This lesson is the first of a two-part series on laughter and how it can affect the immune system. By the end of middle school, students should understand two key concepts regarding the nervous and immune systems of humans. In terms of the nervous system, they should understand that the combination of the senses, nerves, and brain allow us to cope with changes in our environment.
In terms of the immune system, they should have knowledge that there are specialized cells and molecules which identify and destroy microbes inside and outside of the body. This depth of knowledge regarding the human organism allows high-school students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of how the nervous system and the brain work together.
For example, by the end of high school, students should know that the nervous system works via electrochemical signals in the nerves and that these signals are transferred from one nerve to the next.
Laughing Kookaburra Facts: Lesson for Kids
In addition, they should know that these signals are what allows the human mind to process ideas, and ideas about ideas. Furthermore, their knowledge base should include that people have the ability to produce many associations internally, with or without receiving information from their senses. By the end of high school, students should understand the following three concepts about human health.
First, they should know that communication between the cells of different systems is required to coordinate diverse activities. It is thus reasonable for them to deduce that one system may have an effect on another system. Within this first point, they should also know that the immune system functions to protect against microscopic organisms and foreign substances that enter from outside the body and against some cancer cells that arise within. Second, they should understand that expectations, moods, and prior experiences of human beings affect how they interpret new perceptions or ideas.
Third, students should know that ideas about what constitutes good mental health and proper treatment for abnormal mental states, vary from one culture to another and from one time period to another. The Laughing Brain 1: How We Laugh has a twofold focus. First, it focuses on the science of laughter in terms of how the brain reacts to an external stimulus that is funny.
Second, it explores the positive effects of laughter in terms of our social, mental, and physical well-being. The Laughing Brain 2: A Good Laugh focuses on three concepts. First, it focuses on the various theories of laughter.
Laughter in the Dark Chapter Abstracts for Teachers | theranchhands.com
Second, it focuses on the benefits of laughter to our mental health. And third, it explores psychoneuroimmunology the science of studying the benefits of laughter to our immune system. Ask students to rate themselves on a scale from 1 to 10 10 being the happiest as to how happy they feel and write their rating on a sheet of paper. Then have them put this sheet aside.
Singing About Laughing Kookaburras
Ask students these questions to provoke their thinking about laughter they do not need to be answered:. Then either use the jokes from Brain Jokes or watch some or all of a funny movie. If you choose to use the jokes, each student can read a joke or two depending upon the number of students in your class. If you choose the movie, then either part or the entire movie can be watched.
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At the end of either of these activities, have students rate themselves again on a scale from 1 to 10 10 being the happiest as to how happy they feel. Students' ratings should all increase in comparison to their initial ratings. Ask students if they feel happier. This lesson is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on how the brain reacts to an external stimulus that is funny. The second part focuses on the benefits of laughter in terms of our social, mental, and physical well-being.
Part 1 This part of the lesson addresses the science of laughter in terms of how the brain reacts to an external stimulus that is funny.
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Using the What Is Laughter? After students have reviewed this website, discuss these questions posed on the student esheet:. Various sensations and thoughts trigger laughter and its associated responses. The relationship between laughter and the brain, however, is not fully understood. Scientists know little about the specific brain mechanisms responsible for laughter but they do know that many regions of the brain are involved. In a study where EEGs were used to examine brain activity in subjects responding to humorous material, a researcher named Derks determined that brain activity produced a regular electrical pattern.
Within four-tenths of a second of exposure to something funny, an electrical wave moved through the largest part of the brain, the cerebral cortex.
Specifically, researchers observed electrical activity in the:. Perhaps, the work he is most known for is "Lolita. Have the students research Vladimir Nabokov. Explore the other works he has written, as well as his background. Take a look at critical essays and other documentation to gain information on his writing and where "Laughter in the Dark" fits in with his other novels.
Have students get into pairs and prepare a presentation, using their research, on Nabokov and his canon. Have each group read an excerpt from different novels written by Nabokov during their presentation.
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Oral Reading Evaluation Sheet. One Week Quiz A.
Daily Lessons for Teaching Laughter in the Dark
Two Week Quiz A. Four Week Quiz A. Four Week Quiz B.