An In-Depth Examination of the Bodys Intricacies

Categories: Human

“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 alive took not only the marriage of the latest developments in medical imaging with cutting-edge cinematic techniques and cameras, but also a good measure of ingenuity as well.

As a result, The Human Body is an incredible technological achievement for Discovery Pictures and the BBC.

The film’s opening sequence—a close tracking shot over the body—is just one instance where Play at monitor-image of “ingenuity” played a major role. Luke's eye “You had to light the body with an enormous number of big film lamps to accomplish that [tracking shot over the body],” explains writerproducer Richard Dale.

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“The lights gave off tremendous heat and ultraviolet light, which could have been very damaging to the skin. The commercially available UV filters were not adequate to stop that much light, so our photographers developed little aquariums that could fit in front of the lamps. They had cold water, which is quite a good absorber of UV constantly running through them.” , Ultimately, The Human Body shows us more than a biological wonder at its best; the film also shares the emotions of life. From the joy of learning and the anxiety of puberty, to the potential wonder of pregnancy and birth, The Human Body tells us the amazing story of our own lives—through our own bodies.

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“Large format has traditionally climbed mountains and gone to the bottom of the ocean, but we have turned the camera on ourselves and looked to our own bodies as a place for exploration,” observes Dale. “Technology makes it possible to think about our lives differently and to suddenly realize how marvelous the human body is.” The Human Body is a presentation of The Learning Channel and BBC Worldwide of a Discovery Pictures / BBC co-production in association with the Maryland Science Center and the Science Museum, London with major funding provided by the National Science Foundation and distributed by nWave Pictures Distribution.

Three years in the making, The Human Body reveals the incredible story of life. In astonishing detail, this large-format film presents a look at the biological processes that go on without our control and often without our notice. Throughout the film we follow a family from dawn to dusk as they go about their daily routines. But this is no ordinary story. This is the tale of what takes place beneath the skin—a tale that allows us to see the extraordinary accomplishments of our everyday lives.

The everyday biological processes that keep us ticking are all in a day’s work for the human body Finding a . way to film and illustrate those activities for a screen seven stories tall required a cinematic inventiveness that was anything but routine. Co-produced by Discovery Pictures and the BBC, The Human Body incorporates ground-breaking computer graphics with stunning real-life images to create a day in the life of a human body. “This film is one of the most technically complex large-format films ever made,” states directorproducer Peter Georgi.

“To get the subject matter on the large screen, we’ve pushed the boundaries, taken advantage of the most advanced scanning electron microscopes, the latest thermal imaging and highdefinition digital video cameras, the cutting edge in medical computer graphics…whatever we thought could provide the best possible images.” And provide images it does! The Human Body will provide a glimpse of: s the 100 billion new red blood cells the body generates each morning; s the 40 yards of new hair that sprouts every day; s a human egg nestling into the folds of a fallopian tube; s a thermal image of a child riding a bicycle; s a trip on a tomato from mouth to stomach; s babies able to hold their breath under water, and s the inside of an ear as cells actually dance to music.

Pre-Viewing Teaching Strategies
1. Review with students the words appearing in italics on the teaching
strategies pages in this guide (the left-hand pages) and the activity masters (the right-hand pages). Explain that these are just some of the things they will learn more about during the film and from the activities they will do after viewing the film. 2. Use the synopsis of The Human Body on page 1 to give students a brief summary of the film. Review with them the major body parts and their functions. 3. Reproduce and distribute the Letter to Parent/Guardian on page 24 for students to take home.

s Activity 1

Pre-viewing Activity

Student Objectives: To develop an understanding of where the various body parts are located in relation to one another and to consider what it takes to create—and maintain—a healthy body. Materials: None

Teaching Tips
Part A. Have students research any needed information about the functions of body parts in preparation for the diagram matching activity below. To play Body Trivia, divide your students into “teams” of 3 to 5 students each. Each student should find at least 5 interesting facts about his or her team’s chosen body part, then teams should combine facts into a master list and develop true/false and fill-in-the-blank questions based on them. Teams take turns quizzing other teams, with the team that first responds correctly winning a point.

