to have to keep thinking, "Breathe in, breathe out," or "Start digesting the food stomach!"
For a brief but informative summary of how the nervous system works click on the link below from Scholastic.com.
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/human-body/nervous-system.htm (Links to an external site.)John Green will now get into a little bit more of how the nervous system works.
TEACHER TALK 2
To master today's assignments you will need to be very familiar with various parts that make up the human nervous system. Click on the image below to access a more detailed description of each part. Use what you learned from the lesson 1 notes and the resources below to help prepare you for the Nervous System quiz and written assignment. For the written assignment, pick any three of the systems (Central, Peripheral, Autonomic, Somatic, Sympathetic or Parasympathetic) listed. Then provide a personal example/experience that reflects each. Make sure that your description of the experience is detailed enough to show your understanding of the system it reflects.
Yesterday and today you learned about this system in your body that controls almost everything you do: the nervous system. This is a network of tissue that sends and carries messages to all the different parts of the body. This system evolved in order for you to sense your environment and respond precisely to changes within and outside of his body.
The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain (which we will learn about tomorrow) and spinal cord while the peripheral nervous system is made up of those all those other branch-like nerves, big and small, that extend throughout our bodies right out to our internal organs, limbs, muscles, skin, fingers and toes.
The peripheral nervous system is divided into two parts:
- The autonomic nervous system, located in the base of this brain, or brainstem, performs involuntary functions (involuntary means we are not conscious of doing them) like the beating of our heart and the digesting of our food and breathing.
- The somatic nervous system, responsible for nearly all voluntary muscle movements as well as for processing sensory information including hearing, touch and sight.
The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain (which we will learn about tomorrow) and spinal cord while the peripheral nervous system is made up of those all those other branch-like nerves, big and small, that extend throughout our bodies right out to our internal organs, limbs, muscles, skin, fingers and toes.
The peripheral nervous system is divided into two parts:
- The autonomic nervous system, located in the base of this brain, or brainstem, performs involuntary functions (involuntary means we are not conscious of doing them) like the beating of our heart and the digesting of our food and breathing.
- The somatic nervous system, responsible for nearly all voluntary muscle movements as well as for processing sensory information including hearing, touch and sight.
Your nervous system interacts with every other system in your body. In the same way that all of your cells need oxygen transported by the circulatory system, all of your tissues and organs require instruction and direction from the nervous system. There is obvious interaction between your muscles and your nervous system. That interaction helps you move around and interact with your environment.
There are many hidden interactions going on within your body. Your endocrine system works closely with your brain and central nervous system to control the creation of specific hormones and enzymes. Your digestive and excretory systems work with the nervous system in both conscious and unconscious ways. While digestion goes on without your thoughts, eating, peeing, and pooping are under your control.
The nervous system is made up of nervous tissues that are, in turn, made up of many types of neurons. There are billions of neurons connected throughout your body. These neurons are connected end to end and transmit electrical impulses from one point to another.
Nervous System. Piktochart. Created by Tammy Marshall. https://magic.piktochart.com/output/16139949-nervous-system
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NCVPS Psychology
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Today's Assignments (Book Icon Orange, David Peters, Wikpedia Education Program Case Studies.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Teacher Talk (Red Silhouette - Teacher, Ben from Openclipart, Openclipart, Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license)
Shout Out (callout-quote-bull-speaking-bubble, Pixabay, Pixabay, CCO Public Domain license)
Important Dates This Week (Blank Calendar Page Icon, Jackaranga, Jackaranga, GNU Free Documentation License)
Contact Me (Smart phone mobile phone, Pixabay, Pizabay, CCO Public Domain)