Learning about brain injuries: stroke
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Alignment
4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
5-PS3-1. Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, and motion and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
Learning Outcomes
- Students learn to look at and interpret microscope images.
- Students learn about different brain injuries.
- Students learn what a stroke is and the different types of stroke.
- Students learn about the effects of a stroke.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you know of ways that the brain can be damaged?
2. What is a stroke?
3. Can you compare the causes or effects of a stroke to another brain disease that you know about?
4. Who studies brain diseases?
Video 1
Video 2
Vocabulary
Transverse brain cut: in a transverse cut, the brain is cut to separate the top and bottom
Sagittal brain cut: in a sagittal cut, the brain is cut front to back, along the plane that separates the two halves or hemispheres
Coronal brain cut: in a coronal cut, the brain is cut top to bottom, like you would a salami
Blood: a tissue in a body formed by cells (like red and white blood cells, and platelets) suspended in a liquid called plasma. Blood that brings oxygen and nutrients to all the parts of the body, and takes waste away from them
Blood vessel: a tube that carries blood around the body
Traumatic brain injury (brain trauma): situation when the brain doesn't work as it usually does because of an injury to the head.
Stroke: damage to the brain/part of the brain caused by an interruption of blood flow
Ischemic stroke: stroke that occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is blocked by a clot.
Hemorrhagic stroke: stroke that occurs when a blood vessel bursts/ruptures in the brain.
Review
Stroke is a disease that affects the blood vessels in the brain.
When a blood vessel is blocked or ruptures, the blood that it carries, with oxygen and other nutrients, cannot get to the brain cells. This causes the brain cells to die.
There are two different types of strokes; Ischemic and Hemorrhagic.
