The Human Body An Inquiry Unit

1
The Human BodyAn Inquiry Unit

• MEFB 460
• Krystal Cline, Sara Burns, Brooke Boucher, Toni
  Roberds

2
Day 1 Respiratory System

• Who has bigger lung capacity?
• The students will find out what effects our lung
  capacity. The students will be divided into
  groups to evaluate the lung capacity using a lung
  capacitor or balloons based on the following
  variables
• Girls/Boys
• Rest/Exercise (students will do jumping jacks for
  5-10 minutes for the exercise)
• Breathing limitations (students will breath
  through a soda straw this simulates asthma or
  breathing difficulties)
• Holding breath before breathing into balloon

3
Day 2 Respiratory System

• The student will draw and label a diagram of the
  parts of the lungs and respiratory system. Then
  they will write a short narrative about their
  findings in the inquiry exercise Who has bigger
  lung capacity? and include some other variables
  that would affect lung capacity such as smoking,
  lung disease, type of exercise, etc.

4
Day 3 Circulatory System

• Is your blood really blue?
• Students will do an internet and resource search
  inquiry to prove or disprove this question. They
  will be allowed to go to the following webpages
• http//www.seps.org/oracle/oracle.archive/Life_Sci
  ence.Health/2000.10/000972421581.26676
• http//www.seps.org/oracle/oracle.archive/Life_Sci
  ence.Anatomy/2001.01/000978795180.24280.html
• http//www.globalclassroom.org/blublud.html
• http//www.people.virginia.edu/rjh9u/blueblud.htm
  l
• Each student is required to defend their answer
  in a narrative or illustration.

5
Day 4 Circulatory System

• The student will utilize the classroom resources
  to create a comic strip, flow chart or narrative
  about the experiences of a red blood cell as it
  leaves the Aorta travels through the body
  returning to the Aorta. This activity should
  include the names of the blood vessels and heart,
  what each stage of the journey details, the
  purpose of the red blood cells, as well as, the
  path the red blood cells travel.

6
Day 5 Skeletal System
7

• Students will understand how the skeletal system
  is organized, its importance to the body
  structure, its function, and how it relates to
  the muscular system. During day one of the
  lesson, students will interact with online
  applets to discover how bones are connected and
  which bones are located in certain parts of the
  body. They will be given a handout with a
  skeleton and blanks pointing to key bones to fill
  out during their online interaction.

8
Skeletal System Applet

• http//www.innerbody.com/image/skelfov.html

9

• Students will use a KWL chart to guide their
  learning. A KWL chart is a piece of paper divided
  into three columns What We Know What We Want to
  Know What Weve Learned.
• Practice Students will do the activity If We
  Had No Bones. Review the different purposes of
  bones with your class. Have students write and
  illustrate a short paragraph describing what our
  bodies would be like without bones.

10
Explanation (What Weve Learned)

• It is responsible for creating cells that help
  keep us healthy (white blood cells).
• It protects our vital organs.
• It supports our muscular system, allowing us to
  move.

11
Day 6 - Skeletal System

• Students will continue learning how the skeletal
  and muscular systems are related using online
  applets. Students may need time to complete
  activities from the previous day. Direct them to
  the website http//www.innerbody.com/htm/body.htm
  l.

12
Extension

• If time allows, students with a strong stomach
  can perform virtual knee surgery online on the
  website http//www.edheads.org/activities/knee/in
  dex.htm.
• This is a very interactive applet that guides
  students through the process of knee surgery with
  guiding questions.

13
Day 7 Muscular System
14

• Students will understand the muscular systems
  structure and function.
• Students will again be given a worksheet to fill
  out using an online applet. They should fill in
  blanks labeling the more common muscles using the
  applet. The website is http//www.msjensen.gen.um
  n.edu/webanatomy/GAME/13.htm.

