Functioning of human body

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kevin Fri, Jan 14, 2022 07:27 PM UTC

Discovery Pictures and the British Broadcasting Corporate ion have partnered to bring you The Human Body, a remarkable large-format film that brings a fascinating new dimension to the exploration of the miracle of life in its most
personal of settings—our own bodies. For the first time ever, students will view their intimate, everyday world from some amazingly intricate and novel perspective.

1. Contents Page
■ About The Human Body ...............................1
Pre-Viewing Teaching Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
■ Activity 1. Name That Part
Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
■ Activity 2. Pumping for Life
Dear Teacher: Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
D iscovery Pictures and the British Broadcasting Corporation
have partnered to bring you The Human Body, a
remarkable large-format film that brings a fascinating new
Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
■ Activity 3. Be a Brain
Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
dimension to the exploration of the miracle of life in its most
personal of settings—our own bodies. For the first time ever, Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
students will view their intimate, everyday world from some ■ Activity 4. The Brain Team
amazingly intricate and novel perspectives. Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The film uses ground-breaking photographic techniques and Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
state-of-the-art technology to transport viewers on an
incredible voyage into the workings of the human body. Post-Viewing Teaching Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
■ Activity 5. It’s a Cell Call
This Teacher’s Resource Guide, which Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
was prepared with the help of pro-
fessional educators like yourself, will Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
further your students’ understanding of ■ Activity 6. A World of Sense
the body’s organ systems and how they Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
work together, and the relationship
Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
between a healthy lifestyle and a healthy
body. The material is designed for use ■ Activity 7. Tasty Aromas
with students between ages 8 and 14. Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Activity 1 includes space for a Body Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Heart strings
Maintenance Plan for student self-
assessment and for tracking inform- ■ Activity 8. Bone Basics
ation learned as students work on the various activity masters. Be Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
sure to send copies of the letter on page 24 home with your Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
students so they can share it, as well as their Body Maintenance
■ Activity 9. On the Other Hand
Plans, with their parents, guardians or caregivers.
Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The material is designed to be flexible. Please feel free to modify Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
and duplicate the copyrighted materials to suit your students’
■ Activity 10. The Living System
needs. And, please share these materials with other teachers in
your school. Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
I hope you and your students enjoy viewing The Human Body as
much as we enjoyed making the film and bringing it to you! ■ Activity 11. My Personal Body
Inventory and Health Profile
Sincerely, Teaching Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Activity Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Jana Bennett ■ Letter to Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Executive-in-Charge ■ Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Discovery Pictures
© 2001 DCI/BBC

2. About “The film explores the complexities of the human body by
investigating, in great detail, the functions the body performs
routinely every day,” notes executive producer Jana Bennett. “We
investigated and portrayed the human body in ways never seen
before. This film brings images to
the audience on a scale never before
captured in the history of cinema.”
To make The Human Body come
T hree years in the making, The Human Body
reveals the incredible story of life. In
astonishing detail, this large-format film presents a
alive took not only the marriage
of the latest developments in
medical imaging with cutting-edge
look at the biological processes that go on without
cinematic techniques and cameras,
our control and often without our notice. Throughout
but also a good measure of
the film we follow a family from dawn to dusk as
ingenuity as well. As a result, The
they go about their daily routines. But this is no
Human Body is an incredible
ordinary story. This is the tale of what takes place
technological achievement for
beneath the skin—a tale that allows us to see the
Discovery Pictures and the BBC.
extraordinary accomplishments of our everyday
The film’s opening sequence—a
close tracking shot over the
body—is just one instance where
The everyday biological processes that keep us ticking
“ingenuity” played a major role. Play at monitor-image of
are all in a day’s work for the human body. Finding a Luke's eye
“You had to light the body with an
way to film and illustrate those activities for a screen
enormous number of big film lamps
seven stories tall required a cinematic inventiveness
to accomplish that [tracking shot over the body],” explains writer-
that was anything but routine. Co-produced by
producer Richard Dale. “The lights gave off tremendous heat and
Discovery Pictures and the BBC, The Human Body
ultraviolet light, which could have been very damaging to the skin.
incorporates ground-breaking computer graphics with
The commercially available UV filters were not adequate to stop
stunning real-life images to create a day in the life of a
that much light, so our photographers developed little aquariums
human body. “This film is one of the most technically
that could fit in front of the lamps. They had cold water, which is
complex large-format films ever made,” states director-
quite a good absorber of UV, constantly running through them.”
producer Peter Georgi. “To get the subject matter on
the large screen, we’ve pushed the boundaries, taken Ultimately, The Human Body shows us more than a biological
advantage of the most advanced scanning electron wonder at its best; the film also shares the emotions of life. From
microscopes, the latest thermal imaging and high- the joy of learning and the anxiety of puberty, to the potential
definition digital video cameras, the cutting edge in wonder of pregnancy and birth, The Human Body tells us the
medical computer graphics…whatever we thought amazing story of our own lives—through our own bodies. “Large
could provide the best possible images.” format has traditionally climbed mountains and gone to the
bottom of the ocean, but we have turned the camera on ourselves
And provide images it does! The Human Body will and looked to our own bodies as a place for exploration,”
provide a glimpse of: observes Dale. “Technology makes it possible to think about our
■ the 100 billion new red blood cells the body
lives differently and to suddenly realize how marvelous the
generates each morning; human body is.”
■ the 40 yards of new hair that sprouts every day;
■ a human egg nestling into the folds of a The Human Body is a presentation of The
fallopian tube; Learning Channel and BBC Worldwide of a
■ a thermal image of a child riding a bicycle; Discovery Pictures / BBC co-production in
■ a trip on a tomato from mouth to stomach; association with the Maryland Science
■ babies able to hold their breath under water, and Center and the Science Museum, London
■ the inside of an ear as cells actually dance with major funding provided by the
to music. National Science Foundation and distributed
by nWave Pictures Distribution.
1

