Investigation Sequence

Title

Anatomy

Written by:

Cara Hoffman and Cindy Pichler                 Date

 

Focus Questions

How do things move through the human body? How do different systems work?

Concepts

Content: Earth, Physical, & Life

Contentconcepts

Cross cutting concepts

unifiedproceessconcepts

Science Practice

inquiryconcepts

Personal, Social, Technology, Nature of Science, History

otherconcepts

Background information

The precision with which the transport systems of the human body function is directly related to the composition of the parts necessary to the systems. These systems constantly interact and are dependent on each other. The circulatory system uses blood to bring food and oxygen to the cells of the body and carry out waste products, such as carbon dioxide. The respiratory system carries oxygen into the bloodstream, and releases carbon dioxide and water vapor as waste from the body. The digestive system breaks food down into small particles, or molecules, so the body can use it. The excretory system acts as a biological recycling plant. The large intestine helps recycle water in the body by absorbing water from digested food and passing it into the bloodstream.additionalinfo

Activity Sequence

1. The Blood Factory
2. The Blood Mobile
3. The Match Game
4. Catch Your Breath
5. Breath In, Breathe Out
6. Down the Hatch
7. The Saliva Solution
8. Pumping Model of the Heart
9. The Human Body Corporation

Activity Descriptions

Activity 1 The Blood Factory
Students make a model to learn that blood is made mostly out of plasma, as well as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Materials: water, yellow food coloring, 2 small glass jars with lids, several hole punches, several red plastic report covers, white plastic grocery bag, scissors, brown construction paper
Procedure:
1. Ask students what they know about the composition of blood. Tell students that they will be making a model of blood, learning about the parts and their names.
2. Fill one of the jars with water and add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Keep the jar out of sight until near the end of the activity.
3. Tell students that they will be making a model of blood. Ask: Would you classify blood as a liquid or a solid? Explain that blood is made of both liquids and solids. However, the solid part of blood is made of such tiny particles, called cells, that each individual piece can be seen only through a microscope. Encourage a discussion about cells, including information about cells being building blocks and the different jobs that different kinds of cells do. Ask: What kind of cells do you think are rushing inside blood vessels in your body?
4. Have students create 1,000 red blood cells by punching out dots from the red plastic report covers with the hole punchers. Challenge students to calculate how many red blood cells each student must make to reach the total number. (Divide 1,000 by the number of students.) They should place their red blood cells in the empty glass jar. To be sure students are not confused by the size of the model cells they are making, ask them to visualize the head of a pin. Then tell them that about a million red blood cells would fit on it!
5. Explain to students that you, too, will contribute to the creation of the blood by making white blood cells—all TWO of them! (There are approximately two white blood cells for every thousand red blood cells.) Cut out the white blood cells in amoeba-like shapes from the plastic grocery bag and make them several times larger than the red blood cells. Place these in the jar as well.
6. Ask a volunteer to make tiny cells called platelets by punching out 50 dots of brown construction paper. (There are 250,000 platelets for every 5,000,000 red blood cells.) The 50 platelets should go into the jar, too.
7. When all the cells are in the jar, ask students how they think solid blood cells could get around the body. Show students the jar of yellow-colored water and inform them that this represents plasma, the liquid part of blood. Pour the liquid into the jar, barely covering the cells, so the color still seems red.
8. Now students will understand that it’s the red blood cells that give blood its red color. It would be helpful to have magnified pictures of blood so that students could connect what they made with what’s real. Students should discuss the functions of the parts of blood: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma.


