Brain DeCoded with CodeX - Mission 2, Objective 2: Unplugged Chain
Mission 2 · Objective 2 Lesson Plan
Unplugged Chain
Students become the neurons and pass signals down the line, running an artificial neural network with nothing but cards and colored paper.
⏱ 45 min
🎯 Grades 8-12+
🙌 Unplugged
💻 CodeSpace
🧠 Neuroscience
📋
Overview
Objective 1 gave students the parts of a single neuron. This objective puts students inside the network. Each student takes on a role, a signal starts at one end, and the class finds out what actually happens when a message has to travel through a chain of neurons that do not all behave the same way.
Some neurons pass the signal along. Inhibitory neurons slow it down or send it backward. Malfunctioning neurons drop it entirely. And nothing gets passed at all until the signal is strong enough to cross the threshold. Running the simulation several times, with the roles and scenarios shuffled, is what makes those ideas stick.
This one is unplugged, but students still create a file in CodeSpace for their written response, so plan for a few minutes of CodeSpace time at the end.
🎯 Project Goal: Students physically simulate an artificial neural network.
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Learning Targets
- I can explain how neurons transmit signals.
- I can explain how each neuron plays a unique role in brain communication.
- I can use correct terms in a written response.
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Key Concepts
- Different types of neurons respond differently to signals.
- The signal of a neuron must reach a strength threshold before it transmits to other neurons.
✅
Assessment Opportunities
- Record observations for each simulation.
- Turn in the Activity Guide.
- Written response that summarizes the communication of neurons.
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Success Criteria
- Use vocabulary from the objective
- Summarize the simulation and roles played
- Explain how neurons transmit signals
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Digital Resources
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Classroom Materials
- ▸Two decks of playing cards, index cards, or slips of paper for the "neuron" messages
- ▸Colored paper to act as the signal to start
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Extensions & Cross-Curricular
ExtensionUse supplemental materials to go more in-depth about neurons.
ExtensionHave students create a video, web page, poster, or slides about neurons and give the presentation to an audience.
Visual ArtsStudents can create a collaborative art project of a neural network.
Lang ArtsStudents write a summary of a topic covered in this objective.
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Vocabulary
▾
Inhibitory Neuron:a neuron that slows down or reverses a signal.
Malfunctioning Neuron:a neuron that misses or skips a signal.
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Standards
▾
Life Science, Science & Engineering Practices
Developing and Using Models
English Language Arts
WHST.9-10.2
WHST.11-12.2
Computer Science
9-12.AP.21
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Preparing for the Lesson- Read the Teacher Instructions and the Activity Guide all the way through. They carry a lot of detail about how the simulation runs, and this activity does not go well if you are reading the rules for the first time in front of the class.
- Print and prepare the Materials deck, and print one Activity Guide per student.
- Gather the decks of cards, index cards, or slips of paper for the "neuron" messages, plus colored paper for the start signal.
- Queue up the narrated Slides deck. It introduces the neural network and sets up the activity before students take their roles.
- Plan your floor space and decide how you will arrange the chain, then pick the scenarios you want to run and the order you want them in.
- Decide how students will submit the written response. They still need to create the file in CodeSpace to meet the goal, even if the writing itself happens somewhere else.
🧑🏫
Teacher Notes- The activity comes with a full set of supplemental materials: a narrated slide deck to present to the class, materials to prepare and print, an Activity Guide for each student, and Teacher Instructions to help you prepare.
- The Activity Guide and Teacher Instructions give a lot of information and details about the simulation. Take time to read and go through them.
- Run the simulation several times, and mix up the roles and scenarios each time. One pass through is not enough for students to see the difference between neuron types.
- Give students time to reflect on or discuss each scenario before starting the next one.
- The students are asked to create a file in CodeSpace for their written response. Students can complete a response in a different way, but students still need to create the file to meet the goal.
- Extensions and cross-curricular projects are included to enhance the concepts in the objective. You can use the extensions to extend students' learning.
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Lesson Outline
🗣️Warm-up / Hook
Bring back the single neuron from Objective 1, then break it.
- Ask: "You know how one neuron passes a signal. What happens when the next neuron in line refuses to pass it along?"
- Ask: "How strong does a message have to be before it is worth passing on?"
Teaching tip: Do not define inhibitory or malfunctioning neurons yet. Let students predict what a broken link in a chain would do, then let the simulation prove or disprove it.
📖Set the Stage
Present the network and the rules before anyone stands up.
- Walk through the narrated Slides deck with the class. It covers the neural network and how the activity works.
- Hand out the Activity Guide and the printed materials, and go over the roles: standard neurons, inhibitory neurons, and malfunctioning neurons.
- Explain the threshold rule. A neuron does not transmit until the signal reaches the required strength.
- Show the cards or slips that carry the "neuron" messages and the colored paper that starts the signal, so students know what they are looking at.
Teaching tip: Have students write down a prediction for the first scenario before the signal starts. Comparing that prediction to the result is where most of the learning happens.
🔗Run the Simulation
This is the bulk of the lesson. Plan on several rounds.
- Assign roles, arrange the chain, and start the signal with the colored paper.
- Students pass the "neuron" messages down the line according to their role, and record their observations in the Activity Guide.
- Stop after the round and discuss. Where did the signal die? Where did it reverse? Did it reach the end?
- Reassign roles, change the scenario, and run it again. Repeat several times so every student plays more than one type of neuron.
Teaching tip: Give students time to reflect on or discuss each scenario before starting the next one. Back to back rounds blur together and students stop recording observations.
💻Student Work Time
Students write their response and create the file in CodeSpace.
- Students create the file in CodeSpace for the written response. This step is required to complete the objective.
- Students write a summary of the communication of neurons, using the vocabulary from the objective and the roles they played.
- Collect the Activity Guides. If you are gathering the writing another way, students still create the file, then submit however you have set up.
Teaching tip: Point students back at their own observation notes. The responses that name a specific round, "my neuron was inhibitory and the signal reversed," are the ones that show real understanding.
✏️Wrap-up & Review
Tie the simulation back to the brain, and forward to the code.
- Class discussion: which scenario surprised you most, and why?
- Quick share: what does a real brain do when a neuron malfunctions?
- Preview: in the next objectives, students build these same neurons in code.
Teaching tip: Keep the chain layout you used on the board. When students start coding neurons in Objectives 3, 4, and 5, pointing back at the human chain they stood in saves a lot of explaining.