3. Pre-Viewing Teaching Strategies
1. Review with students the words appearing in italics on 2. Use the synopsis of The Human Body on page 1 to give
the teaching strategies pages in this guide (the left-hand students a brief summary of the film. Review with them
pages) and the activity masters (the right-hand pages). the major body parts and their functions.
Explain that these are just some of the things they will 3. Reproduce and distribute the Letter to Parent/Guardian
learn more about during the film and from the activities on page 24 for students to take home.
they will do after viewing the film.
■ Activity 1
Pre-viewing
Name That Part Activity
Part B. First talk with your students about the
Student Objectives: To develop an understanding of where the importance of living a healthy lifestyle—proper
various body parts are located in relation to one another and to consider diet and exercise, avoiding smoking, drugs and
what it takes to create—and maintain—a healthy body. alcohol, etc. You might want to have students add to
Materials: None their Body Maintenance Plan as the unit progresses
and as they learn more about different aspects of
Teaching Tips their bodies.
Part A. Have students research any needed information about the
functions of body parts in preparation for the diagram matching Add-on Activities
activity below. To play Body Trivia, divide your students into “teams” of ■ Students might work in their
3 to 5 students each. Each student should find at least 5 interesting facts original groups to identify
about his or her team’s chosen body part, then teams should combine and demonstrate a
facts into a master list and develop true/false and fill-in-the-blank “mechanical body
questions based on them. Teams take turns quizzing other teams, with part”—something
the team that first responds correctly winning a point. When all teams that performs the
have asked their questions, the team with the most points wins. same function as
the part they
lungs studied (i.e., a
take in oxygen (O 2) and expel computer as the brain,
carbon dioxide (C02) a pump as the heart). As
diaphragm a class, they could link Digestion
muscle that helps us breathe in their parts together to
and out form a machine that
kidney works like parts of the human body. You might
helps filter waste from the blood want to share The Robot Zoo: A Mechanical Guide
brain to the Way Animals Work, by Philip Whitfield
the body’s “control center” Obin (Turner Publishing, 1994) with students. The
liver book contains detailed, tongue-in-cheek
secretes bile that helps digestion illustrations that transform 16 different creatures
into complex machines.
heart
pumps blood through the body ■ Younger students could use fabric paint to
draw “body shirts” showing major organs, the
stomach
breaks down the food that we eat skeletal system, the circulatory system, etc., on
white T-shirts.
large intestine
removes the liquid and “leftovers”
from digested food
small intestine
absorbs the nutrients from
digested food
© 2001 DCI/BBC

4. Activity
Name That Part 1
T he new large-format film, The Human Body, will
take you on the most fantastic trip you’ve ever
experienced—inside an actual human body. You’ll meet a
N ow you’re going to become a specialist! You
and your team will pick one of the body parts
you’ve identified. Each member of your team will do some
Reproducible Master
family—parents-to-be Heather and Buster, their teenage research and develop a list of interesting facts about your
nephew Luke, 15, and his sister Zannah, 8. You’ll go inside a part. Then, combine your lists and try to stump your
cell—the body’s basic building block. You’ll see the many classmates in a game of Body Trivia. (Your teacher will
miracles we live through each day as—hidden from us and explain the rules.)
often unnoticed—our bodies are achieving incredible things.
My team’s body part is: ______________________________
In this film, you will see how all of those parts you have
Use the back of this sheet for your list of interesting facts.
work together as a remarkable interdependent system. You’ll
learn that regardless of the differences in how we look on
Part B. Like any complex machine, your body needs proper
the outside, and although we may live very different lives, we
care and maintenance to work well. In the space below, begin
all share the same basic structure. But first, before we begin
your own Body Maintenance Plan. (An example has been
this journey, let’s find out what you already know!
given.)You can finish it on another page.
Part A. The human body below is like a car that is made My Body Maintenance Plan
up of different kinds of parts—together they make the body New Facts New Facts New Facts
“hum” at top speed. As the “body mechanic,” it’s your job to Eat 5
Diet
identify where those parts are located. Draw a line from the
name of the part to its correct location, and write on the line fruits and
below each what that part does. vegetables
a day.
____________________________ Exercise
____________________________________ I will also
____________________________________ do this:
________________________________________
I won’t
________________________________________________ do this:
large intestine
____________________________ Add-on Using your choice of
building materials
____________________________ Activity (anything from toothpicks
small intestine to bricks!), build a class exhibit that
____________________________ shows how the body is put together.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
3

5. ■ Activity 2
Pumping for Life Pre-viewing
Activity
Student Objectives: To learn about the respiratory system Part B. Demonstrate for your students the correct
and how the heart works. ways to take a pulse—by placing their index and middle fingers
Materials: Tennis balls, modeling clay, toothpicks or tacks together at the pulse point on the neck or
wrists. (To make it easier for your
Teaching Tips students to see and count their pulse,
Part A. Review with students the following background: you might have them use a
The diaphragm—the muscle that separates the chest and toothpick inserted into a small
the abdominal cavity—helps us to breathe in and out as lump of clay and have them
it expands and contracts, exchanging carbon dioxide for rest the clay on their wrist
oxygen. Blood carries the oxygen and nutrients through pulse point with the toothpick
the left side of the heart and from there, via the pointing up. Another method
arteries, to all of the body’s cells, as carbon dioxide and is to use a metal thumb tack
other waste products are returned to the blood. This placed on the wrist with the
blood flows through the body’s veins to the right side of pointed end up.) Tell your students
the heart and from there to the lungs. The lungs release the that the average pulse rate for a
carbon dioxide and waste products and pick up oxygen— young person can range from 90 to 120
repeating the cycle. Blood in vein beats per minute. The average pulse rate
for an adult (the rate they approximated in their tennis ball
After doing the tennis ball experiment, have students discuss experiment) is about 72 beats per minute. A word of caution:
the results. Then talk with them about the effects of changes Students’ physical abilities may vary widely, and some may not be
in altitude on how the respiratory system works. When you able to safely undertake even limited exercise. All students should
change altitudes too quickly your body isn’t able to adjust fast be monitored carefully during any kind of physical activity.
enough to the change in the air pressure. The higher you go,
the “thinner” the air Add-on Activities
becomes and the ■ Students might learn more about the diaphragm and
less oxygen there is. investigate the causes and various “cures” for hiccups.
That means you ■ Students might interview someone they know who has
take in less oxygen asthma to learn what can trigger an asthma attack, what it feels
each time you like to have an asthma attack and what doctors can do to help.
breathe. Most ■ Students can do some research to learn about the
people begin to stethoscope, which was invented almost 200 years ago. They
notice the effects of could compare the early model to the one used today to see
higher altitudes at how similar or different they are.
Heart 7,000 to 8,000 feet ■ Older students might check out the American Heart
above sea level (at a Association Web site (www.americanheart.org) to research
ski resort in the Colorado Rockies or the Swiss Alps, for heart-healthy nutrition, and plan a week’s worth of heart-
example). The symptoms of this condition—known as healthy meals.
altitude sickness—include headaches, shortness of breath and ■ Students might research and report on the pioneers of heart
nausea. They generally go away within a few days, after your surgery and the technological advances that have occurred in
body has adjusted. Anoxia (meaning “no oxygen”) is one of this field. As a starting point, students might want to review
the most common problems mountain climbers face. Along “Pioneers of Heart Surgery,” NOVA Online,
with a shortage of oxygen, there is a simultaneous increase in www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/
the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood, which causes us pioneers.html.
to breathe faster in an effort to eliminate it.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

