Topic   Hormonal  and   Level   GCSE  (or  any  course  for  students  
nervous  systems   aged  14-­‐16)  
Outcomes     To  compare  and  contrast  the  hormonal  and  nervous  systems  of  
animals  
 
 
The  Hormonal  and  Nervous  Systems  of  Jack  and  John  
 
 
Jack  and  John  are  aliens  and  live  on  a  planet  far,  far  away  called  Zog.  They  both  
have  brains.  Their  bodies  are  made  from  cells,  organs  and  tissues,  just  like  
humans.  But  there  is  one  difference.    
 
Jack  is  like  John  except  he  doesn’t  have  a  nervous  system.  Everything  in  his  body  
is  controlled  by  his  hormonal  system.    
 
John  is  like  Jack  except  he  doesn’t  have  a  hormonal  system.  Everything  in  his  
body  is  controlled  by  his  nervous  system.    
 
   
     
     
  Jack   John  
 
 
 
 
 
1. Jack  and  John  stand  on  a  drawing  pin.  How  would  their  responses  be  
different?  
 
2. What  tests  could  a  doctor  do  to  identify  who  was  Jack  and  who  was  John?  
 
3. Jack  and  John  drink  a  bottle  of  coke  containing  lots  of  sugar.  Sketch  a  
graph  to  show  what  you  think  will  happen  to  their  blood  sugar  level.      
 
The  graph  has  been  started  for  you.    
 
 
 
 
Jack’s     John’s  
blood       blood    
Sugar  (AU)     Sugar  (AU)  
         
 
 
time     time  
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4. How  would  John  and  Jack’s  lives  be  different?    

 
Use  information  from  the  table  below  in  your  answer.    
 
Feature   Nervous  System   Hormonal  System  
Signal   Electrical  impulses   Chemical  impulses  
Pathway   Neurones   Blood  
Speed  of  information   Fast   Slow  
Duration  of  effect   Short  lived   Longer  lived  
Type  of  action     Voluntary  or  involuntary   Always  involuntary  
Target   Specific  cells   Many  cells  
 
 
Progress:      further  resources  on  body  system  are  available  here:    
http://thescienceteacher.co.uk/organ-­‐systems/  
 
1-   Since jack has no nervous system, he will not feel any pain because there is no
 
pathway for the neurones to send electrical impulses whereas john will feel short
 
lived pain since he has a NS present.
 
2-   To find out which alien is Jack, the doctor could test both their bloods for the
 
presence of hormones and since Jack has a hormonal system and John does not,
 
hormones will be seen in Jack's blood. To figure out which alien John is, the doctor
 
could trigger an involuntary action on both aliens. For example, he could use a
hammer
  and lightly hit both of them under the knee and whoever's knee jerks
would
  be John.

4-   Since jack only has a nervous system, signals in his body would be sent as
 
electrical impulses through neurones. The speed of information being transported
 
would be fast and any sort of pain would be short lived. Apart from involuntary
 
actions, he would also be able to perform voluntary actions. Also his NS would
send
  signals to specific cells because of the neurones.
 
Since john only as a hormonal system, signals in his body would be sent as
 
chemical impulses through his blood and the speed of which the information is
 
being transported would be slow. The duration of John's pain would be longer lived
and   he would not be able to perform any voluntary actions. Due to the lack of
neurones and a NS, the blood will be transmitting these chemical impulses to many
cells rather than specific ones

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