Activity 2 The "Blood Mobile"
Students play a simulation game to discover how blood travels around the circulatory system.
Materials: 80 index cards labeled with the word food, 80 with the word oxygen, and 80 with the words carbon dioxide. Large nametags labeled chambers of the heart (4), lungs (2), kidneys (1), small intestine (1), body cells (4), and blood cells (remainder of the class).Procedure:
1. Ask students to share their ideas about how blood is circulated in the body. Extend the discussion to include why blood is an essential part of the transport system. Tell students that they are going to "act out" the circulatory route of the blood. Explain the simulation game, and the roles played by students.
2. Give the food cards to the small intestine students, the oxygen cards to the lungs, and the waste and carbon dioxide cards to the body cells. Arrange students according to the diagram, and direct them through the following steps:
*The blood cells begin at the star and circulate by passing between two of the heart chambers.
*The blood cells proceed to the lungs where they each pick up an oxygen card.
*The blood cells move on through the other two heart chambers toward the small intestine where they each receive a food card. (Explain that particles of food actually enter the bloodstream through the walls of the small intestine.)
*Each blood cell goes to a body cell to provide it with food and oxygen. To simulate this, the blood cell exchanges his food card for a waste card; then he exchanges his oxygen card for a carbon dioxide card.
*Each blood cell goes to the kidneys where he deposits his waste card.
*Each blood cell returns to the heart chambers and the lungs, where he exchanges his carbon dioxide card for an oxygen card. Then the cycle begins again.
3. Let students exchange roles and repeat the simulation until each student has had the chance to be a traveling blood cell.
4. Ask students how long they think it would take for a blood cell to complete a round?-trip through the body and back. (Less than a minute)
5. After students have had opportunities to play different roles, ask them again, "Why is blood an essential part of the transport system?"


Activity 3 The Match Game
Students may know that there are different blood types, but do they understand what those blood types may mean if they ever need a transfusion?
Materials: eyedropper, clear plastic cup of water, clear plastic cup of water tinted with red food coloring, clear plastic cup of water tinted with blue food coloring, clear plastic cup of water tinted with red and blue food coloring (purple), empty clear plastic cup (to use as a test cup), water for rinsing, copy of game. Be sure that students rinse the test cup and eyedropper thoroughly after each test.. Also be sure students understand that clear water added to colored water doesn’t represent a change; the color has only changed in the shade, so the match is safe. But colored water added to clear does represent a change, indicating an unsafe match.
Procedure:
1.Explain that there are four main blood types, which are classified as A, B, AB, and O. In a blood transfusion, a person with one type of blood will become ill if he receives another type that doesn’t match his. Background information about how blood is typed would be very interesting and helpful to students.
2. Put a few droppersful of receiver A’s "blood" in a clear cup.
3. Add one dropperful of donor A’s blood to the cup; then circle YES or NO/SAFE or UNSAFE on the chart. Use these guidelines:
*If the color of the receiver’s blood stays the same (a darker or lighter shade is considered the same), then the match is SAFE.
*If the color of the receiver’s blood changes, then the match is UNSAFE.
*Clear water donated to colored water is not a color change. But colored water donated to clear water does indicate a color change.
4. Rinse out the eyedropper and cup; then repeat the test for donor B.
5. Continue until you have completed all 16 tests (each patient’s blood is tested four times.
6. Ask students which blood type is a safe donor for any blood type. Also, which blood types can safely donate or receive blood from which others.

 


Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE? Color change? YES NO SAFE Or UNSAFE?

 
A Donor (red water)
B Donor (blue water)
AB Donor (purple water)
O Donor (clear water)
A receiver (red water)

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?
B receiver (blue water)

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?
AB receiver (purple water)

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?
O receiver (clear water)

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?

Color change? YES NO

SAFE Or UNSAFE?


Activity 4 Catch Your Breath
Students find out how much air the lungs can hold.
Materials: bathroom tissue tubes (one for each student), large plastic bags without holes (large bread bags work fine), rubber bands, red and blue markers
Procedure:
1. Use a human body or respiratory system poster to show students the lungs. Discuss with them what happens to lungs when air is inhaled and exhaled. Ask students to think about how much air their own lungs hold when they breathe normally and when they take and hold a deep breath. Tell students they will be measuring the amount of air their lungs can hold.
2. Place the bathroom tissue tube into the bag’s opening. Use the rubber band to hold the bag in place. Flatten the bag to press out any air.
3. Measure how much air you use in one breath. Take a breath the way you always do (not a deep breath), and hold it. Put the tube to your lips and let your breath out. Pinch closed the top of the bag.
4. Slide your hand down the bag to push the air to the bottom. Hold it, then make a red mark to show how much air filled the bag. Record the volume of the bag you were able to fill up; whole bag, about half of the bag, about a quarter of the bag, less than a quarter.
5. Flatten the bag again. Have a partner time you while you do jumping jacks for one minute. Then do steps 2 and 3 again, this time using a blue marker to show how much air filled the bag. Record the volume of the bag you were able to fill up this time; whole bag, about half of the bag, about a quarter of the bag, less than a quarter.
6. Have students record their explanations about the differences in the amounts of air they were able to breathe. Ask students questions about diseases such as emphysema or asthma. Discuss the impact these illnesses have on the amount of air the lungs can hold.