When all teams have asked their questions, the team with the most points wins. lungs take in oxygen (O 2) and expel carbon dioxide (C02) diaphragm muscle that helps us breathe in and out kidney helps filter waste from the blood brain the body’s “control center” liver secretes bile that helps digestion heart pumps blood through the body stomach breaks down the food that we eat large intestine removes the liquid and “leftovers” from digested food small intestine absorbs the nutrients from digested food

Part B. First talk with your students about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle—proper diet and exercise, avoiding smoking, drugs and alcohol, etc. You might want to have students add to their Body Maintenance Plan as the unit progresses and as they learn more about different aspects of their bodies.

Add-on Activities
s Students might work in their

original groups to identify and demonstrate a “mechanical body part”—something that performs the same function as the part they studied (i.e., a computer as the brain, a pump as the heart). As a class, they could link Digestion their parts together to form a machine that works like parts of the human body. You might want to share The Robot Zoo: A Mechanical Guide to the Way Animals Work, by Philip Whitfield Obin (Turner Publishing, 1994) with students. The book contains detailed, tongue-in-cheek illustrations that transform 16 different creatures into complex machines. s Younger students could use fabric paint to draw “body shirts” showing major organs, the skeletal system, the circulatory system, etc., on white T-shirts.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

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 family—parents-to-be Heather and Buster, their teenage nephew Luke, 15, and his sister Zannah, 8. You’ll go inside a cell—the body’s basic building block. You’ll see the many miracles we live through each day as—hidden from us and often unnoticed—our bodies are achieving incredible things. In this film, you will see how all of those parts you have work together as a remarkable interdependent system.

You’ll learn that regardless of the differences in how we look on the outside, and although we may live very different lives, we all share the same basic structure. But first, before we begin this journey, let’s find out what you already know! Part A. The human body below is like a car that is made up of different kinds of parts—together they make the body “hum” at top speed. As the “body mechanic,” it’s your job to identify where those parts are located. Draw a line from the name of the part to its correct location, and write on the line below each what that part does.

Name

That ow you’re going to become a specialist! You Reproducible Master and your team will pick one of the body parts you’ve identified. Each member of your team will do some research and develop a list of interesting facts about your part. Then, combine your lists and try to stump your classmates in a game of Body Trivia. (Your teacher will explain the rules.) My team’s body part is: ______________________________ Use the back of this sheet for your list of interesting facts. Part B. Like any complex machine, your body needs proper care and maintenance to work well. In the space below, begin your own Body Maintenance Plan. (An example has been given.)You can finish it on another page. My Body Maintenance Plan New Facts New Facts New Facts Diet

Activity

Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day.

lungs ____________________________ ____________________________ diaphragm ____________________________ ____________________________ kidney __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ brain ____________________ ____________________ ________________ ________________ liver _____________________ ____________________ ________ ______________________ _____________________ _____ heart ____________________________ ____________________________ stomach ____________________________ ____________________________ large intestine ____________________________ ____________________________ small intestine ____________________________ ____________________________ © 2001 DCI/BBC

Exercise

I will also do this:

I won’t do this:

Add-on Using your choice of building materials Activity (anything from toothpicks to bricks!), build a class exhibit that shows how the body is put together.

Life

Student Objectives: To learn about the respiratory system and how the heart works. Materials: Tennis balls, modeling clay, toothpicks or tacks Part A.
Review with students the following background: The diaphragm—the muscle that separates the chest and the abdominal cavity—helps us to breathe in and out as it expands and contracts, exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen. Blood carries the oxygen and nutrients through the left side of the heart and from there, via the arteries, to all of the body’s cells, as carbon dioxide and other waste products are returned to the blood. This blood flows through the body’s veins to the right side of the heart and from there to the lungs. The lungs release the carbon dioxide and waste products and pick up oxygen— repeating the cycle. After doing the tennis ball experiment, have students discuss the results.