6. Activity
Pumping for Life 2
Reproducible Master
How many times did you open and close your
T he human heart really doesn’t look much like the
heart on a Valentine’s Day card. Actually, it looks
more like an upside-down pear.
hand? __________________________________________________
What did your hand feel like at the end?__________________
The heart is part of the circulatory system. It works ____________________________________________________________________________
together with the lungs and diaphragm, which are part of
____________________________________________________________________________
the respiratory system. The respiratory system causes
oxygen to be inhaled into the body and removes waste such What you just did for one minute, your heart does all day
as carbon dioxide as air is exhaled. long! Imagine how strong your heart must be to pump
constantly without stopping, 24 hours a day.
Part A. In the film The Human Body, you’ll see Luke’s
heart and lungs working together to keep his body moving Part B. The pulse you feel when you put your fingers
on the basketball court. on the pulse points in your neck or on your wrist is the
blood being pumped through your body—kind of like water
Try this experiment. Put being pumped through a hose and a garden sprinkler.
a tennis ball in your
hand and squeeze it as Your pulse rate changes as you become more active and
hard and as quickly as your heart beats harder to increase the flow of oxygen
you can. Your goal will throughout the body. The average resting pulse rate for a young
be to compress it 70 person ranges from 90 to 110 beats per minute. As you get
times in one minute— older, the pulse rate slows to an average of 72 beats per minute.
that’s close to the
number of times your What is your resting pulse rate?__________________________
Red blood cells heart contracts in Now raise your arms over your head 10 times. What is your
one minute. active pulse rate?________________________________________
N ow that you know how to take your pulse, keep a log of the different activities you do for one full day and take
your pulse at six different points during the day. Use the space below to keep a record of your pulse rate during
various activities. Some examples are listed.
In bed on awakening____________ Brushing your teeth ________________Walking ________________________________
Playing sports__________________ After eating________________________ Just before going to sleep______________________
Other ________________________ __________________________________ ____________________________________________
Now, make a bar graph of the changes in your pulse rate as you went through the day.
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
Add-on Interview the school nurse, your doctor or another local health professional to learn about
high blood pressure and how a healthy lifestyle can help to prevent or manage it. Use what
Activity you learn to add to your Body Maintenance Plan.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
5

7. ■ Activity 3
Be a Brain Part B. To determine which eye is dominant,
students should cut a one-inch circle in a sheet of Pre-viewing
Activity
paper and hold it about one foot in front of their eyes.
Student Objectives: To identify the major parts of the With both eyes open, they should focus on a distant object and
brain and their functions and to learn about brain preference. hold the index finger in line with the center of the hole and the
Materials: None distant object. First, they should close the left eye—if
everything is still lined up, the right eye is dominant. Then, they
Teaching Tips should close the right eye—if everything is still lined up, the left
Part A. Brain Structure. Provide this background: Today, we eye is dominant. To determine which ear is dominant, students
know a great deal about how the brain works. For example, we should cup the left ear and listen as you whisper a phrase, then
know that different parts of the brain control different abilities and cup the right ear and listen as you whisper from the same
functions—but that wasn’t always the case. That idea was location. Students can determine dominance according to which
introduced 200 years ago by an Austrian doctor named Franz ear heard the phrase more clearly. Check out the site at
Joseph Gall, who also believed he could diagnose what was http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html for
happening in the brain by “reading” the different bumps on the more information.
head. Gall’s theory, phrenology, quickly became very popular.
However, today we know that Gall’s theory has no true scientific Brain Dominance. Explain to your students that the right side
basis. With the help of today’s technology, we can actually look of the brain controls the muscles on the left side of the body
inside the skull and see the brain as it works. [Answer key to the and the left side of the brain controls the muscles on the right
brain matching quiz: 1. E, 2. D, 3. C, 4. A, 5. B] side of the body. Although the two sides of the brain share
many functions, they also have unique specialties. The right
Cerebrum side controls spatial ability and intuitive thought; the left side
controls verbal language and analytical ability. Scientists today
Cerebellum are learning more about brain dominance. A left-brain-
dominant person is analytical, verbal and logical. Left-brain-
Brain Stem dominant people are good at logic and word problems and
generally not so good at creative, nonlinear thought. A right-
Pituitary Gland brain-dominant person tends to be creative and holistic in
thought. Right-brain-dominant people tend to see the whole
Hypothalamus picture but may miss the details. They may need help with
expressive language and logic. Be sure to stress to students
that, while they may tend to be right- or left-brained, they
need to develop both their analytical and creative sides to be
Now review this information with students before they do the a well-rounded individual.
lobe quiz: The biggest part of your brain is divided into two
equal parts—the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. The [Answer key to the brain dominance quiz: Students who
two hemispheres work together and share information through answered “true” for questions 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 tend to be right-
a thick band of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum, which brained. Students who answered “true” for questions 3, 5 and 6
divides them. Each hemisphere is further divided into four tend to be left-brained. Since many people exhibit some of both
lobes, each responsible for certain functions and senses. tendencies, student scores could be inconclusive.]
[Answer key to the lobe function quiz: 2–vision; 3–hearing,
memory; 4–pain, touch, pressure, sensation of temperature] Add-on Activities
■ Students can research why we yawn or laugh, how we
Frontal Lobe understand language, or why we need sleep.
■ Working in small groups, students might pick one disease or
Occipital Lobe condition that affects the brain. Each
group could prepare a class report on the
Temporal Lobe disease’s causes, symptoms, affects,
treatments available, and how the disease
Parietal Lobe might affect other body parts.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

