Systems for Survival

Read the following scenario. In which part of the event is your nervous system receiving a message?

• You touch your finger to a cactus thorn.

• You pull your hand away.

• You yell “Ouch!”

• Your finger begins to bleed.

What are the two organs that make up the central nervous system?

• the brain's cerebellum and the spine

• the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

• the sensory and motor system

• the spinal cord and the brain

Amanda suddenly woke up and smelled something burning. She crept down the stairs to see what was happening. She found her parents reading and sitting by the fireplace, which was burning wood. Why did Amanda wake up?

• The smell of the fire sent a signal through her blood cells to her brain and she woke up.

• The smell of the fire sent a signal through her nerves to her brain and she woke up.

• Amanda's nose was stuffy from a cold and she could not sleep.

• Amanda was too cold upstairs to sleep.

Eyes squint instinctively to avoid light when bright light falls on them suddenly. Which two systems are involved in this process?

• nervous and muscular

• nervous and respiratory

• circulatory and muscular

• circulatory and respiratory

On a hot summer day, Jack left the pool and began to climb a ladder to his tree house. He hurt his toe by bumping it on the ladder as he climbed into the tree house. How did Jack know that he had hurt his toe?

• The nerves in his hurt toe sent a signal through his body to his brain.

• The blood cells in his toe sent a signal through his body to his brain.

• Jack's toes became very cold and numb.

• Jack's toe became smaller than before he had bumped it on the ladder.

Peter stopped suddenly on his bike because he heard a car speed by him. Which system received the external signal of hearing that enabled Peter to respond by stopping his bike?

• circulatory system

• excretory system

• muscular system

• nervous system

The _____ system includes the brain and the spinal cord.

• circulatory

• nervous

• muscular

• skeletal

Tamina is creating a model to show the path that information travels in the nervous system. She has drawn sensory receptors. What should she draw next?

• She should draw a nerve cell in the brain.

• She should draw nerves extending from the sensory receptors to the spinal cord.

• She should connect the sensory receptors to the muscles.

• She should label the drawing with the words "output."

Kyla says that the role of the nervous system in the body is to "gather information from the environment." Evaluate

her statement.

• Kyla's statement is correct and complete.

• Kyla should add that the nervous system controls our organs and body systems, allowing the body to respond to changes in the environment.

• Kyla should add that the main organ of the nervous system is the skin.

• Kyla should change her statement to say that the role of the nervous system is to gather information from the body, not from the environment.

Four students write what they know about sense receptors. Evaluate each student's response. Who is not correct?

• Julia says sense organs like the ear, mouth, and skin all have sense receptors.

• Sam says sense receptors collect information from our environments.

• Miriam says all sense organs are the same.

• Juan says sense organs are connected to nerves.