Download the teenage brain webquest

THE TEENAGE BRAIN
Adapted from a Webquest by RoseMary McClain
Londondonderry High School
Londonderry, NH
In class we watched “Inside the Teenage Brain”. The following assignment will help you
to get a better understanding of what is happening in your brain. The link to the video is:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/
A. The Big Picture
A look at your brain and its parts:
Click on the URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/nsdivide.html
Read “The Central Nervous System”.
Answer the following questions.
1. How many parts make up the central nervous system?
2. How much does an adult brain weigh?
3. How many nerve cells are there in the brain?
4. Are there any other special cells in the brain? What are they?
Using the link (http://uwf.edu/jgould/Cortex.jpg) and your book starting on page 398 complete the
following:
5. Label the drawing of the brain with its spinal cord using the following terms: frontal lobe,
occipital lobe, parietal lobe, corpus callosum, pituitary gland, amygdala, pons, medulla,
cerebellum, hippocampus. Also include the thalamus, hypothalamus, brain stem and
midbrain.
6. Complete the table below describing the function of each part:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Midbrain
Brain Stem
C. How is your brain changing?
Click on the following links and read before answering the questions
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2004/imaging-study-shows-brainmaturing.shtml
Focus on paragraphs 4-6
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/teenbrain.cfm
Read the first three paragraphs of Teenage Brain : A Work In Progress.
After reading this part of the article, answer the following questions.
7.
What do scientists mean by the principle of “use-it-or-lose-it” when talking about how
neurons connect?
8. What is gray matter? (For more information select the link to
the picture above.)
9. What is a possible explanation for increased growth of gray
matter in early puberty (age 11 to 12)?
10. What technology is used by neuroscientists to observe the
growth and pruning in the teenage brain?
Click on this link to view the results of the study.
http://users.loni.usc.edu/~thompson/DEVEL/dynamic.html
Read the short abstract/press release Time-Lapse Imaging Tracks Brain Maturation Ages 520, Then examine Figure 1. You might want to click on the High Resolution Image link to
get a closer look at the areas that are losing gray matter. Also view the animated GIF. As
neurons are making their more permanent adult connections neurons go through a pruning
process. Refer back to the principle of “use-it-or-lose-it”.
11. Gray matter wanes (lessens) in which direction as the brain is pruned, back to
front, or front to back?
D. Where in your brain are the changes happening?
Staying on this site and continue answering the following questions.
(If you need them, refer back to your brain drawing and function table).
12.
Which parts (lobes) of the brain begin these changes first?
13. Can you name a function in that area that would be affected? (use Part A to help)
14. Which region of the brain changes last?
Click on this link
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/adolescent.html
Scroll down to Changes in the Prefrontal Cortex
Read this section, which is part of an interview with Dr. Jay Giedd, whose research using
MRI technology revealed an extensive amount of information on the
developing teenage brain.
15. Identify three functions of the prefrontal cortex.
16. Identify three functions that improve as the teenage brain matures.
17. Why is pruning synapses and losing gray matter important for brain development?
E. Getting the Big Picture (Extra Credit)
A number of ways of “seeing” your brain. Click the link below.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/scanning/index.html
18. List five technologies used to scan the brain. Just include their
acronyms. (Sentences are not required for this answer.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Click on the EEG arrow.
Read about EEGs and answer the following questions.
19. Who was the first person to use this kind of technology?
20. Where and when did he do this?
21. Are images of the brain “seen” with this technology?
22. What are researchers actually observing?
23. What is the disadvantage of using this method for observing
the brain?
Select the Scan type CAT.
24. When was this technology developed?
25. This technology creates 3 –dimensional images from what kind of
2-dimensional imaging technology?
26. What can CAT scans detect?
Select the Scan type PET.
27. When was this technology developed?
28. What advantage does this technology have over earlier techniques
for observing the brain?
Select the Scan type MRI
Take the tour of an MRI machine.
29. What element in the body is affected by the magnets in the MRI machine?
30. After the atoms return to their natural alignment having released their energy,
what instrument is used to produce the image?
31. What advantage does the MRI scan have over the Pet scan for the subject?
Select the Scan type MEG
32. What does MEG detect from the brain?
33. What is the name of the sensitive instrument that detects the
brain’s magnetic field?
34. Although expensive and heavy, what can it do that makes it
an important brain scanning method?