15

• Key Words smooth muscles, cardiac muscles,
  skeletal muscles, and tendons.
• Students will then compare and contrast types of
  muscles through Internet research and their
  textbooks. They will explore the coordination of
  the muscular and skeletal systems and write a
  paragraph describing how they both interact to
  produce movement in the body.

16
Assessment Skeletal Muscular Systems

• Assessment should be given in the form of a quiz
  over identifying major bones and muscles and
  their functions using a word bank. The quiz
  should also have an open-ended question over how
  the skeletal and muscular system interact to
  produce movement in the body.

17
Day 8 Skeletal-Muscular System

• CLASS ACTIVITY
• How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

18
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Objectives
• The children will gather data about the number of
  exercises they can do within a given period of
  time.
• The children will determine the effect of rest on
  the amount of exercise they can do.

19
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Materials
• Pencil
• Paper
• Chart with 10 columns
• Stopwatch or clock with second hand
• Class Preparation
• Divide the class into small groups of 2-3
  students.
• Prepare the recording chart for the repetitions.

20
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Motivation/Focus
• Ask the children if they remember that in the
  lower grades, their parents or teachers tried to
  make them rest or take naps. Have the children
  discuss why the adults wanted then to rest. You
  may wish to point out that young children are
  very active and tire quickly. Explain that rest
  gives muscles a chance to regain some strength.
  Tell the children that in this activity, they
  will find out how rest affects their muscles.

21
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Directions
• Divide the class into two-member teams. One
  member will perform the exercise while the other
  member records data. Have the member who is
  going to perform the exercise make a clenched
  fist with one hand and then extend his/her
  fingers. Have the other member count how many
  times this exercise can be completed within 15
  seconds. He/she should then enter the number in
  the first column of the chart.

22
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Directions
• Have all teams repeat this procedure four times,
  with no rest between trials. After the first
  member has completed five trials, have him/her
  rest for 10 minutes. During this rest period,
  have the other member of the team do the
  exercise.
• After the other member has completed five trails,
  have the teams repeat the activity but this time
  with a minute of rest between trails. Have the
  partners record the data as they did before.

23
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Discussion Questions
• 1. How did resting for a minute between trails
  affect the results?
• 2. How can you use what you learned in this
  activity?

24
How Does Rest Affect Tired Muscles?

• Extension
• You may wish to have some student synthesize all
  the data from this activity and prepare a
  classroom graph showing the average number of
  exercises performed during each trial for both
  the first part of the activity (exercising
  without rest) and the second part of the activity
  (exercising with rest). Ask the students to draw
  their own conclusions based on the two graphs.

25
Day 9-The Nervous System

• The students will discover the parts of a neuron
  by building a model.
• They will use five different colors of pipe
  cleaners to build the cell body, axon, dendrites,
  myelin, and synaptic terminal
• The students will then define each term and write
  a short paragraph describing the importance of
  the neuron to the nervous.

26
(No Transcript)
27
Day 10-The 5 Senses

• How Does Smell Affect Tastes?
• The students will predict, observe, and study the
  relationship between taste and smell.
• In groups, a volunteer will be blindfolded. A
  student will then hold an apple slice under the
  volunteers nose and have them take a bite of a
  potato. The volunteer will then report what food
  they tasted.
• They will do this again while holding an onion
  slice under the volunteers nose and having the
  student take a bite of an apple.
• This activity will be done with several different
  foods. The students will then conclude what
  effect smell has on taste.

28
Day 11-Reproductive System

• The students will learn about the different parts
  of the male and female reproductive system.
• The students will review the reproductive organs
  of the frog.
• They will then label a diagram of the male and
  female reproductive organs utilizing classroom
  resources.
• The students will then compare the humans
  reproductive organs to the frogs reproductive
  organs and there purposes.

29
Day 12 The Digestive System

• The students will discover the function of the
  digestive system by tracking the path of the food
  they consume. They will illustrate in a time
  line the path of food through the mouth,
  esophagus, liver, stomach, pancreas, small and
  large intestines, rectum, and anus. The students
  should be able to explain the function of each of
  these organs and their importance to digestion.