8. Activity
Be a Brain 3
Reproducible Master
our brain is faster and more powerful than the most
powerful computer you’ve ever seen. As you learn in The Part B. There are several ways to test which side of
Human Body, it controls everything your body does. To do so, it your body is dominant. Try the exercises suggested by
uses nearly a fifth of all the calories you eat or drink—more than your teacher to see how you measure up:
any other part of your body! Which hand do you normally write with? ________
Part A. Each part of your brain has a very distinct and Which foot do you use to kick a ball? ___________
important role to play. See how much you already know by Which eye is dominant? ________Which ear did you
matching the name of the part to its description below. Then, label use to hear better? ___________
the parts in the drawing.
Have you ever heard someone say they are right-
A. Cerebrum 1.__ Are you too cold? Too hot? Should you brained or left-brained? What do you think that means?
shiver or sweat? This “body thermo- ______________________________________________________________________
meter” will let you know what to do!
______________________________________________________________________
B. Cerebellum 2.__ It may be tiny, but those hormones it
makes are sure a big deal. Test yourself to see which side of your brain you
C. Brain Stem 3.__ This connects the brain and the spinal cord would tend to use by answering true or false to
so you won’t lose your mind! these questions.
D. Pituitary Gland 4.__ If you think it or say it, it starts in this True False
part of the brain. 1. I’d rather think of a theme for a
E. Hypothalamus 5.__ Got rhythm? You’ve got this! party than actually plan one. ˜ ˜
2. If I get lost, I’d rather have a map
than a list of directions. ˜ ˜
Cerebrum 3. Don’t tell my teacher, but I do better on
multiple-choice tests than writing essays. ˜ ˜
Cerebellum 4. When I’m studying for a test, I need
music to get my brain in gear because
Brain Stem silence is too “quiet.” ˜ ˜
5. In a debate, it’s hard for me to accept
Pituitary Gland
the side of the issue I don’t agree with. ˜ ˜
Hypothalamus 6. I like to do my homework right away
instead of waiting until it’s almost due. ˜ ˜
7. When I lose something, I try to “see”
Now see if you can fill in the correct functions of the lobes from
where I was when I lost it. ˜ ˜
the clues provided below. The first one has been done for you.
8. I usually can tell what people
are thinking. ˜ ˜
1. Frontal Lobe—You need this to make things happen and to
react to them when they do. This controls: planning, speech,
Remember that—even though some things may be
movement, problem-solving, emotions.
easier for you depending on which side of the brain
2. Occipital Lobe—It may be 20/20 or 20/200. you favor—you couldn’t function as a “whole person”
This controls: ____________________________________________________ without both sides!
3. Temporal Lobe—Listen and you’ll remember.
This controls: ____________________________________________________ Add-on What if your brain
were a computer?
Activity Do some research to
4. Parietal Lobe—Ouch! That’s hot and it hurts!
construct a display that shows the
This controls: ____________________________________________________
parts of the brain that correspond
to functions of the computer.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
7

9. ■ Activity 4
The Brain Team
Pre-viewing
Student Objectives: To consider how learning happens and Activity
to encourage students to consider how they learn best.
Materials: None
Part A. Lead a
Teaching Tips class discussion
First, provide your students about learning
with this background styles (see activity
information about the brain, sheet) and
then have them label the parts preferences before
on the drawing: The brain your students
only weighs three or four complete the
pounds—about the weight of learning preference
an average textbook—but it is the most complex object in the survey.
world. Neurons receive, process and relay all the specialized
information needed to go about your daily life. But it isn’t the Profile of a neuron Part B. In
number of neurons alone that makes this complex system preparation for the
work—it’s the way they are organized and connected. activity, put 12 small objects in a box on your desk. Set a time
for three subsequent viewings to test students’ recall—the first
Structure of a neuron time at the end of the same class, the second time at either the
beginning or end of class the following day, and the third time
dendrites two days later. Each time the students view the box, they
should write their new list on a new sheet of paper without
referring to previous lists (have them keep their lists for later
nucleus
comparison). You can find additional information on this topic
at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html.
cytoplasm
Add-on Activities
■ Students might research the
axon damage that can be done to the
brain and various other organs—
such as the liver, kidneys or lungs—
synaptic by smoking cigarettes or using
terminal alcohol or illegal substances to
achieve a chemical high.
■ Students might create their own Brain cell dying
neuron models using pipe cleaners or
some other material of their choice. You can find directions for
this activity at http://faculty.washington.edu/
chudler/chmodel.html.
There are many different kinds of neurons, but they all have ■ Students might do some research to learn about the “natural
some things in common. Like other cells, they all have a cell high” exercise can induce because of the body’s release into the
body with a nucleus that contains the cell’s genes. The nucleus is brain of endorphins, which then are broken down to create a
surrounded by cytoplasm—a liquid that contains all the short-lived feeling of euphoria.
materials the neuron needs to function. But unlike other cells,
neurons also have dendrites and axons. Dendrites are like an
antenna system that receives signals from other neurons. An
axon is the channel that sends signals from one neuron to
another. The axon of one neuron is connected to the dendrites
of the next neuron by a synaptic terminal.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

