Question

1. Using an example of a study you might conduct, go through all of the steps of the scientific method.

2. Describe the functions of the brain and the spinal cord. How are these functions similar?How are these functions dissimilar?

Answer 1

1.Examples of the Scientific Method

Scientists use the scientific method in their research, but it is also used by people who aren’t scientists in everyday life. Even if you were not consciously aware of it, you have used the scientific method many times when solving problems around you. For example, say you are at home and a lightbulb goes out. Noticing that the lightbulb is out is an observation. You would then naturally question, “Why is the lightbulb out?” and come up with possible guesses, or hypotheses. For example, you may hypothesize that the bulb has burned out. Then you would perform a very small experiment in order to test your hypothesis; namely, you would replace the bulb and analyze the data (“Did the light come back on?”). If the light turned back on, you would conclude that the lightbulb had, in fact, burned out. But if the light still did not work, you would come up with other hypotheses (“The socket doesn’t work”, “Part of the lamp is broken,” “The fuse went out”, etc.) and test those.

2.the brain and spinal cord are part of the central nervous system. Meaning,

they’re both composed of neurons and glial cells that are responsible for how we behave/

react. Yet, the brain is the main part of the nervous system that processes information

received through senses and helps send commands out to the rest of the body. The brain isresponsible for cognitive thoughts that help us interpret and learn new information. This is unlike the spinal cord, which is composed of a long collection of neurons. The afferent,efferent, and interneurons are essential for certain reflexes. They help carry messages from the senses to the spinal cord or to other muscles/glands. The spinal cord serves as a

passageway linking the brain and peripheral nervous system.