How do brain cells talk with each other?
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 how the structure of brain cells is related to their function.
- Students learn how brain cells communicate with each other and with the muscles.
- Students learn what happens when the brain can’t communicate with each other.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is it important that brain cells communicate with each other and with the muscles in your body?
2. How can communication between brain cells be interrupted?
3. What’s special about brain cells?
Video 1
Video 2
Vocabulary
Neurons: brain cells responsible for sending and receiving messages. The brain’s post office!
Golgi staining: a technique invented by the Italian scientist Camillo Golgi that allows scientists make brain cells visible under the microscope
Dendrites: the part of a neuron that receives information (input); dendrites look like a tree because they branch out to reach other neurons
Axon: the part of a neuron that carries information away from the cell body (output); axons are like electrical cables that connect neurons with each other and with muscles
Cell body: the control center of a neuron, that compute the information received by other neurons and decides when to send an output message through the axon; the cell body contains the nucleus
Nucleus: compartment in the center of a cell that contains most of the DNA (chromosomes)
Review
Neurons, or brain cells, communicate by sending signals.
When communication is interrupted, basic tasks like breathing, moving, or remembering may be difficult.
The neuron is made up of a cell body, dendrites, and an axon.
