Neurological Disorders Project

Neurological disorders are diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. In other words, the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, nerve roots, autonomic nervous system, neuromuscular junction, and muscles. These disorders include epilepsy, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson's disease and many others.

Mental disorders, on the other hand, are "psychiatric illnesses" or diseases which appear primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling or behavior, producing either distress or impairment of function.

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by neurological disorders: For example, 50 million people have epilepsy; 62 million are affected by cerebrovascular disease; 326 million people suffer from migraine; 24 million are affected by Alzheimer disease and other dementias. There is a good chance that you, or someone you know, will at some point in their life suffer from a neurological problem.

TASK

As a group you will research a disorder or disease of the nervous system and present your findings in the form of a Goggle Slides Presentation or a Prezi. Your instructor will give you further details about your groups and how the project will be presented to the class.

INCLUDE the following information on your slides.

• Description of the disorder - focus on anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system, include details
• Images relating to the disorder - these could be MRI's of the brain or even photos of people, use images to enhance slides, not clutter them
• Symptoms, describe what life is like for a person with the disorder
• How a person develops this disorder - it might be genetic, the result of an injury, or possibly the factors are unknown
• Treatment options - can it be cured or can the symptoms be managed?
• Personal accounts or information related to the disorder, your audience should understand what it is like for people to live with the disorder
• Additional Information - add a few extra things related to the disorder, this could be slides of famous people who have the disorder, organizations about the disorder, trivia, medical history. You can also link to a short video (no longer than 3 minutes)

DO NOT ...

• Copy and paste information directly from websites, summarize in your own words
• Overload slides with too much information. Break slides up if you need to include more than 5 pieces of information
• Use terms or vocabulary you do not understand. You will be asked questions about your topic or any information you post.
• Include distracting transitions, backgrounds, or images that do not relate to the topic.

SCORING RUBRIC
	Excellent (3)	Good (2)	Needs Work (1)	Not Evident
Information: Abundance of facts that relate to the disorder. Specific information about the brain, biology, neurology and anatomy is included. Information is summarized, not copy/pasted from other sources
Symptoms of the disorder are described, main ones are emphasized
Cause of the disorder stated, such as genetic, brain trauma, environmental.
Treatment options are described, including possible medications, long term health, etc
Personal reflections or accounts are included
Relevant images are included
Overall quality: titles, slide backgrounds, transitions, logical sequence, etc
Group Understanding: can answer specific questions about the disorder or information on slides
TOTAL (out of 24)