Activity 5 Breathe In, Breathe Out
Students construct and observe a lung model to infer how the respiratory system works.
Materials: (for one model) clear 1-liter plastic bottle with bottom cut off, scissors, 9-inch round balloon, drinking straw, 2 rubber bands, 12-inch round balloon or an old rubber dishwashing glove, tape, modeling clay
Procedure:
1. Discuss with students how the body takes in food and digests it to use as fuel, but the food the body digests can’t give energy until it mixes with oxygen. Air enters the body every time we breathe. We choose when and what to eat, but the body does our breathing for us—all the time. Ask students, "What makes breathing so easy?"
2. Cut the neck off the big balloon. Stretch the balloon over the bottle’s large open end and secure it with a rubber band.
3. Insert the straw into the neck of the small balloon and secure it with a rubber band. Then lower the small balloon into the bottle. Press clay around the straw.
4. Hold the bottle in one hand. With your other hand, gently pinch and pull down on the stretched balloon and then let go. Watch the small balloon. Record your observations.
5. Press on the stretched balloon. What happens to the small balloon now? Put a finger over the end of the straw and press on the stretched balloon. What do you feel? Plug the straw with a small piece of clay. Repeat step 5. What happens?
6. Ask students to use the model they’ve made and a picture of the respiratory system to explain how the respiratory system works.

Activity 6 Down the Hatch!
Ask: "Have you ever swallowed frozen yogurt that was so cold you could feel the chill moving down your throat and through your chest? What you felt was the food moving down your esophagus, a foot-long tube to your stomach. Muscles in your esophagus squeeze and push the food down the tube. A muscle keeps the bottom of the tube closed, until the pressure of the food forces it open. The food drops into your stomach. What happens there?"
Materials: paper, clear balloon, plastic cup, water, crackers
Procedure:
1. Make a funnel with the sheet of paper and fit it into the neck of the balloon.
2. Pour 15cc of water from the cup into the funnel. Remove the funnel and add a cracker. What do you have to do to make the cracker?
3. Tie the end of the balloon. (Make sure you don’t leave an air bubble in the balloon.) Squeeze the balloon between your fingers. Can you still feel pieces of cracker? What could you do to make the mixture more soupy? What foods do you think would be hard for the juices in your model stomach to break up into pieces small enough to mix with water? What foods would break up easily? Record your observations.
4. Discuss with a partner the following problem: Let’s say you were upside down. What do you think would happen if you swallowed food?


Activity 7 The Saliva Solution
Students investigate how saliva in the mouth changes complex starch molecules into simple sugar. Teeth physically break food into smaller bits. At the same time, saliva chemically breaks it down as well.
Materials: unsalted soda crackers, goggles, eyedropper, iodine, stirring stick, plastic cups, apple, banana, white potato, uncooked rice, (other food items)
Procedure:
1. Ask: What job does the saliva do in your mouth? (It helps keep your mouth moist.) Have students take a bite of the cracker and chew it thoroughly. Swallow it. How does your saliva help you swallow?
Saliva contains special chemicals called enzymes to break down large starch molecules into simpler sugar molecules. Take a bite of cracker and hold it in your mouth. Let your saliva soak into it. Ask: Do you notice a change in the way the cracker tastes? What do you think is happening to the starch in the cracker? How does saliva help us digest our food? Explain that the mouth produces saliva all the time. But when we see or smell a favorite food, our mouth starts to water. Ask: What do you think actually happens inside your mouth when it "waters"? (Your mouth produces more saliva.)
2. Inform students that saliva contains special enzymes that help chemically break down food to aid in digestion. These enzymes begin the breakdown of large starch molecules (carbohydrates) into smaller molecules of sugar. Saliva also moistens food, making it easier for food to slide through the esophagus.
3. Break several crackers into bite-sized pieces and put them in one of the cups. Stir the pieces. Record what you observe. Add water, a little at a time, until it covers the crackers. What happens to the crackers as the amount of water increases?
4. Fill the second cup with water. Put on the goggles. Use the dropper to add three drops of iodine. What do you see? Put a drop of iodine on a crack. What happens?
5. Add a drop of iodine to the cracker-and-water mixture. Stir the mixture and observe what happens to the crackers and water.
6. Iodine turns starch black. How do you know if there is starch in the water? In the crackers? How was stirring and adding water to the crackers like what happens in your mouth? You can find out if some of the foods you eat contain starch by adding a drop of iodine to them. What happens if you put a drop of iodine on a piece of apple? Banana? White potato? Uncooked rice?


