Activity Hand Model of the Brain

Purpose: To help students learn the areas of the brain.

 

Objectives: Map the areas of the brain onto the hand.

Materials:

Procedure for mapping the areas of the brain onto parts of the hand.

 

Student preparation: Students will read about areas of the brain in their textbook.

Procedure:

1. Students are requested to make a fist in front of them with their right hand.
2. Tell students that we will use their fist to create a model of the left hemisphere of the brain.
3. Start with the wrist and move to each area of the hand model for each area of the brain.
   1. Wrist – brain stem
   2. Fingers – frontal lobe
   3. Base of fingers – motor strip
   4. Knuckles – sensory strip
   5. From base of the knuckles to halfway to the wrist – parietal lobe.
   6. Lower half of back of the hand – occipital lobe.
   7. Thumb – temporal lobe.
   8. Inside of the hand – amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus.

Adapted from: Shapiro, S.J. (2008). In Benjamin L. T. Jr. (Ed.), Favorite activities for the teaching of psychology. Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association.