Then talk with them about the effects of changes in altitude on how the respiratory system works. When you change altitudes too quickly your body isn’t able to adjust fast enough to the change in the air pressure. The higher you go, the “thinner” the air becomes and the less oxygen there is. That means you take in less oxygen each time you breathe. Most people begin to notice the effects of higher altitudes at 7,000 to 8,000 feet Heart above sea level (at a ski resort in the Colorado Rockies or the Swiss Alps, for example). The symptoms of this condition—known as altitude sickness—include headaches, shortness of breath and nausea. They generally go away within a few days, after your body has adjusted. Anoxia (meaning “no oxygen”) is one of the most common problems mountain climbers face. Along with a shortage of oxygen, there is a simultaneous increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood, which causes us to breathe faster in an effort to eliminate it.

Part B. Demonstrate for your students the correct ways to take a pulse—by placing their index and middle fingers together at the pulse point on the neck or wrists. (To make it easier for your students to see and count their pulse, you might have them use a toothpick inserted into a small lump of clay and have them rest the clay on their wrist pulse point with the toothpick pointing up. Another method is to use a metal thumb tack placed on the wrist with the pointed end up.) Tell your students that the average pulse rate for a young person can range from 90 to 120 Blood in vein beats per minute. The average pulse rate for an adult (the rate they approximated in their tennis ball experiment) is about 72 beats per minute. A word of caution: Students’ physical abilities may vary widely, and some may not be
able to safely undertake even limited exercise. All students should be monitored carefully during any kind of physical activity.

Pre-viewing Activity

Add-on Activities
Students might learn more about the diaphragm and investigate the causes and various “cures” for hiccups.
Students might interview someone they know who has

asthma to learn what can trigger an asthma attack, what it feels like to have an asthma attack and what doctors can do to help. s Students can do some research to learn about the stethoscope, which was invented almost 200 years ago. They could compare the early model to the one used today to see how similar or different they are. s Older students might check out the American Heart Association Web site (www.americanheart.org) to research heart-healthy nutrition, and plan a week’s worth of hearthealthy meals. s Students might research and report on the pioneers of heart surgery and the technological advances that have occurred in this field. As a starting point, students might want to review “Pioneers of Heart Surgery,” NOVA Online, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/ pioneers.html.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

Activity

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. 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 as carbon dioxide as air is exhaled. Part A. In the film The Human Body, you’ll see Luke’s
heart and lungs working together to keep his body moving on the basketball court. Try this experiment. Put a tennis ball in your hand and squeeze it as hard and as quickly as you can. Your goal will be to compress it 70 times in one minute— that’s close to the number of times your heart contracts in one minute.

Pumping T

How many times did you open and close your hand? __________________________________________________ What did your hand feel like at the end?__________________

Reproducible Master

What you just did for one minute, your heart does all day long! Imagine how strong your heart must be to pump constantly without stopping, 24 hours a day. Part B. The pulse you feel when you put your fingers on the pulse points in your neck or on your wrist is the blood being pumped through your body—kind of like water being pumped through a hose and a garden sprinkler. Your pulse rate changes as you become more active and your heart beats harder to increase the flow of oxygen throughout the body. The average resting pulse rate for a young person ranges from 90 to 110 beats per minute. As you get older, the pulse rate slows to an average of 72 beats per minute. What is your resting pulse rate?__________________________ Now raise your arms over your head 10 times. What is your active pulse rate?________________________________________

Red blood cells

Now 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

Activity

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

Student Objectives: To identify the major parts of the brain and their functions and to learn about brain preference. Materials: None

Teaching Tips
Part A. Brain Structure. Provide this background: Today, we know a great deal about how the brain works. For example, we know that different parts of the brain control different abilities and functions—but that wasn’t always the case. That idea was introduced 200 years ago by an Austrian doctor named Franz Joseph Gall, who also believed he could diagnose what was happening in the brain by “reading” the different bumps on the head. Gall’s theory phrenology, quickly became very popular. , However, today we know that Gall’s theory has no true scientific basis. With the help of today’s technology we can actually look , inside the skull and see the brain as it works. [Answer key to the brain matching quiz: 1. E, 2. D, 3. C, 4. A, 5. B] Cerebrum Cerebellum Brain Stem Pituitary Gland Hypothalamus

