This lesson plan involves a cross-curricular activity exploring the relationship between feelings, molecules, and happiness. Students will use online sources to research the connection between neurotransmitters and feelings. They will analyze factors related to happiness from the UN Happiness Index such as GDP, health, freedom, and generosity. Students will discuss formulas for happiness, complete personality tests, and create art representing emotions and neurotransmitter receptors to understand how biology influences feelings.

1. LESSON PLAN: FEELINGS AND MOLECULES
DATE: the 9th of January, 2017
GRADE: the 11th
TEACHERS: Francisco Pérez García
THEME: Feelings and molecules
Crosscurricular activity involving communication in a foreign language (English),
sciences, biology, computer sciences and art
COMPETENCES:
- Use the main primary sources of scientific information to find information on
neurotransmitters and feelings
- Understand the relationship between feelings and molecules
- Understand and analyse the United Nations Happiness Index (UNHI)
- Compare the factors related with happiness according to different scientific articles and
UNHI: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life
choices, generosity, perception of corruption, dystopia, etc.
- To understand the vocabulary and the concepts measured with Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory for adolescents (MMPI-A test) and perform the test
- Design by using HTML5, CSS and Javascript libraries in order to create an online
PANAS questionnaire
- Understand programming conditional statement to show their images at different scores
of a questionnaire at www.arteducation.eu/panas
- Understand statistical methods to compare results of psychological tests mathematically
(e.g. comparing results of the test in males and females)
- Expressing feelings/emotions, ideas, thoughts, points of view by using art approach:
molecules found in protein data bank
TYPE OF LESSON: Combined lesson
TYPES OF INTERACTION: teacher – student, student – student, computer-student
TEACHING TOOLS: the blackboard, the projector and a computer room with software:
GIMP
TIME: 4 lessons of 50 minutes
WARMER
At home, the student must use http://scholar.google.com and http://www.ncbi-nlm-
nih.gov to find out what is the relation between molecules (neurotransmitters) and
feelings.
They are asked to review their mobiles and the internet to find this information.
LEARNING STRATEGY
Learning strategy is based in recognizing factors involved in feelings from United Nations
Happiness Index and other scientific articles.
Then do some activities using computer tools in order to create innovative emoticons and
mobile apps relating art masterpieces and feelings.

2. FORMULATION OF THE SUBJECT
Students will be informed that during this lesson they will learn some English instructions
in Javascript, HTML5 and CSS to create objects to express feelings.
COMMUNICATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Activity 1- World Happinness Index
To understand the factors affecting happiness according to United Nations: GDP peere
capital, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to male life choices, generosity
and perception of corruption (World Happiness Index 2016)
Figure 1. World Happiness Index (United Nations, 2016)
Activity 2. Discussion of the happiness formula
The Happiness Formula H=S+C+V
Seligmand and Lyubormirsky (2013) considers in the formula for happiness as: half
being genetically determined, up to an additional 40 percent comes from the things that
have occurred in our recent past, and 12 percent under our control.
HappinessFormula
Their formula is H = S + C + V where
H: Happiness
S: Our biological set point

3. C: Conditions of living
V: Voluntary actions or choices we make daily
Based on their research they arrived at the following breakdown:
S – 50% Our biological set point
C – 10% Conditions of living
V – 40% Voluntary actions or choices we make daily
The conclusion this leads to is that at least 40% of our happiness is based on actions and
choices we make daily and are under our control. These actions and choices consist of
using our strengths to do meaningful, good and pleasant things in our lives.
Discuss in groups of 5 if there are discrepancies in the exact happiness formula using
the scientific article “The paradox of happiness: Why are we not doing what we know
makes us happy?” by L. Parker Schiffer & Tomi-Ann Roberts
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2017.1279209
http://sonjalyubomirsky.com/files/2012/09/Lyubomirsky-Layous-20132.pdf
Activity 3 – aim: to promote discussion about related emotions and neurotransmitters
To understand how neurotransmitters regulate our emotions
Figure 2. Lövheim cube of emotions (Lovheim, 2012)

