Human Body

[greenjello3]

Does anyone do a human body unit who would be willing to share some great ideas? We go through the major body systems (respiratory, circulatory, digestive, etc.) We have a ton of Bill Nye videos as school which I use sporadically through the unit...what do you do?

 

[ABC]

Hi! We are also doing human body now. Here are a few of our favorites:

Brain/Nerves: We test our reaction time. Have students pair up. One student holds a ruler about an inch above the other student's hand and then drops it without telling them when. See if the other student can catch it. Try about 5 times. Also for this we spend a little time looking at optical illusions and how sometimes our messages can get a little messed up. For instance say what color the following words are typed in not what the words say: red orange blue yellow purple green

Lungs/Heart: See if you can borrow a stethoscope from your school nurse. Listen to hearts before and after exercise. Test your lungs. Get a glass of water and straw. See how long students can blow bubbles without stopping. Have one partner time while one tests and then vice versa.

Bones: Read Dem Bones We glue "bones" to construction paper made out of noodles and label. Use a shell for the cranium. Spiral noodles for the spine. Bow tie for pelvis. Penne for upper arm and thigh. Linguine for radius/ulna and tibia/fibula. Use a small marshmallow for patella. They turn out cute, but make sure to use liquid glue and lay flat to dry. It will stick just fine!

Digestion: This one is a little yucky, but gets the point across. Take two baggies and put a saltine cracker in each. In one baggie put a little water. Have each student shake. The one with the water or "saliva" will break down much quicker.

Good luck. I'm anxious to add new ideas too!

 

[Ria]

10 Steps

I don't teach the human body but saw the book Ten Steps to Teaching the Human Body. I have Ten Steps to Teaching Insects and love it. The human body book looked like it had really good activities in it too.

 

[yowz]

I used to do the human bosy in my class. We made replicas... we became surgeons/doctors every time we started science, making sure to "wash our hands and put on our gloves." I had drawn outlines of the body and we worked on them. I also had a velcro human body up front. The kiddies glued the internal organs in the right places, colored and labeled them. WE discussed the parts and what they do. We glued the bones on so that we could lift them to see the internal organs. We put the skin/clothes on and lastly glued on a picture of the student. They took them home and told their parents all about it. The first year I did this I created a future scientist! His mother still tells me that he plans to be a scientist when he grows up. He was in my class three years ago!

 

[maggieb]

I love your idea. I have done something similar, in that I help the students trace their own bodies on large butcher paper, then we fill it in as we cover the different systems. I like the surgeon idea and doing it in layers. Fun stuff!!! " I find they always love the "yucky" stuff of the human body. There are some great websites for this.