Part B. To determine which eye is dominant, Pre-viewing students should cut a one-inch circle in a sheet of Activity paper and hold it about one foot in front of their eyes. With both eyes open, they should focus on a distant object and hold the index finger in line with the center of the hole and the distant object. First, they should close the left eye—if everything is still lined up, the right eye is dominant. Then, they should close the right eye—if everything is still lined up, the left eye is dominant. To determine which ear is dominant, students should cup the left ear and listen as you whisper a phrase, then cup the right ear and listen as you whisper from the same location. Students can determine dominance according to which ear heard the phrase more clearly. Check out the site at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html for more information.

Brain Dominance. Explain to your students that the right side of the brain controls the muscles on the left side of the body and the left side of the brain controls the muscles on the right side of the body. Although the two sides of the brain share many functions, they also have unique specialties. The right side controls spatial ability and intuitive thought; the left sidecontrols verbal language and analytical ability. Scientists today are learning more about brain dominance. A left-braindominant person is analytical, verbal and logical. Left-braindominant people are good at logic and word problems and generally not so good at creative, nonlinear thought. A rightbrain-dominant person tends to be creative and holistic in thought. Right-brain-dominant people tend to see the whole 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 a well-rounded individual. [Answer key to the brain dominance quiz: Students who answered “true” for questions 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 tend to be rightbrained. Students who answered “true” for questions 3, 5 and 6 tend to be left-brained. Since many people exhibit some of both tendencies, student scores could be inconclusive.]

Now review this information with students before they do the lobe quiz: The biggest part of your brain is divided into two equal parts—the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. The two hemispheres work together and share information through a thick band of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum, which divides them. Each hemisphere is further divided into four lobes, each responsible for certain functions and senses. [Answer key to the lobe function quiz: 2–vision; 3–hearing, memory; 4–pain, touch, pressure, sensation of temperature] Frontal Lobe Occipital Lobe Temporal Lobe Parietal Lobe

Add-on Activities
s Students can research why we yawn or laugh, how we

understand language, or why we need sleep.
s Working in small groups, students might pick one disease or

condition that affects the brain. Each group could prepare a class report on the disease’s causes, symptoms, affects, treatments available, and how the disease might affect other body parts.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

Our brain is faster and more powerful than the most powerful computer you’ve ever seen. As you learn in The Human Body, it controls everything your body does. To do so, it uses nearly a fifth of all the calories you eat or drink—more than any other part of your body! Part A. Each part of your brain has a very distinct and important role to play. See how much you already know by matching the name of the part to its description below. Then, label the parts in the drawing. 1.__ Are you too cold? Too hot? Should you shiver or sweat? This “body thermometer” will let you know what to do! B. Cerebellum 2.__ It may be tiny, but those hormones it makes are sure a big deal. C. Brain Stem 3.__ This connects the brain and the spinal cord so you won’t lose your mind! D. Pituitary Gland 4.__ If you think it or say it, it starts in this part of the brain. E. Hypothalamus 5.__ Got rhythm? You’ve got this! A. Cerebrum

Reproducible Master

Part B. There are several ways to test which side of your body is dominant. Try the exercises suggested by your teacher to see how you measure up: Which hand do you normally write with? ________ Which foot do you use to kick a ball? ___________ Which eye is dominant? ________Which ear did you use to
hear better? ___________ Have you ever heard someone say they are rightbrained or left-brained? What do you think that means? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Test yourself to see which side of your brain you would tend to use by answering true or false to these questions. True False 1. I’d rather think of a theme for a party than actually plan one. 2. If I get lost, I’d rather have a map than a list of directions.

Cerebrum Cerebellum Brain Stem Pituitary Gland Hypothalamus Now see if you can fill in the correct functions of the lobes from the clues provided below. The first one has been done for you. 1. Frontal Lobe—You need this to make things happen and to react to them when they do. This controls: planning, speech, movement, problem-solving, emotions. 2. Occipital Lobe—It may be 20/20 or 20/200. This controls: ____________________________________________________ 3. Temporal Lobe—Listen and you’ll remember. This controls: ____________________________________________________ 4. Parietal Lobe—Ouch! That’s hot and it hurts! This controls: ____________________________________________________ © 2001 DCI/BBC

3. Don’t tell my teacher, but I do better on multiple-choice tests than writing essays. ˜ 4. When I’m studying for a test, I need music to get my brain in gear because silence is too “quiet.”

5. In a debate, it’s hard for me to accept the side of the issue I don’t agree with. ˜ 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” where I was when I lost it. 8. I usually can tell what people are thinking. ˜ ˜ ˜

Remember that—even though some things may be easier for you depending on
which side of the brain you favor—you couldn’t function as a “whole person” without both sides!

Add-on What if your brain were a computer? Activity Do some research to construct a display that shows the parts of the brain that correspond to functions of the computer. 7

s Activity 4

The

Brain Team Pre-viewing Activity

Student Objectives: To consider how learning happens and to encourage students to consider how they learn best. Materials: None

Teaching Tips
First, provide your students with this background information about the brain, then have them label the parts on the drawing: The brain only weighs three or four pounds—about the weight of an average textbook—but it is the most complex object in the world. Neurons receive, process and relay all the specialized information needed to go about your daily life. But it isn’t the number of neurons alone that makes this complex system work—it’s the way they are organized and connected. Structure of a neuron dendrites

Part A. Lead a class discussion about learning styles (see activity sheet) and preferences before your students complete the learning preference survey. Part B. In preparation for the activity, put 12 small objects in a box on your desk. Set a time for three subsequent viewings to test students’ recall—the first 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 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 comparison). You can find additional
information on this topic at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html. Profile of a neuron

There are many different kinds of neurons, but they all have some things in common. Like other cells, they all have a cell body with a nucleus that contains the cell’s genes. The nucleus is surrounded by cytoplasm—a liquid that contains all the 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. 8

damage that can be done to the brain and various other organs— such as the liver, kidneys or lungs— by smoking cigarettes or using alcohol or illegal substances to achieve a chemical high. s 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. s Students might do some research to learn about the “natural high” exercise can induce because of the body’s release into the brain of endorphins, which then are broken down to create a short-lived feeling of euphoria.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

The

Brain Team Example A new computer program

Activity

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 they connect to other neurons through branch-like structures called dendrites. Every time you learn something new—a new word, how to ride a bike or play the flute—your neurons develop new connections to other neurons. In fact, your brain eventually will form trillions of connections—that’s more connections than there are stars in the entire universe! Review with your teacher these terms about neurons: s Cytoplasm—a liquid that surrounds the cell nucleus s Axon—a channel that allows signals to pass between neurons s 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.

Reproducible Master

In the space below, list 10 things you have learned in your classes during the last two days. Next to the item, describe how you learned each. We’ve given you one example to help you get started. Learning Style Visual (if you read about it in a manual) Auditory (if you listened to a lecture about it) Kinesthetic (if you performed tasks using it) How I Learned Them

Things I Learned

dendrites Part B. The more links the neurons in your brain create, the better your memory becomes. Try this exercise to see what happens as your neurons go to work. Look at the objects your teacher has placed in the box. Brain cell Then return to your seat and list as many of them as you can on the back of this paper. 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? ________

Synaptic terminal

Part A. Have you ever stopped to think about how you learn? Some people (visual learners) learn best by looking at things, or reading about them. Some people (auditory learners) learn best by hearing about things. And some people (kinesthetic learners) learn best by actually doing things. © 2001 DCI/BBC

Add-on Work in groups to create other exercises that Activity demonstrate how repetition increases memory. Then create graphs that illustrate what the exercises demonstrate. 9

Post-Viewing Teaching Strategies
1. Lead students in a discussion of the film, encouraging them to share their impressions of both its content and the impact of the large-screen format on
the presentation of the content. 2. Ask students if what they think and know about having a healthy lifestyle has changed since viewing the film. 3. Refer to Resources on page 24 for additional information and ideas.