10. The Brain Team Activity
4
T he body is made up of billions of cells. In the
nervous system these cells are called neurons.
They are specialized to carry “messages” to the brain, and
Reproducible Master
In the space below, list 10 things you have learned in your classes
they connect to other neurons through branch-like during the last two days. Next to the item, describe how you
structures called dendrites. learned each. We’ve given you one example to help you get started.
Example Learning Style
Every time you learn something new—a new word, how to A new Visual (if you read about it
ride a bike or play the flute—your neurons develop new computer program in a manual)
connections to other neurons. In fact, your brain eventually Auditory (if you listened to
will form trillions of connections—that’s more connections a lecture about it)
than there are stars in the entire universe! Kinesthetic (if you
Review with your teacher these terms about neurons: performed tasks using it)
■ Cytoplasm—a liquid that surrounds the cell nucleus Things I Learned How I Learned Them
■ Axon—a channel that allows signals to pass between neurons
■ Synaptic terminal—allows the axon of one neuron to
connect to the dendrites of another
See if you can label the parts of a neuron on the drawing below.
The more you practice what you have learned, the stronger these
connections (dendrites) become. And the connections you form at
this time in your life are the most important ones because they
become the platforms you will build on to make even more
complex connections later on.
Part B. The more links the
nucleus neurons in your brain create, the
better your memory becomes.
Try this exercise to see what
cytoplasm happens as your neurons go to
work. Look at the objects your
teacher has placed in the box.
Brain cell
axon Then return to your seat and list
as many of them as you can on the back of this paper.
synaptic terminal How many items did you list? ________
Look at the objects again at the end of class. Then take a new
sheet of paper and make a new list. How many objects are
on your list? ________
Look at the objects the following day and make another new
list. How many objects are on your list? ________
Now look at them one final time. How many objects did
you list? ________
Part A. Have you ever stopped to think about how you Add-on Work in groups to create
other exercises that
learn? Some people (visual learners) learn best by looking at Activity demonstrate how
things, or reading about them. Some people (auditory
repetition increases memory. Then
learners) learn best by hearing about things. And some people
create graphs that illustrate what the
(kinesthetic learners) learn best by actually doing things.
exercises demonstrate.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
9

11. Post-Viewing Teaching Strategies
1. Lead students in a discussion of the film, encouraging 2. Ask students if what they think and know about having a
them to share their impressions of both its content and healthy lifestyle has changed since viewing the film.
the impact of the large-screen format on the presentation 3. Refer to Resources on page 24 for additional information
of the content. and ideas.
■ Activity 5
It’s a Cell Call Post-viewing
Activity
Part B. Gauge how much your students already know about genetics
Student Objectives: To learn how cells function and how much background information they will need. You might
and to understand the structure of DNA. discuss Gregor Mendel’s research with dominant and recessive genes in
Materials: Uncooked eggs, vinegar, distilled water, pea plants and explain that researchers have
(golden) corn syrup, unbreakable containers, plastic known about DNA since Mendel’s time, but
food-handling gloves, safety glasses it wasn’t until 1953 that two English
scientists—James Watson and Francis
Teaching Tips Crick—discovered how DNA is
Part A. Have your students work in groups of 3-4 actually put together. DNA is
students each for this activity. Each group should de- composed of building blocks called
shell two uncooked eggs by soaking them in nucleotides. Nucleotides are made
household vinegar for a day or two, until the shell up of deoxyribose sugar, a
dissolves completely. After soaking, the eggs will be phosphate group and one of four
very swollen, rather firm and easily broken. Caution nitrogen bases: adenine (A), thymine
your students to handle the eggs carefully and to keep (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C).
a tray underneath them to contain spills. Note: Have Alternating deoxyribose sugar and Red blood cells
students wear inexpensive plastic food-handling gloves phosphate molecules link together to
so they do not touch the raw eggs directly. Because form something like the side supports on a ladder. Complementary pairs
vinegar is an acid, students also should wear eye- of nitrogen bases form the rungs of the ladder. Adenine is always paired
protection glasses. with thymine and guanine is always paired with cytosine. The technical
term for the DNA ladder (see diagram on activity sheet) is a right-handed
Tell students that water is one substance that can double helix, because the strands twist to the right. Everyone’s DNA has
permeate the egg’s membrane, in the process called the same basic chemical structure, but the way its components are
osmosis. When the egg is soaked in a solution in which arranged differs from person to person. Each person’s DNA is unique to
the concentration of water is lower than that inside the him or herself. (Identical twins, however, have identical DNA, although
egg (corn syrup), the liquid inside the egg passes their fingerprints are different.) Information on building DNA models
through the membrane into the solution and the egg can be found here: http://biology.about.com/science/biology/library/
looks like a flabby bag. When an egg is soaked in a howto/htcandydna.htm.
solution where the concentration of water outside the
egg is higher (distilled water), the water tries to reach Add-on Activities
equilibrium by passing through the membrane into ■ Many people have concerns about the possibility of manipulating
the egg, and the egg becomes larger and firmer. DNA as a way to genetically engineer humans. Older students might
develop position papers on genetic engineering or hold a debate on the
Results of Experiment ethics and/or possible consequences of such practices.
■ Students might research news articles about the
use of DNA to solve crimes to learn the arguments
for and against this technology, then develop their
own positions on this issue. For example, should
there be limits on how and where it is collected, or
Egg 1–Corn Syrup Egg 2–Distilled Water how it is used?
© 2001 DCI/BBC

12. Activity
Y ou can’t see them, but they’re everywhere. In fact,
every single living thing on this planet is made up of It’s a 5
them. Cells may be tiny, but they play a big role in the
human body! In fact, in The Human Body, we see the cells of
the mother’s unborn baby grow and change.
Cell Call Reproducible Master
Use the chart below to record what happens to your eggs
Part A. Healthy cells are essential for a healthy body. Just during a 24-hour period.
like other living things, cells need to take in oxygen and
nutrients and get rid of waste products. Every human cell is Why do you think each egg changed the way it did?
surrounded by a cell membrane that controls what the cell
takes in and what it lets out. What’s really amazing is that it
allows in and out only the things it’s supposed to!
Be sure to handle the de-shelled
eggs carefully (the membrane Describe the egg at the Describe the egg at the
can tear easily). The membrane beginning of the experiment. end of the experiment.
on your de-shelled eggs is very
similar to the membrane that Egg 1
surrounds a human cell. (corn syrup)
Egg 2
Cover egg 1 with corn syrup. (distilled water)
Cover egg 2 with distilled water.
Part B. The cell is the smallest living unit in our bodies, and has a language and Names and Words
structure all its own. An entire world exists inside the cell: to Know
■ power houses to create energy ■ Adenine, thymine, guanine,
■ places to store energy cytosine: The chemicals, or nitro-
■ places where energy is used gen bases, that are found in DNA.
■ a place where things (like proteins) are made ■ DNA (deoxyribonucleic
■ a place where our physical characteristics are stored (genes) acid): The genetic material that is
■ a place where all of these processes are controlled (the nucleus) contained in every cell in the
human body. Every person’s DNA
Let’s build a model to help explain what is going on, starting with is unique, except for that of
the nucleus. Inside the nucleus we will find DNA. DNA is the reason identical twins.
you look the way you do—your hair, eyes, height, skin type, skin ■ Double helix: The structure of
color, and so on. DNA is found in genes, and genes are responsible DNA. A double helix looks
for how similar you look to your parents in some ways or like your something like a twisted ladder.
grandparents in others and even like your brothers and sisters. If ■ Human Genome Project: A
we opened up a gene, took out the DNA, and gently stretched it project that identified every gene
out, we would find that it is shaped like a spiral. Scientists call that present in human DNA.
a double helix. There are two strands of DNA wound around and attached to ■ Mendel: The Augustinian monk
each other by units called bases, named adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), whose work formed the foundation
and cytosine (C). The strands are made up of a sugar (deoxyribose) and a for the science of genetics.
phosphate molecule. ■ Watson & Crick: The English
scientists who discovered how DNA
The DNA strands join together as follows: A on one strand will always pair with T is put together.
on the other, and G will always pair with C. It looks something like this:
C T C A C A G C G T A C C
G A G T G T C G C A T G G Do an Internet search to
Add-on
learn about the Human
Activity Genome Project, the
The bases form the ladder, and the sugar-phosphate
molecules form the outside spiral form. Follow your teacher’s progress it has made and why it is
instructions to make your own DNA strand. so important.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
11

13. ■ Activity 6
A World Part B. Talk with your students about the three different
parts of the ear. Explain that the outer ear is the part you
Post-viewing
of Sense can see. It collects the sound waves. The sound waves
travel through the outer ear canal to the middle ear, where
Activity
Student they strike the eardrum. The eardrum begins to vibrate, and the vibrations
Objectives: To pass through three tiny bones—the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup—
consider how the eye which transfer the vibrations to the inner ear. There they enter a small curled
and ear work and to tube known as the cochlea, where they are turned into nerve signals that
learn about visual allow the brain to understand the sound.
perspective and sound
waves. Tuning-fork experiment: Strike a tuning fork so the students can hear
Materials: Tuning The human eye
the sound. Explain that the sound was caused by vibrations. Then, have
fork, broad plastic bowl students take turns dipping the tuning fork in a broad
or other unbreakable container, empty shoe boxes plastic dish or bowl or other unbreakable
or other similar containers, various sizes and container of water. The vibrating fork sets up
widths of rubber bands little waves in the water, just as it sets up
waves of molecules in the air.
Teaching Tips
Talk with your students about the different parts Rubber-band experiment: Have
of the eye and how they work together. The optic students stretch several different widths of
nerve in the back of the eye sends what the eye rubber bands over an empty box, in the
sees to the brain. When the light passes through order of thickness, then pluck each one with
the eye’s lens and the image hits the retina, the their finger. (Be sure that they protect their
image is upside down. Therefore, the image that eyes in case the band snaps.) Have students
describe the sounds the bands made and rate their Ear cochlea
travels through the optic nerve to the brain also is
upside down. The brain has to flip the image over comparative pitch (highness or lowness of the sound). They will see that the
so it’s the right way up and makes sense. thinner rubber bands vibrate faster than the thick ones, causing them to have
a higher pitch. Now have students pluck one rubber band, immediately touch it
You might want to have your students make a with their finger, and listen to the sound. When they touch the vibrating
pinhole camera (camera obscura)—showing what rubber bands, the vibrations stop and the sound stops.
an image looks like when it reaches the retina of
the eye—then sketch the images they see through Add-on Activities
it. For directions on how to make a very simple ■ Students could do a simple experiment that allows them to “find” their blind
pinhole viewer, go to http://www.exploratorium. spot, the area on the retina that has no receptors. For directions on how to
edu/IFI/activities/pinholeinquiry/viewer.html. conduct this activity, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html.
For information about making an actual pinhole ■ Students might work in teams to prepare presentations about vision—
camera that can take pictures, go to beginning with the eye patterns of a newborn who is learning how to see.
http://www.kodak.com/global/ ■ Students can try this experiment to experience the direction of sound: One
en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/ student stands at arm’s length behind a blindfolded classmate and snaps his or
pinholeCamera/pinholeCanBox.shtml. her fingers in various directions. The blindfolded student points in the
direction the sound is coming from. Next, the experiment is repeated with the
Part A. Here are some Web sites that contain blindfolded student wearing a pair of earmuffs. Finally, with the blindfold still
additional examples of optical illusions: in place, the student removes the earmuffs and places a cardboard tube from a
http://www.justriddlesandmore.com/illusion.html roll of paper towels over one ear before the finger-snapping exercise is
http://www.aoanet.org/jfk-optical-illusions.html repeated. Students should be able to detect the direction of the sound with
their ears uncovered. It will be more difficult to determine the direction when
the sound is muffled by the earmuffs. Putting the cardboard tube over one ear
causes the sound to travel a greater distance to reach that ear, so the student
will perceive the sound as coming from the opposite direction.
■ Students might work in teams to research and report back to class the
causes of earaches and ear wax, how cold germs can be spread to the ear,
and how the ear controls balance.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

14. Activity
A World of Sense 6
Reproducible Master
T he eyes may be the windows to your soul, but it
takes both your eyes and ears for you to sense
your world each day. Together, they allow you to see a
ears, your brain wouldn’t have anything to interpret and
you wouldn’t be able to hear or dance to music! Next time
you’re enjoying your favorite CD, take a moment to thank
friend’s face or hear your favorite music. those hairs in your ears. They are part of a built-in
amplifying system that’s better than anything you can find
Your Eyes. When you first open your eyes, your top in your local electronics store.
layer of sense cells is actually scorched away by the bright
light. But, happily, beneath them, a fresh layer is
revealed—new sensors with which you’ll see the new day.
Let’s learn how your eye works, and how it can fool you—
because seeing isn’t as simple as it looks.
Your cornea focuses light, and the iris controls just how
much light passes through the pupil. The lens helps focus
this light on the retina, which contains a layer of light-
sensitive cells. If your eyeball is too long or your cornea is
too curved, you will be nearsighted (objects that are close
to you are clear but those in the distance are blurry). If
your eyeball is too short or your cornea isn’t curved
enough, you will be farsighted. This means you can see
distant objects clearly but things that are close are blurry. Hammer, anvil and stirrup
Part A. Sometimes, your brain makes you see things that Part B. Sound is produced by vibration. Try this: Feel your
aren’t really there. For example, if you look down a long throat as you place your fingers lightly on it and say, “My
straight roadway, the sides of the road seem to come name is _______.” Do you feel the vibrations? Vibrations that
together in the distance. This is because of perspective— come from the sources of sound cause air molecules to move,
the way two objects appear in relation to each other. Try setting up sound waves. Your ears contain the three tiniest
this optical illusion. Which flower has the bigger center? and most delicate bones in your entire body. They’re located
right behind your eardrum, and they’re called the hammer,
the anvil and the stirrup. Their job is to transfer sound
vibrations that reach your outer ear into your inner ear.
Now, follow your teacher’s instructions as you experiment
with a tuning fork, a bowl of water, and some rubber bands,
to see what a sound wave looks like and why some sounds
are high and some low.
Add-on Look at this
If you picked the flower on the left, you’re wrong! Actually, illustration at right.
both centers are the same size. (Measure them with a ruler Activity What do you think
to make sure.) You can fool your brain into thinking that an you see? Take a class poll on
object is bigger or smaller by placing it next to objects of the results.
different sizes.
Your eyes may fool you, but
Your Ears. If you’ve ever been to a very loud rock you can’t fool your ears—if you
concert, you may have experienced a ringing in your ears damage them when you are young,
afterward. Your ears are sensitive to sound and can be your hearing will get worse as you
easily—and permanently—damaged if you expose them get older. Research the harmful
to loud noises like this without protection. Your ears are in effects of loud sounds and where
charge of collecting sounds and turning them into nerve you might find them in your
signals that your brain interprets for you. Without your everyday life.
© 2001 DCI/BBC
13

15. ■ Activity 7
Tasty Aromas Part B. Prepare small glasses that contain
solutions of (1) sugary water (sweet), (2) lemon
Post-viewing
juice (sour), (3) salty water (salty), and (4) tonic Activity
Student Objectives: To learn about the sense of smell, the water or onion juice (bitter). Have students dip
relationship between taste and smell, and the “taste centers” on clean toothpicks into each solution. Then, they should lightly
the tongue. touch different parts of the tongue and record what they taste
Materials: Part A—small paper bags; small cups of water; on their chart. Be sure to have students use a clean toothpick
odorants such as cinnamon, garlic, ginger, onions, vanilla each time they dip and take a drink of water each time they
extract, chocolate, rosemary, mouthwash, orange peel; small change taste categories. They also may want to nibble a piece of
containers such as empty film canisters; lemon, grape and bread in between the taste tests.
cherry mini-jelly beans. Part B—small glass containers, sugar,
lemon juice, salt, tonic water or onion juice, toothpicks, water Explain to your students that their taste buds are located on the
papillae, the little bumps they can feel on their tongue. Each
Teaching Tips papillae contains between 1 and 15 taste buds. Each of the taste
Part A. The materials to be smelled (see list above) should be buds is made up of a cluster of between 80 and 100 cells,
placed in containers that students can’t see through (35mm film including receptor cells that are attached to nerves. Different
canisters with holes in the lids or clear containers that have receptors are sensitive to different tastes. (This experiment also
been covered with tape, etc). Containers should be numbered could be done as a take-home activity.)
from 1 to 10. Keep a log of what is in each container. Select
four odorants and put some of each in two different Add-on Activities
containers. Put some of two additional odorants in one ■ Lead a discussion on eating disorders and poor
container each. nutrition, based on student findings in
researching the USDA food pyramid
Students should pick up each container and sniff recommendations.
it. What odors were most easily identified? Most ■ As people age their sense of smell gets
difficult to identify? How many students identified worse. Students might conduct “smell tests” to
all the odors? How many were able to match all identify differences in the ability to smell
four odors and identify the two that did not have a among family members, older neighbors and
pair? How well did the boys do compared to the friends, etc.
girls? You might ask your students to create graphs ■ Students might create their own “odor charts,”
that illustrate the results of the smell test. Note: Be The nose identifying as many different kinds of odors as
sure to ask about allergies before having your they can, and categorizing them by type (sweet,
students participate in this activity. Discard all foods assembled minty, sour, etc.).
in this unit after they have been used in classroom testing. ■ Heat and climate affect the diffusion of gas molecules that
cause odors. Students could research why odors are different in
Smell-taste activity: You will need six small paper bags and intensity in the summer than in the winter, and why odors are
scoops of lemon, grape and cherry mini-jelly beans. (If students so readily associated with tropical climates.
work in groups, use one set of bags per group.) Label the bags: ■ Younger students might create taste charts by cutting pictures
#1 taste, #1 smell, #2 taste, #2 smell, #3 taste, #3 smell. Put of food out of magazines and organizing them according to
several crushed jelly beans in each of the “smell” bags. Put the taste categories.
remainder of the jelly beans in the “taste” bags. Be sure that the ■ Just as in other areas of biological science, what we know
same flavor jelly beans are placed in the bags with the same about taste changes as researchers make new discoveries (for
number (i.e., #1 bags contain the lemon jelly beans, etc.). example, researchers recently discovered a fifth basic taste
called Umami. This taste occurs when foods that contain
Students should close their eyes, hold their noses and chew a glutamate—like the MSG used in much Oriental food—are
jelly bean from each taste bag. Tell them to take a small sip of eaten). Students could do some research
water between each test, then record the tastes on the chart. to learn more about glutamate and why it
Next, have students close their eyes and sniff each of the “smell” is used predominantly in certain cuisines.
bags, recording their findings on the chart. Finally, have them ■ Students might construct a model of
repeat the taste test, but this time without holding their noses. the digestive system.
Discuss the findings as a class.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

