Mississippi Science HAP.6.4
The Standard
- HAP.6
- Students will investigate the structures and functions of the nervous system, including the cause and effect of diseases and disorders.
Compare and contrast the structures and functions of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Investigate how the systems interact to maintain homeostasis (e.g., reflex responses, sensory responses).
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Nervous System
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Identify the brain and spinal cord as the central nervous system, and nerves outside them as the peripheral nervous system. Trace how signals move between these parts to produce a response that protects or stabilizes the body.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a hot-pan scenario, a student traces the signal from skin through a sensory nerve to the spinal cord, then through a motor nerve to the muscle. They explain that the spinal cord starts the withdrawal reflex and the brain receives the message.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may classify the spinal cord as peripheral because it runs outside the skull. They may assume the brain must start every reflex or that sensory and motor nerves carry signals in the same direction.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Draw the signal path from touching a hot pan to pulling away, including when the brain gets the message. Label the central and peripheral parts and explain how the response limits injury.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Use yarn to connect paper cutouts of skin, a sensory nerve, the spinal cord, a motor nerve, and a muscle in a withdrawal reflex.
Ask: Why does your pupil shrink when you step into sunlight? Have students write the signal path from eye to brain to iris muscle.
Play a two-pile card sort with brain, spinal cord, sensory nerve, and motor nerve cards; have students justify each placement aloud.
Using a hot-day weather report, have students trace how temperature signals reach the brain and how nerve signals trigger sweating.
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Printable HAP.6.4 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- HAP.6.3
Discuss the structure and function of the brain and spinal cord.
- HAP.6.6
Describe the major characteristics of the autonomic nervous system. Contrast the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in maintaining hom...
- HAP.6.1
Describe and evaluate how the nervous system functions and interconnects with all other body systems.
- HAP.6
Students will investigate the structures and functions of the nervous system, including the cause and effect of diseases and disorders.
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