Brain Anatomy Lesson Plans

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2

Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.

• Assorted images of the human brain
• Paper copies of the worksheet from the associated video lesson
• Heads of cauliflower
• Acrylic paints
• Permanent markers

• Begin by displaying the images of the human brain for the class.
  • What is featured in the images?
  • Can you name any facts about the brain?
• Play the video lesson Gross Anatomy of the Human Brain: Major Anatomical Structures and Terminology, pausing it at 1:39.
  • Why is the brain compared to a football in the video lesson?
  • What is meant by the term 'divisions of the brain?'
• Play the video lesson again. Pause it this time at 3:02.
  • What is a hemisphere?
  • Where is the left hemisphere of the brain?
  • Where is the right hemisphere of the brain?
  • What is meant when someone is described as left-brained or right-brained?
• Play the video lesson, pausing it this time at 4:38.
  • What are sulci?
  • Where are the sulci located?
  • Where on the brain can you find the central sulcus?
  • What does the central sulcus separate?
  • What is the lateral sulcus?
  • What regions of the brain does the lateral sulcus separate?
• Play the remainder of the video lesson for the class.
  • What is housed within each sulcus?
  • What is a gyrus?
• Review key facts about the brain with students before continuing.
• Distribute the worksheet to the class, one to each student.
• Instruct the students to use what they learned about brain anatomy from the video lesson to complete the worksheet.
• When everyone has finished the worksheet, review each question and answer with the class as students follow along checking their work.

• Divide the class into pairs.
• Give each pair one head of cauliflower.
• Ask the pairs to imagine that the cauliflower is a human brain.
• With this in mind, have the students use the acrylic paints to color the different regions of the brain.
• Once the paint has dried, have each pair work together using the permanent markers to label the parts of the brain that were presented in the video lesson.
• When all pairs have finished labeling their brain models, allow them to display them in the class.
• Finally, invite the students to move about the classroom to view the brain models of their peers.

• Have students create brain caps by drawing a detailed human brain on light colored beanies.
• Show the students examples of brain MRI images.

• Brain Structures and Functions Part I
• The Cerebral Cortex: Brain Structures and Functions Part II