16. W hat do the aroma of pizza when you enter the
school cafeteria and the stench of sweaty socks in
the locker room have in common? It’s your nose, of course!
Part B. All tastes come from different
combinations of four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty
and bitter. Different taste buds interpret these
Activity
7
Everything you need to smell with is inside your nose. It tastes. Follow your teacher’s directions to find the Reproducible Master
alerts you to those socks and tempts you with that aroma— different “taste centers” on your tongue. Record
then it even helps you enjoy the taste of the pizza! your findings below as “3” if it is a strong taste, “2” if it is
neither strong nor weak, or “1” if it is weak.
Tasty Part of
Tongue Sweet Sour Salty Bitter
Aromas Tip
Middle
As you breathe in, odor molecules in the air enter through Left side
your nostrils, pass into the nasal cavity, and then go to the Right side
olfactory bulb. That’s where special nerve cells (receptors)
determine just what the odor is. The nerve cells send signals Now, use the information above to draw a “taste map” of your
to the brain, which lets you know what you’re smelling. tongue, using a different color for each type of taste and
shading to show how strong the tastes are in each area. How
Part A. Some people have a better sense of smell than does your taste map compare with those of your classmates?
others. Although the average person can identify between
3,000 and 10,000 different odors, some people who have a
condition called anosmia have no sense of smell at all. Add-on Everything our body does for us takes fuel.
Getting the food to fuel our bodies into our
Activity mouths, as we see in The
Follow your teacher’s directions to identify the odorants in Human Body, is one thing. What
the containers prepared for you. Hold the container in front happens next is not quite as tidy.
of your face and waft your hand over it toward your nose to Biting into that great-tasting pizza is
get the best whiff. the first step on an amazing journey
through your digestive system.
Which containers are the same? Identify them on the third After your molars grind it up,
line below each pair: chemicals in your saliva begin to break down the
# ____ # ____ pizza as your tongue pushes it to the back of your throat.
# ____ # ____ Like squeezing a tube of toothpaste, your muscles squeeze it
_______________________ ________________________ down your esophagus and into your stomach. That’s where
some serious action takes place. The mushy stuff that used to
# ____ # ____ look like pizza is mixed with acid and digestive chemicals
# ____ # ____ until it is broken down into tiny bits, which move into the
small intestine. There, chemicals and liquids continue the
_______________________ ________________________ process, until all the nutrients are absorbed.
Which containers are not the same? Identify them below: The final stage of your pizza’s journey takes place in the large
# ____ is ___________________________________ and intestine, which is a kind of drying chamber. The liquid is
# ____ is ____________________________________. removed from the leftovers and absorbed back into the body.
All that’s left now is the stuff you don’t need. And you know
When you have a bad cold, does everything “taste the same”? what happens to it! Your body’s “team” approach to this
That’s because you’ve lost the ability to smell what you’re process should make it a little easier to understand the
eating! Use the chart below to record the results of a test that problems that can occur when you don’t get enough to eat or
will show you how important that smell/taste partnership is. eat the wrong kind of food.
Use resources to check out the USDA’s
Smell Only Taste Only Smell & Taste
food pyramid and compare what you
Bag 1 usually eat with what it recommends.
Where can you improve your diet?
Bag 2
Bag 3
© 2001 DCI/BBC
15

17. ■ Activity 8
Bone Basics Add-on Activities
■ Just as good nutrition is important to good health, Post-viewing
Activity
environmental factors can affect our health, too—even
Student Objectives: To learn about bones—how that of unborn babies.
to build healthy bones and how to protect our bones. Students might investigate
Materials: None environmental hazards such
as smoking and discuss
Teaching Tips solutions to deal with them.
Part A. Provide this background information for ■ Students might explore
students: The spine (also known as the spinal column how the shapes of different
or backbone) is a collection of 33 bones known as bones relate to the amount
vertebrae that are stacked up and held together by of force they must
connective tissues called ligaments. The spine is what withstand.
allows us to stand upright and to be flexible—to twist ■ Students might explore the
and turn and bend. The spine also provides amazing “engineering” that
protection for the spinal cord—the group of nerves allows the spine to support
that helps to send information from the brain to the human body. For
other parts of the body. Moving joints allow for example, they might
flexibility, too. experiment with a ball of
modeling clay and four X-ray of a skeleton
If students are having difficulty finding examples of coffee-stirrer straws placed
hinge joints and ball-and-socket joints, you might vertically to see how the head sits on the little vertebrae in the neck.
want to provide them with a few examples. (Hinge ■ Students might do research to see how the skeletal systems of other
joints could include the hinges on a door or a lift-top animals are designed to provide different kinds of mobility.
desk; many swivel desk lamps have ball-and-socket ■ Students might do observational research to see how different types
joints. Students might relate best to the example of a of shoes affect posture and balance. Why are high heels so bad for the
computer joystick.) female foot?
■ Students can make a “rubber
Part B. Examples of protective equipment used in bone” by soaking a chicken
sports include: bicycle helmets, batting helmets for bone in vinegar for several
baseball and softball, helmets for riding scooters, knee days. Because vinegar is an
and elbow pads for inline skating, and skateboarding. acid, it dissolves the calcium,
This activity provides an excellent introduction to a leaving the bone thinner and
discussion of sports safety in general. vulnerable to breaking, much as
it would be if it were diseased
Use the activity about calcium in food as the basis for from osteoporosis due to a
a discussion about good nutrition. To extend the loss of calcium. Refer to
discussion, you might want to have students plan a www.flinnsci.com/homepage/
week’s worth of lunches that are well balanced and bio/rubbone.html.
supply significant amounts of calcium. Explain that ■ Have students investigate
the body’s need for calcium changes with age. For Hand bones other uses for thermal
example, the National Academy of Sciences imaging, the technology that
recommends that adults under age 50 should have showed Luke’s image in the film (for example, fire fighters can locate
1,000 mg of calcium daily, while people over 50 victims overcome by smoke who have hidden in a burning house by
should have 1,200 mg daily. pointing a thermal imaging camera at the house).
Can students think of how this technology might
be medically useful?
© 2001 DCI/BBC

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