Active learning ideas
This topic investigates stress as a complex psychobiological process that involves both immediate physiological reactions and long-term psychological impacts. Students explore the fight-flight-freeze response and the specific role of the HPA axis, including the release of cortisol. This is a critical area of study as it connects biological survival mechanisms to modern mental health challenges, providing a foundation for understanding how chronic stress affects the body.
Activity 01
Groups research the short-term benefits versus long-term harms of cortisol. They create a visual timeline showing how 'helpful' cortisol during a sprint becomes 'harmful' cortisol during a high-pressure exam period, focusing on immune system suppression.
What happens to our bodies during the fight-flight-freeze response?
Activity 02
Students are given cards with different survival scenarios (e.g., encountering a predator, a sudden loud noise). They must act out the response and then explain the specific sympathetic nervous system activations that allowed that response to happen.
How does cortisol affect our long-term health?
Activity 03
Students create large-scale posters of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis. They rotate around the room to critique each other's diagrams, ensuring the sequence of hormone release is accurate and the feedback loop is clearly marked.
In what ways is stress both a biological and psychological phenomenon?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Cortisol is always 'bad' for the body.
Students often focus only on the negative effects of chronic stress. Active discussion of the HPA axis helps them see that cortisol is essential for maintaining blood glucose levels and reducing inflammation during acute stress events.
The freeze response is just 'doing nothing'.
Students may think freezing is a lack of response. Through role play and physiological analysis, they learn it is an active state of high arousal where the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems are both highly active, leading to tonic immobility.
Methods used in this brief
Structure and Function of the Nervous System
Examine the divisions of the human nervous system and the role of neurons in transmitting information. Students will explore how the central and peripheral nervous systems coordinate behaviour.
8 methodologies
Models of Stress and Coping
Analyse psychological models of stress, such as Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Model, and evaluate various coping strategies. Students will differentiate between approach and avoidance coping mechanisms.
8 methodologies