Lesson Plans

Biology 5th Edition ©1999

by Campbell, Reece, Mitchell

Week 17: Nervous System and Sensory and Motor Mechanisms

Chapter 48: Nervous System
Chapter 49: Sensory and Motor Mechanisms

College Board Performance Objectives:

• Describe the structure and function of the various organs in the nervous system.
• Explain how the nervous system performs the three overlapping functions of sensory input, integration, and motor output.
• Explain how membrane potentials arise from differences in ion concentrations between cells' content and the extracellular fluid.
• Explain how sensory receptors transduce stimulus energy and transmit signals to the nervous system.
• Explain how the skeletons support and protect the animal body and are essential to movement.
• Explain how the interactions between myosin and actin underlie muscular contractions.

College Board Lab Objectives:

Suggested Laboratory Experiments:

Resources:

• Chapter 48: Nervous System, pp. 960–991
• Chapter 49: Sensory and Motor Mechanisms, pp. 992–1023
• Instructor's Guide, pp. 325–338
• Student Study Guide, pp. 165–170
• Test Bank, pp. 258–268
• Lab Manual, pp. 273–300
• CD-ROM: Chapters 48 and 49 include narrated presentations, activities, and links to the Internet.

Pacing Guide:

• Chapter 48: Nervous System—2.5 days
  Make models of axons by using long hoses with wide diameters. Wrap multiple sections of insulation material around the hoses to serve as Schwann cells. Have student locate the nodes of Ranvier. Have them look at the cross-section to see how the Schwann cell wraps around the axon. Have them explain the structure and function of the Schwann cells and the nodes of Ranvier. Now a more detailed discussion of neurons will be more understandable.
• Chapter 49: Sensory and Motor Mechanisms—2.5 days
  Take pipe cleaners of various colors to construct a functional 3-D sarcomere. Have students make two circles of the pipe cleaner and attach six pipe cleaners to each at right angles. These are the Z-lines with attached actin filaments. Now have them make myosin filaments that have golf club head structures extending outward. Have them place the myosin in the center and the actin filaments on the outside in an extended position, and then have them slide the actins together. They should keep the myosin immobile. Have students then notice how the Z lines get closer together, but the actin and myosin do not change lengths. They have constructed a functional model of a sarcomere that allows them to test the sliding filament theory of muscular contraction.
• Block Scheduling
  Nervous System can be accomplished in 1.5 blocks and Sensory and Motor Mechanisms in 1.5 blocks.

Key Words:

Suggested Exercises:
Critical thinking questions and end-of-chapter activities are included in these exercises.

1. Challenge Questions, p. 991 #1–3 and p. 1022 #1–3
2. Science, Technology, and Society, p. 991 #1 and p. 1022 #1–2
3. Have students collect articles about diseases that are related to these body systems. The discussion will center on the symptoms, the structural problems associated with the symptoms, and the remedies that are available.
4. Lab Topic 23, Vertebrate Anatomy I: The Excretory, Reproductive, and Nervous System (pp. 603–625) can be used in as demonstration in class. Use a digital camera or video camera to show the students the various parts of the dissection, and these images as illustrations and sources of discussion for class.

Troubleshooting Tips/Error Traps: