* pre-unit assessment

* Pre-Unit Assessment Noodle Full of Neurons 1.) Neuron: 4-LS1-1, HS-LS1-4 - Neuron Diagram and Sensation Processing Sequence - Extension Activity: Arrange students in a circle with their right hand on their neighbor's left shoulder. Using a timer, have one student begin by giving their neighbor's shoulder a light pinch. Once the neighbor feels the pinch, he should relay the pinch to his neighbor. How long does it take to pass the signal through the whole group? How long does it take for it to pass in the opposite direction (left hand to right shoulder)? What additional steps are occurring beyond the steps you've illustrated in your sequence? 2.) Brain Maps: 4-LS1-1, 4-PS4-2, MS-LS1-8, HS-LS1-2, HS-LS1-3 - My Brain Map - Brain Overview 3.) Senses: 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2 - Senses Reading - Senses Activity A, B 4.) Emotion: SEL Stage C-F Goal 1A - Physiology of Emotion - Universal Emotions 5.) Motion: MS-PS2-1, MS-PS2-2 - Movement and Practice - Cruising the Laws of Motion (Hot Wheels lab) 6.) Decision Making: SEL Stage C-F Goal 3B, 4.5.1 - Flow chart More Than One Way 4.2.3, 4.5.3, 4.5.4, SEL Stage C-F Goal 1A, SEL Stage C-F Goal 2A, B, C, D 1.) Why We Dislike Others and Peacemaking - Advice Column Response 2.) Charting Emotions - Worksheet 3.) Deep Breathing

Poetic Empiricist's My Brother's Talks. © 2015

Passing Sky 5-ESS1-1 1.) Explain the Night Sky: Pocket Guide Tigers and Monkeys SEL Stage C-F Goal 1B, 4.2.2, 3-LS4-3 1.) Competition in Nature 2.) Self-Esteem Diagram Poetic Empiricist's My Brother's Talks. © 2015

Background Knowledge Inventory : My Brother's Talks 1.) What are the strategies you know for conflict resolution? 2.) What are some ways you can achieve success in an academic or athletic skill? 3.) What do you think causes emotion? 4.) How do you solve big decisions? 5.) What are some of the functions of the brain? 6.) What laws of motion do you see in your daily life?


Noodle Full of Neurons The main building blocks of the nervous system are neurons. Neurons are nerve cells that carry impulses throughout the body. There are billions of neurons in the nervous system. Dendrites are the branching arms that receive impulses and bring them to the cell body. The cell body possesses the nerve cells’ nucleus, as well as the majority of the cytoplasm. An impulse is then sent at lightning speed down the axon. The myelin sheath is an insulating layer of fat which speeds the transition of the impulse. The impulse continues to the receptor sites on the end of the axon. The impulse will then jump the synapse, space between neurons, and continue on.

Impulses are sent at speeds that are a fraction of a second. Imagine touching something that is hot, the nerves in your skin will send the message that will be recognized as a burning sensation, an impulse is sent back to move your hand, the nerves in your hand receive the message, and your hand moves off the hot object. We know all of this happens in a fraction of a second. Use Words, Drawings (Both) to Illustrate the Sequence of Events from Detecting a Pain Sensation to Response.


Brain Overview:

Using the Following Description, Attempt to Label the Brain Areas:

The brain is connected to neurons from all parts of the body through the spinal cord. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that is surrounded by the vertebrae of the backbone. The spinal cord intersects the brain forming the brainstem. The brainstem is the most primitive part of the brain. It serves basic functions such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestion. Above the brain stem is the cerebellum. The cerebellum is the center of coordination and balance . It controls the movement of voluntary muscles, enabling them to flow smoothly. (For motion that is not jerky.) The most advanced and distinguished part of the brain is the large upper part, the cerebrum or cerebral cortex. The cerebrum is divided up into two hemispheres and four cortex. The role of the cerebrum is massive. It controls all voluntary activity, including but not limited to: movement, speech, memory, emotion, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. The cerebrum also identifies the sensory impulses of neurons.


My

Bra

in M

ap


Use the Diagrams and Descriptions Below to Label Your Brain Map:

Recall the Cerebrum is divided into four lobes. The Frontal Lobe begins directly behind the forehead and

continues to the first and deepest fold, the Central Sulcus. (The raised bulge areas of the brain, between

the folds, or sulci, are known as gyrus.) The Parietal Lobe begins after the Central Sulcus and continues to

the Occipital Lobe, at the back of the head. Below the Frontal and Parietal lobes, on each side of the head,

is the Temporal Lobe.

The brain is an extremely complex organ with hundreds of different parts. Most actions require input

from several areas of the brain. However, there are some areas we can learn about generally.

Medulla – The medulla is part of the brain stem. Heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure are all controlled by the medulla.

Pons – The pons is part of the brain stem. The pons has connections to the cortex and cerebellum. It controls sleeping, waking, and dream cycles.

Cerebellum – The cerebellum controls our posture, balance, and some movements. The cerebellum smooths our movements so walking, for example, is not jerky. It allows us to do physical activities like playing sports or a musical instrument. The cerebellum is the cauliflower shaped formation located above the brain stem. Broca’s Area – There is an area on the left side of the frontal lobe known as Broca’s area. Broca’s area controls and coordinates all the muscles that are involved in speech. From our face to our tongue, the signal instructing the muscles how to shape the sound of our utterances is initiated by Broca’s area. Damage to Broca’s area, triggers trouble with the formation of words, the result of which is slow and impaired speech. Wernicke’s Area – Found in the left temporal lobe, Wernicke’s area controls comprehension of language. Comprehension has two channels; the first involves understanding what is heard. Second, comprehension involves understanding what is being spoken. A person with damage to Wernicke’s area has trouble finding the right words, and may be unable to recall the names of objects. They will have difficulties with incoming comprehension as well.


Primary Motor Cortex – is a band running between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas; at the back of the frontal cortex, this band stretches across both hemispheres. The motor cortex is contralateral, meaning the stimulus is generated from the opposite side of the brain than the side of the body that’s being moved. Writing with your right hand, for example, is initiated by the left side of the motor cortex. The primary motor cortex has no connection to the muscles themselves, instead, the primary motor cortex initiates movement through impulses sent to the medulla or spinal cord. Somatosensory Cortex – The sense of touch, along with the spatial senses that detect the position of our body, is processed by the somatosensory cortex. Our somatosensory abilities allow us to feel what we cannot see, hear, or smell. The somatosensory cortex lies directly behind the motor cortex, but in the parietal lobe. The somatosensory cortex also operates with contralateral function. Sensations like pressure, cold, warmth, and pain, are detected by the somatosensory cortex. The sense of touch is a combination of pressure and temperature change. The receptors for the somatosensory system are found in the skin.

Amygdala – The amygdala plays a large role in emotional behavior. The amygdala’s main function is to responds to stress and anxiety in one’s environment. This enables us to be responsive in stressful or emotional situations. When it is damaged, the amygdala no longer reacts to stress of any type. Hippocampus – The hippocampus is primarily utilized for learning and memory. Because it serves both functions, the hippocampus is not a storage facility, but an active area for recording and retrieving memories. The hippocampus is active in both short-term and long-term memories. Hypothalamus – The hypothalamus controls many automatic processes like sleep and hunger. Here, external and internal information is received and evaluated for hydration levels, body temperature, blood sugar and salt contents. For most autonomic processes, the hypothalamus can directly relay an output response to the body, as in temperature or hormone regulation.


Senses: Our senses are imperative for comprehending of our continuously changing environment. Our sense organs gather incoming wave energy and chemical sensations and transform them into a form that the brain can utilize. This process is known as transduction. You will notice that transduction is employed in every sense but touch. Vision- Looking at a person's beautiful hazel, brown, blue, or green eyes, you may not be aware that the colored structure you are seeing is actually a muscle. Arguably the most beautiful muscle in the body, this colored ring, called the iris, controls the amount of light let into the eye. The round, black, and variably sized pupil is at the center of the iris. The muscle of the iris controls the adjustable opening of the pupil, allowing the desired level of light in. Eyes are valuable and fragile pieces of transduction equipment. The eyes are shielded by the cornea layer and washed with saline tears.

Route: As light enters the eye through the pupil, it is focused into an image by the lens. The lens then sends the focused image to a light sensitive surface at the back of the eye, the retina. Through a chemical reaction in the retina, millions of receptor cells take in light energy and transmit it to the brain as a neural impulse.

Receptor cells come in two varieties, rods and cones. In general, rods are better detectors of light and dark, while cones detect color. There is a prime area in the retina called the fovea; in humans, this prime area is toward the bottom of the retina. The fovea is where most of our detailed vision is produced. With its densely packed rods and cones and minimum number of interfering blood vessels, the fovea is the target of the lens’ focused image. The optic nerves, from the left and right eyes, cross and feed their signals to the opposite hemisphere. This is another example of contralateral processing. Once detected, decoded, received, and sent to the opposite hemisphere, the impulse will be sent to the visual cortex. First, however, it must be established what area of the visual cortex it will be sent to. The brain processes different aspects of vision with different structures. Some of the aspects that an image is processed for would be shape, color, or motion.


Audition- The ear is another organ that converts incoming waves into neural impulses. The sound waves, in this case, are directed through three regions of the ear before finally becoming a signal that can be sent to the brain. We are most familiar with the outer, cartilage portion, known as the pinna. From the pinna, the outer portion of the ear continues, down the auditory canal, to the eardrum. The eardrum, called the tympanic membrane, is a tightly stretched membrane at the end of the auditory canal. The tympanic membrane transmits the sound on to the middle ear as vibrations.

The middle ear is the smallest of the three ear regions and contains the smallest bones in the body. The role of these three bones, the hammer, anvil, and stirrup, is to direct and amplify the vibrations onto the inner ear.

The inner region of the ear is a coiled bone filled with three tubes; the whole structure is called the cochlea. Each tube of the cochlea is fluid filled. The middle most tube of the contains “hair cells”. These hair cells transmit a neural impulse to the auditory nerves, hearing is contralateral too.

Final the impulse is received by the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.

Olfaction- Smells are unable to be broken down, as they are molecules. The nose employs millions of receptors, therefore, to detect the up to ten-thousand different odor molecules humans can identify.

The process begins with the nose circling air into the nasal cavity. There, the odor is met by millions of receptor cells. Once the receptor cell identifies the molecule, a signal is sent down its axon, directly to the olfactory bulb, which conveys the signal directly to the brain without relay.

Taste- Taste is directly related to olfaction, which you probably realize from having colds and stuffy noses. Yet taste has its own set of special cells, taste buds. Taste buds are modified skin cells found on the tongue. The taste buds, located on different areas of the tongue, register four sensations: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. The taste buds send the impulse to the many brain areas including the amygdala! Consider how eating something delicious impacts your mood.


DIAGRAM

Construct a Diagram to Depict the Routes the Following Senses Take From Sensation to Perception:

Vision

Audition

Olfaction


SEQUENCE Summarize and Record the Sequence From Sensation to Perception for the Following Senses:

Vision

Audition

Olfaction


Physiology of Emotion You have probably felt many different emotions in your life. List All the Emotions You Can Recall Feeling: Emotion can control our decisions and behavior. Emotions impacts learning and memory. Why do we have emotions and where are they processed? The “Two-Factor” theory of emotion suggests emotions result from changes we feel in our body and how we feel about these changes. These quick, situational, body changes are beyond our control, they are part of the autonomic nervous system which protects us from danger. The first part of the autonomic nervous system is called the sympathetic nervous system, often called the fight or flight response. Among other things, the sympathetic nervous system increases our heart rate and breathing. The body diverts all of its energy to essential, lifesaving functions. Once the threat passes, the parasympathetic nervous system has the opposite effect, calming the body and restoring normal function. You've learned the amygdala, a small portion of the brain's limbic system, responds to stress and anxiety in one’s environment. If a person's amygdala is damaged it no longer reacts to stress of any type. While there are some cultural parameters to how emotions are displayed, what appears to be fundamental to all humans are seven universally expressed and recognized emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, contempt, and surprise. Cultural differences arise from the level of acceptability to express these emotions, however.

Quickly Sketch or Describe a Face Portraying the Following Emotions:

The Seven

Universal Emotions

Anger Disgust (Gross) Fear

Happiness

Sadness Contempt (Dislike/Distrust) Surprised


Movement and Practice: You learned that the Motor Cortex is one area involved in movement of the body. There are many motions we have learned, like crawling, walking, throwing, kicking, and swimming. People often have hobbies that require them to practice movements both small and large. Activities like arts, sports, or music have skills that are really just a series of movements. Practice, practice, practice. But Why? Behavioral Sequences: Some behaviors are a series of movements that are played over and over again. A birds wings flapping as they fly, is one example. Instead of the brain, medulla, or spinal cord working tirelessly to signal “flap, flap, flap, flap…” the cerebellum develops a motor program for flying. A motor program is a fixed series of movements that can be inherent or learned. A bird flapping is an example of an inherent motor program. Oppositely, a learned motor program creates a fluid, consistent motion through practice.

In Noodle Full of Neurons, the little brother mentions practicing new jumps & tricks on his dirt bike. In a short paragraph, explain why practicing is the only way to improve a skill. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Cruising the Laws of Motion Stations.* * The instructions use a basic Hot Wheels' track set available at Toys'R'Us; however, you can substitute other set/or materials.

LAB STATION 1: Why Do We Wear Seatbelts?

Equipment: Penny, nickel, or small rock with flat bottom, 4-5 tracks, Hot Wheels car, pencil, hard bound book. Procedure: Connect the track. Set the car on one end of the track and set the object (coin or rock) on top. Roll the car slowly to make sure it will stay in place. Begin again with the car at the end of the track; give the car a push hard enough to try reaching the other end. Observe what happens to the object as the car stops. How did the car stop and how did the object respond? Repeat the procedure a second time, but place the pencil across the track about half way down the length of track. Observe how the car stopped and how the object reacted. Record. Repeat a final time with the hardbound book, stood up like a wall, at the end of the track. Observe and record. LAB STATION 2: The Work of climbing and descending hills.

Equipment: Small stack of heavy books, Hot Wheel car accelerating shooter, 5-7 tracks, Hot Wheels car. Procedure: Connect the tracks. Create a hill with a platform for the car to sit on. Do this by placing one end of the track on top of the book stack. Place another heavy book on the end of the track to hold in place, but leave enough track for the car to sit on without rolling down. Lay the remainder of the track across the ground and attach the shooter to the other end. Experiment to determine the maximum number of tracks that are required to send the car up the hill to the top. Now, remove the shooter. Place the car on the hill top platform. Allow the car to roll down 3 times and record the average distance it traveled before stopping. (To reduce the effects of friction, this is best performed on a smooth, uncarpeted surface.) LAB STATION 3: Why Is Speeding Dangerous? Equipment: Hot Wheel hill clamp, a plastic chair, 5-6 tracks, 2 Hot Wheels cars, tape and a nickel. Procedure: Connect the track. Connect the hill clamp to the edge of a plastic chair seat. Before attaching the track to the clamp, lay the track flat and roll the cars toward each other from opposing ends. Observe the effect of the collision on both cars, record. Now, attach one end of the clamp to the hill clamp. Roll one car from the top of the hill and one from the bottom (rolling at a medium to slow speed, not fast as you can, yet!). Observe the effects on each car, record. Repeat the last conditions, this time, push the one by hand as fast as you can. Observe and record. Last condition will require you to add weight to one of the cars. Place the nickel on one of the car's roof and tape it on, being careful to keep tape away from wheels. Observe the effects of adding weight to the collision and record.

Cruising the Laws of Motion LAB STATION 1: Why Do We Wear Seatbelts? Prediction: _______________________________________________________________ Observations:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

What Is the Physics Law or Laws Working Here? (Use Key) _________________________________________________________________ LAB STATION 2: Work of climbing and descending hills. Is it more dangerous to merge in front of a semi-truck going uphill or down? Prediction: _______________________________________________________________ Observations:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

What Is the Physics Law or Laws Working Here? (Use Key) _________________________________________________________________

LAB STATION 3: Why Is Speeding Dangerous? Prediction: _______________________________________________________________

Observations:

Condition Results

Low speed-

Low speed

Low speed-

High speed

High speed-

High speed

Light car-

Heavy car

What Is the Physics Law or Laws Working Here? (Use Key) _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

KEY: PHYSIC DEFINITIONS & LAWS OF MOTION

Potential Energy –Energy contained in an object that is not moving.

Kinetic Energy – The Energy of motion.

Static Friction – A force that separates potential from kinetic energy.

Gravity – The attraction of objects to massive objects, like the Earth.

Newton’s Laws:

#1 is Inertia – The tendency of moving objects to continue moving, or

resting objects to continue resting.

#2 is F=ma – Force is equal to mass times acceleration.

Newton #3 – For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Decision Making Skills:

Reread "Noodle Full of Neurons" and complete the decision making flowchart. What do you think are the most compelling arguments for wearing a helmet?

More Than One Way Why We Dislike Others It may seem like a fact of life; sometimes people don't like each other, but there are many possible reasons behind these feelings. The first thing that must be examined is whether the feelings are justified based on direct experience with the person. Dislike is unjustified when it is based on no solid experience, evidence, or events. Unjustified dislike for people is known as prejudice. Why would people who've never met, not like each other? Why do prejudices form? 1. Social Inequalities- Whether the inequality is between money, power, or any other way of bettering one’s life, it can result in prejudice. 2. In-group or Out-group Bias- This is the tendency to favor your own group or in-group (family, team, coworkers...) thereby creating an “out-group”. This results in an “us versus them” mindset. 3. Scapegoat Theory- Sometimes people use an outlet to vent their feelings of anger and frustration. The anger may be temporarily reduced by having someone to blame. 4. Vivid Cases- After an upsetting incident, people may apply their bad feelings to out-group. 5. Categorization- People may forget to see an outgroup for the different individuals that make it up. Instead, they consider them to be a group of identical individuals. 6. Just-World Phenomenon- People assume the world is fair (just) and people get what they deserve; this applies to good and bad events. For example, good people should have good thing happen to them and we consider it unfair when bad things happen to good people. Unfortunately, aggression and conflict can become the next step for feelings of dislike and prejudice. Aggression is often based on a given situation, but also has biological, environmental, and cultural influences. Aggression is biological because it's influenced by our genes and hormones. When a child models their parents’ aggression, it is an environmentally learned coping style. There is some variation globally, on how aggression is displayed; whether it's acceptable or not is the cultural impact. The second part of aggression, the conflict, is a destructive event. There's enough conflict in the world, so now for peacemaking! Peacemaking is aided by these activities: 1. Cooperative contact- This means both parties approach the peacemaking process with a goal of solving the issue. 2. Superordinate Goals- Differences in opinion are natural, so shared goals, large enough to bridge the differences, are one way of requiring cooperation between the groups. 3. Communication/Mediation- It's best to have a mediator assist in the process of creating a win-win situation. 4. Conciliation- A small politeness given to the other party that symbolizes the willingness to be understanding in the communication process.


Using the "Why We Dislike Others" and "Peacemaking" reading, compose a response to the following: Dear Bro: I am writing you today with a fairly long story. I will try to make it brief and honest because I really need your advice. This whole story is about 2 different schools, their football teams, and their fields. The background is that the two schools involved are in two different parts of town. My school, I'll call it school A, is in the city. The school and all the facilities are old. The field is very old and both goal posts have all but fallen over backward. School B is in a nicer part of town. Everything about the school is nicer, except its students. The incident all began when we won the city title, by beating school B. Three days later, our rundown, barely useable field was ruined beyond repair. Someone had driven onto the field and got stuck. They left deep ruts, and knocked one of the goal posts totally over. It was not hard for us to figure out who it was. We also waited three days, and then tried to ruin their field; we couldn't get in. It was locked. We knew where a few of their players lived so we just drove around on their lawns. Luckily the damage was not major, because the next day, they caught the man who had ripped up our field. He wasn't from school B, he was lost and had been drinking. While we were never caught for the little retaliation we did, they suspected us. Now, the real problem is that our school district is making us use school B's field until ours can be repaired. While we won't be on the field at the same time, we are all a little nervous. It was really a misunderstanding on our part. They probably would have thought the same thing if it were the other way around. Do you have any advice of how we should deal with this situation? Sincerely, School A #27


Emotions:

Brainstorm a list of 10 emotions:

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

Now order your list of emotions from most negative (1) to most positive (10). Record number on lines. Next, transfer the scale you just created onto the graph below. Rereading "More Than One Way" select the emotion or emotions the main character was feeling at each of the points indicated. Emotion Scale:

Positive to Negative

Story

Beginning

After Brother's

Lecture

Leaving the

Note

The

Negotiation

End of

Story 10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1


Deep Breathing- The correct way to breath is in through your nose and out through your mouth or nose. Just some simple deep breaths that fill the stomach can calm our minds. There are also many ancient deep breathing techniques. “Equal Nose Breathing” Slowly start inhaling as you mentally count to four, and then exhale as you mentally count to four. This is a calming and focusing breathing pattern.

How I Felt After Equal Nose Breathing: __________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Alternate Nostril Breathing” Start from a comfortable seated position, with your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale deep through your left nostril. Before exhalation, use your ring finger to close off the left nostril. Breathe out slowly, through the right nostril and inhale slowly. Close right with thumb, exhale through left, inhale. Close left with ring finger (repeat pattern). This is a more exciting breathing pattern. It will also connect the right and left side of your brain. Try it before you study!

How I Felt After Alternate Nostril Breathing: ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How Breathing Affects Your Heart Rate: To begin, find your pulse and count it for a fixed amount of time (30 or 60 seconds). Record your results in the pre-heart rate spot. Follow the breathing procedure for a short time, then retake your heart rate. "Alternate Nostril Breathing” Start from a comfortable seated position, with your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale deep through your left nostril. Before exhalation, use your ring finger to close off the left nostril. Breathe out slowly, through the right nostril and inhale slowly. Close right with thumb, exhale through left, inhale. Close left with ring finger (repeat pattern). This is a more exciting breathing pattern. It will also connect the right and left side of your brain. Try it before you study! Pre-Heart Rate ______ Post-Heart Rate ______ “Equal Nose Breathing” Slowly start inhaling as you mentally count to four, and then exhale as you mentally count to four. This is a calming and focusing breathing pattern. Pre-Heart Rate ______ Post-Heart Rate ______


Passing Sky Explaining the Night Sky: When you see the night sky, you are familiar with the types of luminous bodies we see from Earth. Earth has one satellite moon which it is in synchronous orbit with. This means it revolves, with us, around the sun. The moon produces no light of its own; its light color helps it to reflect a good amount of sunlight, making it visible. The infinite, fine points of light that fill the night sky are mostly stars. There are certain times of year, if you know what to look for, to see our neighboring planets.

Stars Versus Planets- One way to tell a star and a planet apart is to examine the light they give off, the consistency of the light is a good indicator. Our visible neighboring planets are relatively close to us. In contrast, a star is many light-years away; this is an unimaginable distance. Light from stars, therefore, must travel this distance to reach your eye. The distance between the star and your eye is filled with a multitude of gases and objects. These objects will periodically block the star light, creating the twinkling effect of stars.

Three Planets Visible to the Naked-Eye- Venus is our closest neighbor and, at certain times, is visible to the naked eye. Venus will appear on the horizon during twilight hours, but is not visible much beyond that. Mars, one planet further than ours from the sun, is visible as well. You can even detect the red color of mars without a telescope. Mars has a two year orbit; at one point, it will reverse its orbit for 70 days. This is called retrograde motion and when Mars is in retrograde, it is closest to Earth and easiest to see. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system; it is also the easiest planet to see. Jupiter is far from Earth, so it remains visible later into the night. At certain times of year, Jupiter appears as a steady object that is only second to the moon in brightness.

