The Nutty Professor and Brains, Brains, Brains
The Nutty Professor and Brains, Brains, Brains
By Jana Gilbert
“Hello, class!” Professor Dobbins spoke enthusiastically as the last student entered the room. Today, he was going to talk about his favorite part of the human anatomy: the brain. “Today is going to be exciting!” All of the students groaned. They knew that when he said something would be “exciting,” it was always boring. Always. “How many of you know what the Ancient Egyptians believed about a person’s behavior? Who controlled it?” Only three students raised their hands. Everyone else was too lazy. “Yes, Johnny?” “Um, a little person that lived inside the skull?” He said hesitantly. “Precisely!” Professor Dobbins stepped out from behind his desk. “That was just a little fun fact to get us going. Today’s topic is the brain!” One of the pupils started banging his head on a desk. “Oh, come off it! It won’t be that bad!” The professor placed some papers on a dark, wooden podium and began to speak. “The brain is separated into the left and right hemisphere, which are connected by the corpus callosum. It also has three sections: the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. The hindbrain is the lower part of the brain and is involved in lots of important processes. Some of those are the heart rate, respiration, and balance. The midbrain controls vision and hearing. The forebrain, which is the front, is involved in complicated functions like thought and emotion. The hindbrain contains the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum. The medulla controls the heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. The pons, which is in front of the medulla, is in charge of body movement, attention, alertness, and sleep. The cerebellum appears to be a small version of our cerebrum, under which it is located. However, it is involved in balance and coordination. If someone’s cerebellum is damaged, it could cause them to fall and seriously injure themself.” “So,” Johnny asked, “if I was to trip
By Jana Gilbert
“Hello, class!” Professor Dobbins spoke enthusiastically as the last student entered the room. Today, he was going to talk about his favorite part of the human anatomy: the brain. “Today is going to be exciting!” All of the students groaned. They knew that when he said something would be “exciting,” it was always boring. Always. “How many of you know what the Ancient Egyptians believed about a person’s behavior? Who controlled it?” Only three students raised their hands. Everyone else was too lazy. “Yes, Johnny?” “Um, a little person that lived inside the skull?” He said hesitantly. “Precisely!” Professor Dobbins stepped out from behind his desk. “That was just a little fun fact to get us going. Today’s topic is the brain!” One of the pupils started banging his head on a desk. “Oh, come off it! It won’t be that bad!” The professor placed some papers on a dark, wooden podium and began to speak. “The brain is separated into the left and right hemisphere, which are connected by the corpus callosum. It also has three sections: the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. The hindbrain is the lower part of the brain and is involved in lots of important processes. Some of those are the heart rate, respiration, and balance. The midbrain controls vision and hearing. The forebrain, which is the front, is involved in complicated functions like thought and emotion. The hindbrain contains the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum. The medulla controls the heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. The pons, which is in front of the medulla, is in charge of body movement, attention, alertness, and sleep. The cerebellum appears to be a small version of our cerebrum, under which it is located. However, it is involved in balance and coordination. If someone’s cerebellum is damaged, it could cause them to fall and seriously injure themself.” “So,” Johnny asked, “if I was to trip
Bibliography: Rathus, Spencer A. "The Brain: Our Control Center." Spencer A. Rathus, Ph.D. Psychology: Principles in Practice. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007. 59-63.