30
Day13 The Excretory System

• The students will explore how the excretory
  system rids their body of waste. They will
  determine which organs are used to excrete food
  and liquid, oxygen and carbon dioxide, sweat, and
  water and salts. The students will research
  filtration in the kidneys, small and large
  intestines, skin, and lungs using in class
  resources such as their textbook, encyclopedias,
  and other books used by the teacher.

31
Day 14 Lab Assessment

• The student will illustrate their learning of the
  body systems by performing a virtual frog
  dissection at http//www.froguts.com/flash_content
  /index.html The student will identify and
  describe all the body parts on a chart that is to
  be turned in with the lab work.

32
Day 15 Creative Assessment

• The student will show their knowledge of the
  human body by creating a travel brochure for the
  body systems. The brochure will be poster-size
  and should include a presentation to entice
  clients to visit your body. The student will
  include a letter to potential clients welcoming
  them to their body as well.

33
Assessment

• In an effort to have an assessment that is
  ongoing throughout the unit we are using a body
  systems journal and poster for each student. The
  student will make an outline of their body onto
  butcher paper and will draw in each body system.
  The journal will be a daily journaling of 3-5
  minutes to describe that days body system. The
  poster will be implemented as part of their
  Travel to the Human Body presentation.

34
TEKS

• 7.2 Scientific Processes. The student uses
  scientific inquiry methods during field and
  laboratory investigations. The student is
  expected to
• Plan and implement investigative procedures
  including asking questions, formulating testable
  hypotheses, and selecting and using equipment and
  technology
• Collect data by observing and measuring
• Organize, analyze, make inferences and predict
  trends from direct and indirect evidence
• Communicate valid conclusions
• Construct graphs, tables, maps and charts using
  tools including computers to organize, examine,
  and evaluate data.

35
TEKS

• 7.3 Scientific Processes. The student uses
  critical thinking and scientific problem solving
  to make informed decisions. The student is
  expected to
• Analyze, review, and critique scientific
  explanations, including hypotheses and theories,
  as to their strengths and weaknesses using
  scientific evidence and information
• Draw inferences based on data related to
  promotional materials fro products and services
• Represent the natural world using models and
  identify their limitations
• Evaluate the impact of research on scientific
  thought, society and the environment

36
TEKS

• 7.9 Science concepts. The student knows the
  relationship between structure and function in
  living systems. The student is expected to
• (A) Identify the systems of the human organism
  and describe their functions

37
NSES

• CONTENT STANDARD AAs a result of activities in
  grades 5-8, all students should develop
• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understandings about scientific inquiry

38
NSES

• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD CAs a result of their
  activities in grades 5-8, all students should
  develop understanding of
• Structure and function in living systems
• Reproduction and heredity
• Regulation and behavior
• Populations and ecosystems
• Diversity and adaptations of organisms

39
NSES

• STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN LIVING SYSTEMS
• Living systems at all levels of organization
  demonstrate the complementary nature of structure
  and function. Important levels of organization
  for structure and function include cells, organs,
  tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and
  ecosystems. See Unifying Concepts and Processes
  
• All organisms are composed of cells--the
  fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are
  single cells other organisms, including humans,
  are multicellular.
• Cells carry on the many functions needed to
  sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby
  producing more cells. This requires that they
  take in nutrients, which they use to provide
  energy for the work that cells do and to make the
  materials that a cell or an organism needs.
• Specialized cells perform specialized functions
  in multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized
  cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a
  muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped
  together to form larger functional units, called
  organs. Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has
  a distinct structure and set of functions that
  serve the organism as a whole.
• The human organism has systems for digestion,
  respiration, reproduction, circulation,
  excretion, movement, control, and coordination,
  and for protection from disease. These systems
  interact with one another.
• Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions
  of an organism. Some diseases are the result of
  intrinsic failures of the system. Others are the
  result of damage by infection by other organisms.