Cell Call

Post-viewing Activity

Student Objectives: To learn how cells function and to understand the structure of DNA. Materials: Uncooked eggs, vinegar, distilled water, (golden) corn syrup, unbreakable containers, plastic food-handling gloves, safety glasses

Teaching Tips
Part A. Have your students work in groups of 3-4 students each for this activity. Each group should deshell two uncooked eggs by soaking them in household vinegar for a day or two, until the shell dissolves completely. After soaking, the eggs will be very swollen, rather firm and easily broken. Caution your students to handle the eggs carefully and to keep a tray underneath them to contain spills. Note: Have students wear inexpensive plastic food-handling gloves so they do not touch the raw eggs directly. Because vinegar is an acid, students also should wear eyeprotection glasses.

Tell students that water is one substance that can permeate the egg’s membrane, in the process called osmosis. When the egg is soaked in a solution in which the concentration of water is lower than that inside the egg (corn syrup), the liquid inside the egg passes through the membrane into the solution and the egg looks like a flabby bag. When an egg is soaked in a solution where the concentration of water outside the egg is higher (distilled water), the water tries to reach equilibrium by passing through the membrane into the egg, and the egg becomes larger and firmer. Results of Experiment

Part B. Gauge how much your students already know about genetics and how much background information they will need. You might discuss Gregor Mendel’s research with dominant and recessive genes in pea plants and explain that researchers have known about DNA since Mendel’s time, but it wasn’t until 1953 that two English scientists—James Watson and Francis Crick—discovered how DNA is actually put together. DNA is composed of building blocks called nucleotides. Nucleotides are made up of deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group and one of four nitrogen bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). Alternating deoxyribose sugar and Red blood cells phosphate molecules link together to form something like the side supports on a ladder. Complementary pairs of nitrogen bases form the rungs of the ladder.

Adenine is always paired 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 double helix, because the strands twist to the right. Everyone’s DNA has the same basic chemical structure, but the way its components are arranged differs from person to person. Each person’s DNA is unique to him or herself. (Identical twins, however, have identical DNA, although their fingerprints are different.) Information on building DNA models can be found here: http://biology.about.com/science/biology/library/ howto/htcandydna.htm.

Add-on Activities
s Many people have concerns about the possibility of manipulating

Egg 1 –Corn Syrup

Egg 2–Distilled Water

DNA as a way to genetically engineer humans. Older students might develop position papers on genetic engineering or hold a debate on the ethics and/or possible consequences of such practices. s 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 how it is used?

© 2001 DCI/BBC

You can’t see them, but they’re everywhere. In fact, every single living thing on this planet is made up of 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.

It’s a Cell Call
Use the chart below to record what happens to your eggs during a 24-hour period. Why do you think each egg changed the way it did?

Activity

Reproducible Master

Part A. Healthy cells are essential for a healthy body. Just like other living things, cells need to take in oxygen and nutrients and get rid of waste products. Every human cell is 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 can tear easily). The membrane on your de-shelled eggs is very similar to the membrane that surrounds a human cell. Cover egg 1 with corn syrup. Cover egg 2 with distilled water.

Describe the egg at the beginning of the experiment. Egg 1 (corn syrup) Egg 2 (distilled water)

Describe the egg at the end of the experiment.

Part B. The cell is the smallest living unit in our bodies, and has a language and structure all its own. An entire world exists inside the cell: s power houses to create energy s places to store energy s places where energy is used s a place where things (like proteins) are made s a place where our physical characteristics are stored (genes) s a place where all of these processes are controlled (the nucleus) Let’s build a model to help explain what is going on, starting with the nucleus. Inside the nucleus we will find DNA. DNA is the reason you look the way you do—your hair, eyes, height, skin type, skin color, and so on.

