Students complete a probe and create a step-by-step list of how the body reacted to stubbing your toe.
Students investigate how pupils react to environmental changes.
Students conduct a meter stick catch reaction time investigation.
Students use a video, reading, and case study to explain how organisms respond to stimuli.
Students construct a model of a reflex arc to demonstrate the movement response caused by a stimulus.
Students analyze stimulus/response scenarios.
Students visit sense stations in order to explain the connection between sensory experiences and memories.
Students analyze a diagram in order to describe how sensory receptors cause changes in behavior.
Students use videos and readings to investigate the effects concussions have on learning and memory.
In the previous Concept, students carried out microscopic and macroscopic investigations to figure out that the body is a system of subsystems, and that microscopic cellular structures and functions lead to macroscopic systemic structures and functions. They used models to explore normal body system interactions, and figured out how disease can disrupt these normal functions.
In this Concept, students perform investigations using their own involuntary and voluntary reflexes in order to figure out how organisms respond to stimuli. Students use readings and case studies to create models of the sensory pathways in our bodies. Ultimately, students figure out that our bodies can not only respond to environmental changes in order to survive, but they can also store these experiences as memories to retrieve in other circumstances when they might be helpful. An organism’s sensory experiences drive behaviors that aid in survival.
This Concept is the final one before the Performance Task, and can serve as another way to remind students that our body is composed of systems (such as the nervous and muscular systems featured in this Concept) that work together. By understanding how the body systems normally respond to stimuli, medical professionals can apply this knowledge in order to understand diseases that affect our ability to respond appropriately.