Nervous+System

 =Tennis Ball Neurons = To demonstrate the difference in transmission rates between myelinated and unmyelinated neurons, I have students lined up in rows. Unmyelinated neurons have to pass a tennis ball from hand to hand to get the "impulse" to pass from one end of the neuron to the other. Myelinated neurons move the "impulse" by tossing the ball between "nodes". This shows how myelinated neurons can be up to 10 times faster than unmyelinated. If you have a big enough space and enough students, you can also stimulate synapses. Since I have 2 aisles in my lecture hall, students at the end of one "neuron" (row) have to stand up and walk across the aisle (synapse) to hand the ball to the "postsynaptic" neuron. Then, the transmission resumes its prior mode. It is vitally important that the students in the myelinated rows can throw accurately and CATCH a ball. Otherwise, this exercise fails. I use different colors for the balls of the two simulations. At the end of the final neuron, I have the last student stand up when the ball gets there. Unless, there is poor coordination of throwing and catching, the myelinated rows always finish way ahead of the unmyelinated.