Lesson Plan: Sensitivity to the Environment
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe structures the human body has that respond to external stimuli and explain how information is transmitted to the brain and processed.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- state that sensitivity to the environment is a key life process,
- give examples of sense organs that have receptor cells, including the ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin,
- describe the types of inputs these sense organs will respond to, including heat, pressure, and mechanical, electromagnetic, and chemical inputs,
- state that nerve cells transmit signals from sense organs to the brain,
- calculate the distance that signals will travel using the equation distance = speed time,
- outline how the brain processes signals into either immediate behavior or memories.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the fact that humans and other living organisms will respond to changes in their environment.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- organization of the human nervous system,
- details of reflex arcs,
- the detailed structure of the eyes and ears.
