Human Cognition:
A Complete 5-Week Middle School Unit
Used in real classrooms. Ready for immediate implementation.
5 complete Investigations
Teacher and student classroom-ready materials
All hands-on laboratory activities included
- Aligned with rigorous Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Used in real classrooms—where students don’t just learn science, they discover it.
Students investigate how the brain processes information, forms memories, controls behavior, and supports learning. Through dissections, brain modeling activities, and cognitive science demonstrations, students gain a deeper understanding of how their own minds work.
Students Explore the Human Brain in 3D
Students learn the major regions of the brain and connect structure to function through hands-on activities, models, and dissection experiences.
These anatomical studies prepare students to understand the function of brain regions (lobes of the cerebrum in the video above) in terms of their functions. Digital information can be directly integrated with realistic models of the human brain, and actual brain dissections – producing a picture that drive subsequent Investigations.
Students Explore Questions Such As:
- Why do we remember some things and forget others?
- How does attention work?
- Why are habits difficult to break?
- What happens during learning?
- How is artificial intelligence similar to—and different from—the human mind?
What a typical investigation looks like in the classroom:
- Concept Day: Students are introduced to key ideas using guided slides and discussion
- PreLab Day: Students prepare for the investigation through prediction and planning
- Lab Day: Students conduct hands-on experiments and collect data
- PostLab Day: Students analyze results and build scientific understanding
- Theological Connection: Students reflect using guided theology slides and discussion
Each step is fully guided for the teacher and structured for student engagement.
How a Class Period Unfolds
Each lesson follows a clear, repeatable structure:
Hands-on Lab → Discussion → Understanding Check → Theology Slides → Theology Discussion
Explore Investigation 1
Explore Human Cognition Investigation 1 exactly as teachers experience it in the classroom.
Full assessment tools (quizzes, rubrics, and answer keys) are included with the complete unit.
Teacher Portal Preview
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Alignment
Human Cognition Unit
The Human Cognition Unit is aligned with middle school NGSS performance expectations and disciplinary core ideas.
The Human Cognition Unit is aligned with middle school NGSS performance expectations and disciplinary core ideas. Through investigations involving brain anatomy, information processing, learning and memory, executive functions, and artificial intelligence, students engage in scientific inquiry while developing a deeper understanding of how the human mind works. Hands-on activities, data collection, modeling, and evidence-based reasoning provide meaningful opportunities to apply science and engineering practices throughout the unit.