Activity 8 Pumping Model of the Heart
Students construct a model of the heart to see how the four chambers in the heart work together to collect and distribute the body’s blood supply.
Materials: four plastic bottles with screw-on tops, electrical tape, two bulldog clips, two plastic funnels, plastic tubing, red and blue food coloring, red and blue tape, red and blue modeling clay
Procedure: Ask: Where can you feel your heart beat? (Discuss answers.) What are the parts of the circulatory system? Explain that blood circulates from the heart to all parts of the body through tubes called blood vessels. Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart are called arteries. The heart is made up of chambers through which blood is pumped to and from other parts of the body.
1. Make small holes in the bottle tops. Cut two short pieces of plastic tubing and push each end of both tubes into a bottle top. Seal the holes around the tubes with red or blue modeling clay.
2. Make holes in the base of two of the plastic bottles and in the sides of the other two.
3. Thread two longer pieces of plastic tubing through the holes in the sides of the bottles. Push the tubes almost to the bottoms of the bottles. Seal the holes with modeling clay as before. Wrap red tape around the left-hand tube, and blue tape around the right-hand tube.
4. Now screw all four lids onto the bottles. Use electrical tape to join the bottles together in pairs, making sure that those with holes in the base are upside down at the top.
5. Dye two jugs of water, one with blue and one with red food coloring. The red water will represent blood that has been oxygenated. The blue water will represent blood that is returning to the heart for more oxygen.
6. Attach bulldog clips to the tubes that connect the two bottles. These will do the same hob as the heart’s valves. They are like swinging doors that open only one way. Once the blood has passed from the heart’s upper chamber, the valves close.
7. Using the funnels, carefully pour the red water into the bottle on the red side. Now pour the blue water into the blue side. Open the bulldog clips to let the "blood" run through the tubes, then close them.
8. Squeeze the lower bottles. This action is similar to the pumping of the heart. See how quickly the blood spurts out of the tubes, ready to be pumped all around the body?
9. What is the job of the lungs in this process? What are some differences between arteries and veins? Use a picture or poster of the heart and lungs, along with the model, and describe the process of blood circulation.


Activity 9 The Human Body Corporation
This culminating activity allows students to apply their understanding of how the transport systems of the human body interact and depend on each other.
Procedure:
As a body organ, you are an employee of the Human Body Corporation. Due to recent cost increases, the Human Body is having to fire workers. You need to write a letter to the Human Body Corporation defending your position in the company. In your letter, you need to describe to the corporation the following characteristics of your organ and explain why you are important to the Human Body Corporation.
1. Tell what the name of your organ is and where you are located.
2. Identify what systems of the body you work with.
3. Describe how you work with these systems.
4. List the other organs that work with you in your system.
5. Describe your main functions as a Human Body organ.
6. Tell the corporation how you perform these functions.
7. Tell the corporation why you are important and why they should not fire you.
8. Explain what might happen to the Human Body Corporation if they fired you.
9. You will read your letter to the Human Body Committee (the rest of the class). Along with your letter, you will need to have a photograph (labeled drawing) of your organ to use as a visual aid.

Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes