Unpacked Content
Scientific and Engineering Practices
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions; Engaging in Argument from Evidence; Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Crosscutting Concepts
Cause and Effect; Systems and System Models
Knowledge
Students know:
- The nervous system is a complex arrangement of neuroglia and neurons bundled into the central and peripheral nervous systems.
- The central nervous system (CNS) is composed of the brain and spinal cord.
- The peripheral nervous system (PNS) extends beyond the brain and sprinal cord—composed of somatic nerves, autonomic nerves, and ganglia.
- Nerves are bundles of neurons—afferent nerves carry sensory information while efferent nerves carry motor information.
- The PNS is divided into the somatic nervous system, which enables the voluntary control of body movements and the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary body functions in order to maintain a stable internal environment for body.
- The autonomic nervous system is divided into the parasympathetic nerve system which promotes relaxation and digestion and the sympathetic nervous system which prepares the body to react to stress. These two systems tend to counteract each other to maintain homeostasis.
- Structural diseases of the nervous system are categorized as trauma, cerebrovascular and neurovascular diseases, CNS tumors, developmental disorders, metabolic and toxic diseases, nervous system infection, or neurodegenerative disease.
- Neurons communicate to other cells with neurotransmitters which can be excitatory(stimulate a neuron) or inhibitory (hinder a neuron).
- A neuron must be excited past its threshold before propgating an action potential.
- The actions of neurotransmitters are the basis of many diseaseas and many drugs modify their actions.
Skills
Students are able to:
- Gather, read, and interpret scientific information about the central nervous system, including how it affects all other body systems to maintain homeostasis.
- Gather, read, and interpret scientific information about the peripheral nervous system, including how it affects all other body systems to maintain homeostasis.
- Communicate scientific information, in multiple formats (e.g., orally, graphically, textually) to explain how the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system interrelate.
- Communicate scientific information, in multiple formats (e.g., orally, graphically, textually) to explain how the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system affect all other body systems to maintain homeostasis.
- Use scientific literature to identify conditions and diseases that effect the nervous system.
- Evaluate, based on evidence, how these conditions and diseases affect the body.
- Analyze data in order to make a valid and reliable scientific claim about how the body responds to the identified conditions and diseases in its attempt to maintain homeostasis.
- Gather, read and interpret scientific information about possible prevention and treatment options in regards to pathology of the nervous system.
- Use evidence to form an argument about possible prevention or treatment options with regard to pathology of the nervous system.
- Use evidence to defend an argument about possible prevention or treatment options with regard to pathology of the nervous system
- Evaluate counter-claims and revise argument based on evidence.
- Define a design problem that involves the development of a process or system with interacting components, criteria, and constraints (medication to treat homeostatic brain imbalance).
- Create a hypothesis that specifies what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated.
- Collect data about a complex model of a proposed process or system to identify failure points or improve performance relative to criteria for success or other variables (nervous system functionality in regards to neurotransmitter medications and their effect on the homeostatic imbalances in the disease process).
- Analyze data to identify design features or characteristics of the components of a proposed process or system to optimize it relative to criteria for success (action and effect of different neurotransmitter medications on the nervous system).
- Analyze data using tools, technologies, and or models in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
- Design, evaluate, and/or refine a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized criteria, and trade-off considerations.
- Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and usefulness of each source.
- Evaluate the validity and reliability of and/or synthesize multiple claims, methods, and ;or designs that appear in scientific and technical texts or media reports, verifying the data when possible.
- Use empirical evidence to identify patterns use empirical evidence to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects.
- Design a medication to cause a desired effect investigating a system or structure requires a detailed examination of the properties of different materials, the structures of different components, and connections of components to reveal their function and /or solve a problem.
- The functions and properties of natural and designed objects and systems can be inferred from their overall structure, the way their components are shaped and used, and the molecular substructures of their various materials.
Understanding
Students understand that:
- The nervous system is composed of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (cranial and spinal nerves). This nervous system is responsible for aiding and sustaining homeostasis in the human body where it monitors and analyzes environmental information and responds).
- Homeostatic imbalances may occur in the brain for various reasons. The causes of these imbalances include traumatic brain injuries (contusions, concussions), degenerative brain disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease), and cerebrovascular accidents (strokes).
- Degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease occur when beta-amyloid peptide deposits and neurofibrillary tangles occur. These tangles are delineated by an insufficiency of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Whereas degenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease are caused by too much or too little of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Treatments for the symptoms of these diseases include medications such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, glutamate pathway modifiers, and MAO-B inhibitors). These medication treatments are not a cure for the diseases; they only slow disease progression. Research for new medication therapy is ongoing with the hope of developing better medications that halt the disease process and have minimal adverse side effects.
Vocabulary
- Lumbar puncture
- MRI Scan
- PET Scan
- SPECT Scan
- Parkinson's disease
- Alzheimer's disease
- cerebral palsy
- traumatic brain injury
- Glutamate and Aspartate
- GABA
- Serotonin
- Acetylcholine
- Dopamine
- Norepinephrine
- Endorphins and Enkephalins
- Dynorphins
- Channel link receptors (ionotopic)
- G-Protein-Linked receptors
