SEPUP Units: Science & Life Issues
My Body and Me
 

This unit combines the Studying People Scientifically and the Bodyworks units from Science and Life Issues. It begins with a scientific study of humans. They focus on themselves as subjects of the investigation. It helps students develop different scientific approaches to problem solving. Student investigations also address important ideas about the nature of science, the traditional scientific method, and experimental design. In one activity, students simulate the role of placebos in studies of medication for human use. At the end of the unit, students evaluate the scientific design quality of several proposed studies. The second part of this module is the Bodyworks unit. In it, students investigate concepts and issues related to sustaining personal health. A major goal of this unit is to provide a foundation for evidence-based decision-making about health issues such as the use of medication, nutrition, exercise, and heart disease. The unit focuses on the role of organ systems in providing nutrients and oxygen to the body, and also on transporting and eliminating wastes (maintaining internal balance). Students investigate the heart and circulatory system in depth, with an emphasis on the relationship between structure and function.

Students investigate concepts and issues related to sustaining personal health. A major goal of this unit is to provide a foundation for evidence-based decision-making about health issues such as the use of medication, nutrition, exercise, and heart disease.

Activity 1: Solving Problems: Save Fred!
Students begin by examining the steps involved in scientific problem solving and learn about various approaches.

Activity 2: The Pellagra Story
Next, students watch a segment from A Science Odyssey: “Matters of Life and Death,” and compare the investigation of pellagra to the traditional scientific method.

Activity 3: Testing Medicines:
A Clinical Trial In this modeling activity, students simulate a clinical trial to investigate how medicines are tested.

Activity 4: Testing Medicines Scientifically
In this reading about placebo-controlled testing, concepts such as controls and the placebo effect are reinforced.

Activity 5: Can You Feel the Difference?
Students are introduced to the concept of variables as they conduct an exploratory investigation into human sensitivity to touch.

Activity 6: Finding the Nerve
In this activity, students investigate why sensitivity to touch varies in different parts of the body.

Activity 7: Human Variation
Students further investigate human sensitivity to touch. Good experimental design is emphasized and the importance of reproducibility is reinforced.

Activity 8: Studying People
This reading focuses on how qualitative and quantitative data is used to study people.

Activity 9: Data Toss
In this fun activity, students collect qualitative and quantitative data. Concepts associated with good experimental design are revisited.

Activity 10: Evaluating Clinical Trials
Students evaluate different proposals for conducting clinical trials in this activity. Each study is evaluated based on its experimental design.

Activity 11: Sick Day
Considering trade-offs is the primary focus of this interesting activity. Students weigh advice from others, recommendations from a doctor, and precautions from medication labels.

Activity 12: What’s Happening Inside?
Students learn about major organs and systems in the human body.

Activity 13: Living With Your Liver
In this role play, students discuss the function of the liver.

Activity 14: Breakdown
Students model the processes of chemical and mechanical breakdown of food.

Activity 15: Digestion
This reading introduces the functions of the digestive system and the organs that accomplish these functions.

Activity 16: Balancing Act
Students play the role of product developers as they develop an energy bar. They compare and contrast product design with scientific investigations throughout the development process.

Activity 17: Gas Exchange
This activity explores the role of the respiratory system in the regulation of gases in the blood. Students use an indicator to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in their exhaled breath.

Activity 18: The Circulation Game
As a class, students model the path of blood as it travels through the human circulatory system.

Activity 20: Great-Aunt Lily’s Will
In this role play entitled “Great-Aunt Lily’s Will,” students decide the best use of limited funds to fight heart disease and promote public health. Next, they discuss the issue of trade-offs in making public health decisions.

Activity 21: Inside a Pump
In this activity, mechanical pumps serve as potential models for the human heart.

Activity 22: The Heart - A Muscle
Students evaluate the strength of the heart muscle by attempting to pump water at the same rate as their resting

Activity 23: Heart Parts
This activity offers an excellent opportunity for students to compare models and diagrams to real structures as they investigate the functions of the blood vessels and the major structures of the heart.

Activity 24: Round and Round
Students use their knowledge of the circulatory system to model how the heart pumps blood to the lungs and the rest of the body.

Activity 25: Healing the Heart
Students watch video segments on heart surgery and organ transplants, then discuss the trade-offs in developing new treatments for heart disease.

Activity 26: Heart Sounds
In this study of the heart, an audiotape of normal and abnormal heart sounds are used to illustrate the relationship of the sounds to the heart cycle and as a tool to diagnose heart problems.

Activity 27: The Pressure’s On
Students investigate the effects of high blood pressure.

Activity 28: Heart Problems
Next is a reading about high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart attacks.

Activity 29: Helping Hearts
A heart risk quiz helps students evaluate their own voluntary and involuntary risk factors for heart disease.

Refill Items for this kit are available HERE