Mississippi Science HAP.6.1
The Standard
- HAP.6
- Students will investigate the structures and functions of the nervous system, including the cause and effect of diseases and disorders.
Describe and evaluate how the nervous system functions and interconnects with all other body systems.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Nervous System
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how the brain, spinal cord, and nerves receive information and send signals to organs. They explain links with other body systems and predict what happens when a nerve pathway is damaged.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use exercise to explain how nerves help adjust breathing, heart rate, and muscle activity. They can predict a change caused by damaged nerves and explain why it would happen.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think nerves only control movement or that every response needs a conscious decision. They may confuse hormone messages with nerve signals or assume organs cannot work without nerve input.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A runner’s pulse and breathing speed up. Explain how the nervous system helps coordinate the heart, lungs, and muscles, then predict what might happen if breathing did not speed up.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have students count pulse and breaths before and after one minute of seated marching, then sketch nerve links to the heart and lungs.
Ask: Why can your hand pull away from a hot mug before you decide to move it, and why might your pulse rise?
Give pairs organ-system cards to match with sensory signals or nerve-controlled actions, then have them defend two matches.
Use a spinal cord injury case card to trace how damaged signals could change movement, bladder control, and skin sensation.
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Printable HAP.6.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to HAP.6.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- L.4.1.2
Obtain and communicate data to describe patterns that indicate the nature of relationships between human organ systems, which interact with one another to contr...
- HAP.6.3
Discuss the structure and function of the brain and spinal cord.
- HAP.6.4
Compare and contrast the structures and functions of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Investigate how the systems interact to maintain homeostasis (e...
- HAP.1.3
Investigate the interdependence of the various body systems to each other and to the body as a whole.
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