Word associations
About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 7 and 9
- Subjects
- science (biology and life science, technology and innovation), thinking skills (information literacy)
- Provider
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
Legal
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In this Science Update, students explore research that shows how the brain draws connections between things and maintains these connections over time. John Kounios of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues study how people form new associations between words or concepts. They do this by mapping the electrical activity of the brain with a technique called E.R.P. With this E.R.P. technique, researchers can determine not only what areas of the brain are active, but we can see moment by moment how that pattern changes, thus creating a dynamic picture of electrical brain activity and the order in which areas of the brain light up, not just what areas are lighting up. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about the word pairs that are used in this experiment, ways people make new connections between different concepts, and why this research might be helpful for the general public. This activity also contains a link to another related lesson plan from Science NetLinks.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 7
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
- Goal 4: The learner will conduct investigations, use models, simulations, and appropriate technologies and information systems to build an understanding of the complementary nature of the human body system.
- Objective 4.03: Explain how the structure of an organ is adapted to perform specific functions within one or more systems.
- Liver.
- Heart.
- Lung.
Brain. - Stomach.
- Kidney.
- Objective 4.03: Explain how the structure of an organ is adapted to perform specific functions within one or more systems.
Grades 9–12 — Biology
- Goal 1: The learner will develop abilities necessary to do and understand scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.03: Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models of biological phenomena using logic and evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Explain the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze reports of scientific investigations from an informed, scientifically literate viewpoint including considerations of:
- Appropriate sample.
- Adequacy of experimental controls.
- Replication of findings.
- Alternative interpretations of the data.
- Objective 1.03: Formulate and revise scientific explanations and models of biological phenomena using logic and evidence to:
