If at the last minute the pitcher decides to throw a curveball, which tissue responds first?

Question

A.  epithelial tissue
B.  ectoderm
C.  nerve tissue
D.  muscle tissue

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
What do you already know about the tissues of the vertebrate body? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

C.  nerve tissue

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · The concept addressed here is the identification of the tissue that would facilitate a last-minute response.
What type of thinking is required?
        · Analyze level:
            o This question is asking you to identify key factors that qualify something as one of the tissues of the vertebrate body.

Gather Content
What do you already know about the tissues of the vertebrate body? What other information is related to the question?
        · Vertebrates have four tissue types: epithelial, connective, muscular, and nervous tissue.
        · Epithelial tissue covers or lines. For example, the skin is epithelial is epithelial tissue, as is the lining of the gut and the lining of the blood vessels. Glands are modified epithelia.
        · Connective tissue includes blood, fat, bone, and cartilage.
        · Muscle tissue includes smooth muscle, skeletal muscle, and cardiac muscle.
        · Nervous tissue includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · Ectoderm is a germ layer, not a tissue.
        · Epithelial tissue is exemplified here by the skin, but the skin is not involved in generating the last-minute idea.
        · Muscle tissue is also involved here, but it is involved in carrying out the response, not in the initial formulation of the idea.
        · The tissue that would respond first would be that tissue that originates the action. The thought would have originated in the brain, which is nervous tissue.

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        · Analyze level:
            o Answering this question correctly depended not only on distinguishing between germ layers and tissues, but on your ability to break down, or analyze, the individual tissue types. If you got an incorrect answer, did you remember that components of a response include nervous stimulation for the action to be initiated, or that the brain is nervous tissue? Did you have trouble breaking down the types of tissue to determine the correct answer?