Sending and Receiving Messages (Module 3)

Extensions

The activities listed below provide a link to other areas in the curriculum. These activities also make use of the trading cards included in the module.

1. Work with your students to develop a class newspaper. Ask the groups to write articles about the parts of the brain, what each part does, how messages travel throughout the body, and how the brain works with the nervous system to perform key functions.

2. Ask the students to guess how many neurons they think are in their bodies. Then write down the answer - 100 billion (100,000,000,000). Discuss why so many neurons are needed. Then point out that each neuron has about 10,000 contacts with other neurons. Help the students grasp the enormity of this communication system.

3. Divide the students into groups and have each group draw a large poster showing the vast communication networks in our nervous system. They also may want to draw an outline of the human body and put the brain in the head. Then they can use string to show the relationship between the brain and other parts of the body. They also may want to compare our internal network to telephone wires, the power grid, or the Internet. Encourage each group to develop its own way to explain this network.