DRAFT

Reaction Time

Anatomy and Physiology

Grade Level
Standards	Inquiry Skills
		Students will design and conduct scientific investigations
	Human Anatomy And Physiology Content
		Students will understand the role of the nervous system in coordinating body activities

Objectives	Understand terms related to reaction time and testing (impulse, stimuli, variables, consistency, etc....) Understand the physiology of reactions. Create tests to measure reaction time.
Materials and Activities
Materials
Activities
Engage	(Active Participation Questions) ---- "Think about a time when you reacted to a situation" (a flying ball at your head, putting your hand on a hot stove...etc)." "Share with a neighbor a profession that requires good reaction times". "How do reactions work....what are the physiological process".
Explore	With provided materials (rulers, balls, paper, watches etc.....) allow lab groups to create tests that measure reaction time of determined skills (hand/eye, audio/eye, touch/eye).
Explain	Talk about different tests. Explain the physiological process of a nerve reaction. Explain terms such as consistency, stimuli and variables. Discuss how they could have improved the accuracy of their tests.
Elaborate	Students will redesign and perform tests using new knowledge of reaction time. Hand/EYE vs Hand/AUDIO. Results should be graphed.
Evaluation	List lab results on board. Discuss any variations in results. Discuss how changes to the original tests may have influenced results. Quiz students on new terms.
Homework	Each student will design a test that measures hand reaction time with the stimuli being touch.

Teacher notes/reminders: This activity allows the student to design their own experiments to test and compare reaction times using different stimuli.

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Updated 11/00
Last Reviewed 10/2001

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