4. Figure 3. Emotions and the levels of neurotransmitters
To understand the relationship between level of neurotransmitter and feelings.
References:
Lövheim, H (2012). "A new three-dimensional model for emotions and monoamine
neurotransmitters". Med Hypotheses. 78: 341–348. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2011.11.016.
PMID 22153577.
Activity 4. Understand the concepts measured with MMPI-A test and perform the
test
MMPI is a widely used and researched standardized psychometric test in adults. A
specific test is used for adolescents called MMPI-A (Archer, 2016), The test involves 478
true/false items. It measures 15 indicators:
 Anxiety – Physical and emotional symptoms of intense worry or nervousness.
21 items
 Obsessiveness – Unreasonable worrying about trivial matters, ruminative
thoughts or counting unimportant items. 15 items
 Depression – Physical and emotional symptoms of intense negative emotion.
26
 Health Concerns – Numerous physical problems that interfere with enjoyment of
after school activities and contribute to significant school absences. 37
 Alienation – Considerable emotional distance from others. 20
 Bizarre Mentation – Strange thoughts and experiences and/or hallucinations.
19
 Anger – Considerable anger control problems. May get into trouble from breaking
or destroying things. 17
 Cynicism – Distrust of others motives and generally feeling misunderstood.
22

5.  Conduct Problems -May have delinquent peers and be entertained by criminal
behavior. 23
 Low Self-Esteem – Very negative opinions of self. May not feel capable of
planning own future.
 Low Aspirations – Not interested in being successful, quickly give up when things
go wrong. 16
 Social Discomfort – Very uncomfortable around others and shy. May prefer to be
alone and have difficulty making friends. 24
 Family Problems – Considerable problems with parents. Lack of love,
understanding, and limited communication in these families. 35
 School Problems – Poor grades, suspension, truancy, negative attitudes toward
teachers, and a dislike of school. 20
 Negative Treatment Indicators – Negative attitudes toward doctors and mental
health professionals. Unwilling to discuss problems. 26
Activity 5. Psychological tests to measure feelings PANAS Scale
PANAS Scale is simpler than Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).
Student will perfom the PANAS scale to better know their feelings

6. Figure 4. PANAS Scale

7. Activity 5. Explain the statistical test Student t test in the happiness previous study
Student’s t test has a key role to decide if two groups of data are equal or different.
Explain why.
Find the formula of Fisher’s F and explain why it is so important if we are comparing 3
groups-
Correlation: relationship between two variables
Explain how is possible to introduce art in statistics. Explain this image
Create your art masterpiece using R statistical software (www.r-project.org)

8. Figure 4
# Code using R. You need to install R from CRAN and RStudio//Circle
lengths
j = seq(0.1,1.9,.08)
par(bg = "black")
plot(-2,-2,pch=".",xlim=c(-2,2),ylim=c(-2,2),col="white")
# How many dots around the circle?
dots = 1000
# Create an offkilter circle
rads = seq(0,2*pi,2*pi/dots)
for(aLength in j) {
# Pick a random color
myCol =
paste("#",paste(sample(c(1:9,"A","B","C","D","E","F"),6,replace=T),col
lapse=""),collapse="",sep="")
# Start at length = 1, then walk.
myLength = rep(aLength,dots)
for(i in 2:dots) {
myLength[i] = myLength[(i-1)] + rnorm(1,0,sd=.005)
# Closer we are to end, faster we return to where
started so circle closes
dist = aLength - myLength[i]
myLength[i] = aLength - (dist*((dots-(i/4))/(dots)))

9. }
for(i in 1:dots) {
cat(myLength[i]*cos(rads[i]),myLength[i]*sin(rads[i]),"n")
points(myLength[i]*cos(rads[i]),myLength[i]*sin(rads[i]),col=my
Col,pch=20,cex=2)
}
}
Activity 6. Create a new image from neurotransmitter receptor related to feelings
To undersand the different levels of organization of the brain: from the neuron to the
neuron to the synapsis and there you find the receptor proteins.
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do
Figure 5. Transmembrane view of human dopamine 3 receptor linked to a drug
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/explore.do?structureId=3pbl
http://www.faseb.org/Resources-for-the-Public/Scientific-Contests/BioArt/Past-
Winners/2016-BioArt-Winners.aspx
Concerning proteins you can analyze all the neurotransmitter receptors and many other
protein with polymorphisms: Serotonin Transporter Promoter or FK506 Binding Protein-
5, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor 1, Catechol-O-Methyltransferase,
Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1 and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 14 (Halldorsdottir
and Binder, 2017)

10. From biology to bioart
You can use protein data bank to find more than 40000 proteins. Some of these proteins
are receptors of neurotransmitter you can use these images as an art inspiration to draw
about feeling. This will help to understand the physiological and pharmacological basis
of emotions that are related with the specific binding of the neurotransmitters and drugs
to some of the proteins we have in our cell membranes.
Halldorsdottir T and Binder EB. Gene × Environment Interactions: From Molecular
Mechanisms to Behavior Annual Review Psychology 68:215–41 (2017).