What a term we have had exploring our brains and how they work. Mrs B has to apologise for the photos. I get so busy with the activity at hand that I often forget to take photos of us!! However, enjoy the photos we DO have that look at all the different activities and crazy experiments we tried out so as to find out how to look after our brains and how to get the most out of them here at school.
There were a number or bendy, brainy puzzles to help us exercise both the right and left side of our brains. We even tried out brain yoga!!
One of our first experiments was to answer the question:
"Is your brain alone in your head?"
Each class did a wonderful experiment called Mr Egghead. http://thebraingeek.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/activity-mr-egghead-and-concussing.html, which found out that the brain is not alone, but is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid is the body's natural way of helping protect the brain in conjunction with our skull.
We then talked about concussion and how best to protect our brains. We came up with some simple but vital rules:
- Always wear a helmet when on your bike, or skateboard
- Wear head gear in contact sport/or make sure you take a head knock seriously
- Always wear your seatbelt when in the car
- Eat good food, and drink plenty of water to get the most out of your brain
- The right amount of sleep helps make sure your brain cells connect correctly during your school day
- Exercise your brain on a daily basis
Below are some photos of us 'making' a helmet to help protect Mr Egghead from a serious concussion! Some worked better than others!
Next we answered:
"How does our brain get us to do things?"
"How do we move, speak, think, feel?"
Look what Mrs B was given. Can you guess the colour? 😍
Look what Mrs B was given. Can you guess the colour? 😍
Neurons are what it's all about! So we .........
- Made Neurons
- Played the Connect the Neurons game to show how messages are sent to different places in our body.
- Experimented to see if we could change a Neuron Path, or get our Neurons to adapt to new situations. Much like what would happen if someone had a stroke, or lost a limb. Below are some photos of us trying out the 'Altered Reality' experiment. http://brainu.org/lesson/altered-reality This experiment shows how adaptable to new situations the human brain is. Most of us were able to adjust to having the goggles on and getting the beanbag in the box or on the paper within 10 throws. Clever kids!!
- Found out where Neuron 'hotspots' or touch receptors are in the body. Below are photos of us answering the questions to: "Can you see with your hands?" A hilarious and amazing task where you are set the challenge of finding your own lemon in amongst everyone else's while blindfolded! Also, "Can you feel one point or two?" An experiment to represent where touch receptors mostly cluster, sending instant messages to your brain for interpretation of feel. http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/lessonplans/biology/brain.html
Everyone found their lemon, even if it took quite a bit of finding!
The Toothpick experiment: Can you feel one point or two?
The Memory! Our memory is an amazing thing. Go to this link here to find out 10 of the most surprising and strangest facts that we learnt about our memory.
We also put our memory to the test to see if 'touch' and 'talk' helped us to remember things in a box more successfully.
One group just looked in the box for 5 minutes before the box was covered.
The other group picked up and named each object to each other in the group within the 5 minutes, before the box was also covered.
The group touching and saying the names of each object recorded an average score of at least 2 more than group one. No one in any group remembered all the objects.
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