Nervous System Study Resources {Part 1}
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Welcome to our study with Apologia’s Human Anatomy and Physiology. This week, we’ve been studying the nervous system.
I have always been fascinated by the nervous system. The nervous system is the command center of your body. It controls and coordinates your movements, processes, and thoughts. The nervous system is made up of the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves that reach across the entire body. We’ve been having fun learning about each part with Apologia’s Human Anatomy and Physiology curriculum.
If you look at the body as a city. This city has lots of roads and highways. Last week, we learned about the circulatory system. Those roads carried blood cells, nutrients, and wastes through the body. The highways of the nervous system carry information.
The main nervous system highway is called the central nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The smaller roads of the nervous system are called the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is made up of nerves that extend from the central nervous system to the outer edges of the body.
The Central Nervous System
As mentioned before, the central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The brain is made up of 3 main parts: the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem. Each has a separate, important function. To help remember where those parts are, my daughter created a clay brain with each part a different color. (She used polymer clay for this project. It’s so easy to work with and comes in lots of colors)
The cerebrum is where your thoughts and decisions happen. You think about what you want for dinner in the cerebrum. You decide you want to eat pizza and your cerebrum sends a message to your arm to reach for the phone and dial for delivery.
The cerebellum (in red) controls muscle movements you don’t think of. When you stand still, you might not think there are muscles working, but the cerebellum makes sure your muscles are doing the work of making sure you stay standing up. The cerebellum, also, helps with equilibrium.
The brainstem (in yellow) connects the brain to the spinal cord. It controls basic body functions like breathing and the regulation of the heartbeat. Once again, the brain makes sure these things happen automatically. You don’t even have to think about it.
The second main part of the central nervous system is the spinal cord. The job of the spinal cord is to take messages from the brain to the peripheral nervous system and from the peripheral nervous system back to the brain. It does this via nerves originating in the spinal cord and branching out to the rest of the body.
The Peripheral Nervous System
The peripheral nervous system consists of those nerves that branch off of the spinal cord and spread to the rest of the body. These nerves are made up of cells called neurons. To help learn the various parts of the neuron, my daughter made this neuron model out of clay and yarn.
One end of the neuron has branches called dendrites. Dendrites gather information and bring it back to the cell body. The cell body sends the information along the axon to another nerve cell. Most axons are wrapped in fatty tissue called the myelin sheath. The myelin sheath speeds up the transmission of information along the axon, which can vary in length from a millimeter to a meter or more. The end of the axon is called the terminal end. Instead of the terminal end of the axon connecting directly to the next neuron, the two cells are connected indirectly by a synapse.
A synapse is a tiny gap between neurons. In order for information from one neuron to get to the next neuron, chemicals called neurotransmitters are released. Neurotransmitters leave the terminal of the axon and travel across the synapse to the dendrite of the next neuron. Not all neurotransmitters are accepted by the dendrite, just the ones carrying the necessary information at the time.
As you can see, one end of the neuron collects information and the other transmits information. This means that information can only travel one way along a nerve. Neurons that collect information from the body and take it to the brain are called sensory neurons. Neurons that carry information from the brain to the body are called motor neurons.
More Nervous System Information
Nervous System Study Resources {Part 2} will dive into learning more details about the brain, spinal cord, and reflexes.
In the meantime…
- The crew at MeetPenny.com, had a fun time this week studying the nervous system, too. They have great nervous system ideas and games.
- DIY Nervous System Models
- Nervous System Study Ideas
- Nervous System Notebooking Pages
- Human Brain Coloring Book
- Make a Neuron
- Brain Games
- Neuroscience is Cool
- Nervous System printables
- Brain Game printables
- Make a Brain Hemisphere Hat
- Brain Imaging
- Neuroscience Lessons for Kids: lower elementary
- The Brain in Space
- The Brain is a Computer
- Your Wires Are Really Crossed: Communication in the Nervous System
- Here are a couple of great neuron videos we watched this week.
- Anatomy of a Neuron video from Khan Academy – jr high/high school level
- Understanding Neurons video from MakeMeAGenius.com – primary/grade school level
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