Science Approach - How Alcohol Alters the Brain Overview and Standards

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How Alcohol Alters the Brain Overview and Standards

Overview of How Alcohol Alters the Brain Laboratory

In this lab exercise, students explore how the volume of the hippocampus varies between teens who drink and those who don't.

The "How Alcohol Affects the Brain" lab requires approximately 1-2 hours and is suitable for Grades 9-12 Biology or Microbiology students who have already taken human anatomy classes. Background and review materials on brain anatomy, cognitive testing, and imaging techniques are also included.

An online glossary defining neuroscience and imaging terms is also available.

Your students can best visualize and investigate this brain tumor with volumetric, or three-dimensional, imaging. A 3D viewer has been developed especially for this lab.

This lab serves as an opportunity for students to act as scientists and participate in the process of science as they extend their knowledge of how brain structures and functions can change depending on substance use.

Your students should keep in mind that

as intricate and varied as the volumetric brain images are, the insights into anatomical functions and the risk assessment decisions the students make are more important.

research into volumetric brain imaging is relatively recent and therefore rarely mentioned in textbooks. While working with these authentic images, students are closely following the footsteps of cognitive and imaging scientists.

National Science Education Standards (NSES) Met by this Lab

Science As Inquiry, (Content Standard A), Understandings about Scientific inquiry:

Scientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data. New techniques and tools provide new evidence to guide inquiry and new methods to gather data, thereby contributing to the advance of science. The accuracy and precision of the data, and therefore the quality of the exploration, depends on the technology used.

Physical Science (Content Standard B), Structure of Atoms:

Radioactive isotopes are unstable and undergo spontaneous nuclear reactions, emitting particles and/or wavelike radiation. The decay of any one nucleus cannot be predicted, but a large group of identical nuclei decay at a predictable rate. This predictability can be used to estimate the age of materials that contain radioactive isotopes.

Physical Science (Content Standard B), Interactions of Energy and Matter:

Electromagnetic waves result when a charged object is accelerated or decelerated. Electromagnetic waves include radio waves (the longest wavelength), microwaves, infrared radiation (radiant heat), visible light, ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, and gamma rays. The energy of electromagnetic waves is carried in packets whose magnitude is inversely proportional to the wavelength.

Life Science (Content Standard C), The Cell:

Cell functions are regulated. Regulation occurs both through changes in the activity of the functions performed by proteins and through the selective expression of individual genes. This regulation allows cells to respond to their environment and to control and coordinate cell growth and division.

Science and Technology (Content Standard E), Understandings about Science and Technology:

• Science often advances with the introduction of new technologies. Solving technological problems often results in new scientific knowledge. New technologies often extend the current levels of scientific understanding and introduce new areas of research.
• Science and technology are pursued for different purposes. Scientific inquiry is driven by the desire to understand the natural world, and technological design is driven by the need to meet human needs and solve human problems. Technology, by its nature, has a more direct effect on society than science because its purpose is to solve human problems, help humans adapt, and fulfill human aspirations. Technological solutions may create new problems. Science, by its nature, answers questions that may or may not directly influence humans. Sometimes scientific advances challenge people's beliefs and practical explanations concerning various aspects of the world.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Content Standard F), Personal and Community Health:

The severity of disease symptoms is dependent on many factors, such as human resistance and the virulence of the disease-producing organism. Many diseases can be prevented, controlled, or cured. Some diseases, such as cancer, result from specific body dysfunctions and cannot be transmitted.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Content Standard F), Science and Technology in Local, National, and Global Challenges:

• Science and technology are essential social enterprises, but alone they can only indicate what can happen, not what should happen. The latter involves human decisions about the use of knowledge.
• Individuals and society must decide on proposals involving new research and the introduction of new technologies into society. Decisions involve assessment of alternatives, risks, costs, and benefits and consideration of who benefits and who suffers, who pays and gains, and what the risks are and who bears them. Students should understand the appropriateness and value of basic questions—"What can happen?"—"What are the odds?"—and ''How do scientists and engineers know what will happen?"

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