Neurons & Brain Structure · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

How Neurons Talk and Your Brain Rewires Itself

Science · The Human Body · ages 11-13
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Which lobe of the brain mainly handles vision?

    • Frontal lobe
    • Occipital lobe
    • Temporal lobe

  2. What travels along the axon inside a neuron?

    • Electric pulse
    • A drop of blood
    • A muscle fiber

  3. Practicing a skill can physically change the connections in your brain.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Marcus hits his head and afterward has trouble understanding spoken words. Which lobe was most likely affected?

    • Temporal lobe
    • Occipital lobe
    • Frontal lobe

  5. What happens at a chemical synapse between two neurons?

    • The electrical pulse jumps straight across the gap
    • The axon touches the next neuron directly
    • A neurotransmitter crosses the gap

  6. Why does a pathway between neurons get faster after lots of practice?

    • The neuron grows a longer axon each day
    • The pathway grows stronger when reused
    • The brain adds a new lobe for the skill

  7. Optical illusions can trick your eyes even when you know the trick. What does this best show about the brain?

    • The brain builds what you see from learned patterns, not just raw input
    • The eyes make mistakes but the brain always fixes them
    • Illusions only work on people who have not practiced looking

  8. Priya's teacher says a neuron's message at a chemical synapse is 'purely electrical' the whole way from one neuron to the next. What is wrong with that idea?

    • Nothing, the message is always electrical
    • The message becomes a sound wave inside the axon
    • The message becomes chemical for a moment when it crosses a chemical synapse
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

How Neurons Talk and Your Brain Rewires Itself W1-mt_okUMpHsV-P-s1

  1. Occipital lobe · The occipital lobe sits at the back of the brain and processes what your eyes see.
  2. Electric pulse · The message inside a neuron is an electrical pulse that races down the axon.
  3. True · Repeated practice strengthens the neural pathways you use, which is neuroplasticity.
  4. Temporal lobe · The temporal lobe handles hearing and processing language, so damage there can affect understanding speech.
  5. A neurotransmitter crosses the gap · At a chemical synapse, electrical pulses cannot cross the gap alone, so the neuron releases a neurotransmitter that crosses over and starts a new pulse.
  6. The pathway grows stronger when reused · Using the same pathway repeatedly strengthens it, which is what neuroplasticity means.
  7. The brain builds what you see from learned patterns, not just raw input · Illusions persist because the brain constructs its best guess from experience, the same learning process behind neuroplasticity.
  8. The message becomes chemical for a moment when it crosses a chemical synapse · The pulse is electrical inside each neuron, but at a chemical synapse a neurotransmitter carries it chemically across the gap.
Worksheet · LightMySky