Fight, Flight, Freeze: The Body in Danger
Students explore how the nervous system detects and responds to danger. Moments of fear, hiding, and uncertainty from David’s and Rose’s experiences provide context for understanding the brain’s threat detection system and the automatic responses of fight, flight, or freeze.
Lesson aim: Understand how the nervous system responds to perceived threats.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- identify the role of the brain and nervous system in detecting danger.
- describe the fight, flight, and freeze responses.
- explain physiological changes that occur during moments of stress or fear.
- connect biological stress responses to survival situations described in narrative sources.
Guiding Questions
- How does the brain detect danger in the environment?
- What physical changes happen in the body during moments of fear?
- How can understanding the body’s stress response help us understand survival situations?
Materials
- projector
- diagram of the nervous system (StressResponseDiagrams_PPT)
- Understanding the Stress Response UnderstandingStressResponse_PPT
- excerpts or panels from David’s narrative
- excerpts or panels from Rose’s narrative
- student notebooks or Worksheet Handout_StressResponsesGraphicNarratives
Preparation
Select a short excerpt or visual panel from both narratives that capture a moment of fear, hiding, or sudden danger. Prepare a simple diagram showing the nervous system and basic stress responses.
Lesson Activities
Introduction
Introduce the concept that the human body is constantly scanning for safety or danger. Ask students to imagine hearing unexpected footsteps while hiding and not knowing whether they have been discovered. Guide a short discussion about what physical sensations might occur in the body during moments of fear. Transition the discussion toward how these reactions are controlled by the nervous system and are automatic survival responses.
Understanding Fight, Flight, Freeze
Explain how the brain detects danger through structures such as the amygdala and how signals travel through the nervous system. Introduce the fight, flight, and freeze responses (UnderstandingStressResponse_PPT) and discuss how these responses prepare the body to survive a threat. Review common physiological responses such as increased heart rate, faster breathing, muscle tension, and heightened awareness.
Applying the Stress Response to Narrative Moments
Before beginning the activity, briefly provide students with context about the sources they will be using. Explain that the excerpts come from “A Different Kind of Resistance” and Two Roses, which share experiences from Holocaust survivors. Both David and Rose were young people during the Holocaust and faced situations involving danger, uncertainty, hiding, and survival.
Explain that these narratives help provide real-life examples of situations where the human body would experience intense stress responses. Remind students that the purpose of the activity is not to analyze the stories themselves, but to use these moments to better understand how the human body reacts biologically to danger and prolonged stress.
Provide students with excerpts or panels from David’s and Rose’s experiences that describe moments of fear or danger. Ask students to identify which stress response the body might activate during each moment. Students explain their reasoning by describing the physical changes that would occur in the body during that situation. Use the following graphic organizer (Handout_StressResponsesGraphicNarratives) to support students in their learning.
Conclusion
Facilitate a brief discussion about why the body might choose to freeze rather than fight or flee in certain situations. Emphasize that these responses are automatic and designed to increase chances of survival.