Constellations- Relics of our ancestral heritage, constellations are still a good way to find direction in the night sky. There are circumpolar constellations, or those that circle the poles, which tend to be visible most of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere there is the circumpolar constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (also called the big and little bear or big and little dipper). Ursa Major contains the North Star. In the winter, Orion, the hunter, is visible and most identifiable by the three stars making up his belt.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Crux or Southern Cross is a circumpolar constellation that is visible almost year-round. It is easiest the find the Crux by using the brightest constellation in the southern sky, Centaurus. The cross shaped Crux is found via Beta and Alpha Centauri, bright pointer stars in Centaurus.

The Moon- The moon's phases are produced by the different position of the Earth, moon, and sun; this predictable cycle of phases takes 28 days. Let's look at the cycle beginning with the new moon, or when no part of the moon is visible. Slowly, the moon will begin to reveal itself from what we perceive as its right side, this is called waxing. The first slivers of moon we see appear are called waxing crescent moons. The moon's visibility continues to grow each night, eventually, it becomes a full moon half way through the 28 day cycle. The cycle will now start to erode at the visibility of the right side. This is called waning. A waning gibbous moon has just a sliver of darkness on the right side. The moon continues to disappear until the waning crescent gives way to the new moon again.


Tigers and Monkeys Darwin's Theory of Evolution revolves around two biological processes: natural selection and survival of the fittest: Natural Selection- Living things need food, water, and shelter to survive. If one of these needs is not met, then the organism may not survive. If the organism doesn’t survive, they can’t pass on their genes (through their offspring). This concept is called natural selection. In natural selection only those organisms best suited to their environment will survive to pass on their genes. Survival of the Fittest- When an organism is better adapted to their environment, they will remain healthy and reproduce. When they reproduce, the better adapted traits will be perpetuated. (passed to the offspring) This concept is known as survival of the fittest and accounts for the development of adaptations. The Finch Story- Darwin was an English Biologist who lived over one-hundred years ago. Darwin sailed around the word; his travels took him to the Galapagos Islands where he noticed a variation among the finches (birds) on the islands. Depending upon the island the finches were on, their beaks were different. Darwin theorized that the difference in environment, from island to island, caused the change in the appearance of the finches’ beaks. One of the islands was forested, one was rocky, while another one of the islands was desert like. To the finches, the impacting difference was the food sources from one island to another. The Pepper Moth Story- A common moth in England, is the pepper moth which exists in two variations, either light or dark brown. Before the industrial revolution, the dominant shade of moth was light brown. The reason light moths were more plentiful had to do with the color of the trees. The bark on the trees was a light brown color, which enabled the light brown moths to blend in. The dark moths, which didn’t blend in, were more readily eaten by predatory birds. During the industrial revolution, the dominant shade of moth was dark brown. The industrial revolution created pollution that blackened cities. The bark on trees had turned a dark brown color, which now enabled the dark brown moths to blend in. The light moths were now spotted easier and eaten by predatory birds. Which story best illustrates survival of the fittest? __________________________________________________________ Which story best illustrates natural selection? _______________________________________________________________ Where are some places that competition is used in society?


Directions: Respond to the questions. Record your answers next to the arrow. Head: What school subject or subjects are you best at? Mouth: What are some things that make you a good friend? Eye: What do you like best about the way you look? Nose: What ability or abilities do you have that you want to develop into a skill? Ear: What is the greatest praise you like to hear about your behavior? Please evaluate yourself and your skills in a realistic and self-respecting manner.

Post Unit Knowledge Inventory : My Brother's Talks 1.) What are the strategies you know for conflict resolution? 2.) What are some ways you can achieve success in an academic or athletic skill? 3.) What do you think causes emotion? 4.) How do you solve big decisions? 5.) What are some of the functions of the brain? 6.) What laws of motion do you see in your daily life?


Emotion Key

The Seven

Universal Emotions

Anger Disgust (Gross) Fear

Happiness

Sadness Contempt (Dislike/Distrust) Surprise


* pre-unit assessment

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