Overview

In this sequence of activities, students learn how the sensation of touch differs based on the part of the body that is receiving the information. Each of these activities can also be completed independently.

Activities:
1) Listen to Carry the One Radio’s “Touch” episode and complete listening guide
2) Read article on the somatosensory cortex
3) Complete Touch Sensitivity Lab
4) Use online interactive to “Make your own homunculus”

Using this Lesson Plan

The activities in this lesson sequence can be modified for grades 7-12.
The four activities are intended for two 60-minute class periods total.

Prior knowledge
No prior knowledge is necessary.

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

• Describe how and why different areas of the body have different levels of sensitivity to touch.
• Describe how the somatosensory cortex corresponds like a map to the sensitivity of sensory information from different areas of the body.

Lesson Vocabulary

Homunculus, sensory neuron, somatosensory cortex

Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

• Middle School Life Science Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.D, Information Processing: Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories. (MS-LS1-8)


• High School Life Science Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A Structure and Function: Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems functions within multicellular organisms. (HS-LS1-2)

California State Standards

• 9b: Students know how the nervous system mediates communication between different parts of the body and the body’s interactions with the environment.


• 9e: Students know the roles of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons in sensation, thought, and response.

Advanced Placement Biology Curriculum

• LO 3.43 The student is able to construct an explanation, based on scientific theories and models, about how nervous systems detect external and internal signals, transmit and integrate information, and produce responses. [See SP 6.2, 7.1]


• LO 3.44 The student is able to describe how nervous systems detect external and internal signals. [See SP 1.2]


• LO 3.45 The student is able to describe how nervous systems transmit information. [See SP 1.2]