Inside Your Brain (Brain Works)

Ideal for anyone interested in learning about the nervous system, this helpful road map of the brain explains various brain structures and pinpoints their locations and particular functions. Each chapter offers background information about a specific neuroscience topic, plus engaging experiments, games, and demonstrations that will guide readers to an understanding of these new ideas. The activities suggested meet National Science Education Standards.

Inside Your Brain serves as a road map of the nervous system. It explains various brain structures and functions with background information about a variety of neuroscience topics including the senses, sleep and dreaming, memory and learning, sidedness, and biological rhythms. The engaging experiments, games, and demonstrations help guide readers to an understanding of these concepts. The activities suggested are aligned with National Science Education Benchmarks.

About the Author:
Eric H. Chudler, Ph.D., is a research associate professor in the University of Washington Department of Bioengineering and director of education and outreach at University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials

Children's Literature

This easy and fun book has great information and understandable illustrations for middle school and high school students alike. The information is up-to-date and compelling. Some readers might even decide to memorize the names of the cranial nerves just because they are listed with a mnemonic aid. Many comparisons are given throughout the book. Most people accept that a dog's sense of smell is better than a human's; I now know this because dogs have two billion olfactory receptors compared with a human's forty million. This and the many other comparisons throughout the book allow the reader to attach new learning to what is previously known. The prevention guide against brain injury is great without being preachy. Most of the investigation/activities seem fun and inviting. Because some of the activities require teams to carry out, these would be better in a classroom setting. This book would make an excellent teacher resource, and many of the investigations could be used as formative assessments. As engaging as most of these investigations are, they are not experiments because they lack experimental design. An inquiring mind could read carefully and make some of these investigations into science fair projects. All measurements are given in both metric and standard units. The glossary is complete, although it could benefit from a pronunciation guide. Words such as amygdala probably are not heard very often and might cause some difficulty. That said, this book should be on every health and life science teacher's shelves.

Introduces the brain and the nervous system, explaining the function and purpose of each part, describing how they all work together when interpreting the senses, and discussing how to keep the brain healthy