DNA is found in genes, and genes are responsible for how similar you look to your parents in some ways or like your grandparents in others and even like your brothers and sisters. If we opened up a gene, took out the DNA, and gently stretched it out, we would find that it is shaped like a spiral. Scientists call that a double helix. There are two strands of DNA wound around and attached to each other by units called bases, named adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). The strands are made up of a sugar (deoxyribose) and a phosphate molecule. The DNA strands join together as follows: A on one strand will always pair with T 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

Names and Words to Know
s Adenine, thymine, guanine,

cytosine: The chemicals, or nitrogen bases, that are found in DNA. s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): The genetic material that is contained in every cell in the human body. Every person’s DNA is unique, except for that of identical twins. s Double helix: The structure of DNA. A double helix looks something like a twisted ladder. s Human Genome Project: A project that identified every gene present in human DNA. s Mendel: The Augustinian monk
whose work formed the foundation for the science of genetics. s Watson & Crick: The English scientists who discovered how DNA is put together. Do an Internet search to

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 so important. instructions to make your own DNA strand. © 2001 DCI/BBC

Add-on learn about the Human Activity Genome Project, the World Sense

Student Objectives: To consider how the eye and ear work and to learn about visual perspective and sound waves. Materials: Tuning The human eye fork, broad plastic bowl or other unbreakable container, empty shoe boxes or other similar containers, various sizes and widths of rubber bands

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 can see. It collects the sound waves. The sound waves Activity travel through the outer ear canal to the middle ear, where they strike the eardrum. The eardrum begins to vibrate, and the vibrations pass through three tiny bones—the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup— which transfer the vibrations to the inner ear. There they enter a small curled tube known as the cochlea, where they are turned into nerve signals that allow the brain to understand the sound. Tuning-fork experiment: Strike a tuning fork so the students can hear the sound. Explain that the sound was caused by vibrations.

Then, have students take turns dipping the tuning fork in a broad plastic dish or bowl or other unbreakable container of water. The vibrating fork sets up little waves in the water, just as it sets up waves of molecules in the air. Rubber-band experiment: Have students stretch several different widths of rubber bands over an empty box, in the order of thickness, then pluck each one with their finger. (Be sure that they protect their eyes in case the band snaps.) Have students Ear cochlea describe the sounds the bands made and rate their comparative pitch (highness or lowness of the sound). They will see that the 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 with their finger, and listen to the sound. When they touch the vibrating rubber bands, the vibrations stop and the sound stops.

Teaching Tips
Talk with your students about the different parts of the eye and how they work together. The optic nerve in the back of the eye sends what the eye sees to the brain. When the light passes through the eye’s lens and the image hits the retina, the image is upside down. Therefore, the image that travels through the optic nerve to the brain also is upside down. The brain has to flip the image over so it’s the right way up and makes sense. You might want to have your students make a pinhole camera (camera obscura)—showing what an image looks like when it reaches the retina of the eye—then sketch the images they see through it. For directions on how to make a very simple pinhole viewer, go to http://www.exploratorium. edu/IFI/activities/pinholeinquiry/viewer.html. For information about making an actual pinhole camera that can take pictures, go to http://www.kodak.com/global/ en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/ pinholeCamera/pinholeCanBox.shtml. Part A. Here are some Web sites that contain additional examples of optical illusions: http://www.justriddlesandmore.com/illusion.html http://www.aoanet.org/jfk-optical-illusions.html

Add-on Activities
s Students could do a simple experiment that allows them to “find” their blind

spot, the area on the retina that has no receptors. For directions on how to conduct this activity, visit
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html. s Students might work in teams to prepare presentations about vision— beginning with the eye patterns of a newborn who is learning how to see. s Students can try this experiment to experience the direction of sound: One student stands at arm’s length behind a blindfolded classmate and snaps his or her fingers in various directions. The blindfolded student points in the direction the sound is coming from. Next, the experiment is repeated with the blindfolded student wearing a pair of earmuffs.

Finally, with the blindfold still in place, the student removes the earmuffs and places a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels over one ear before the finger-snapping exercise is 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. s 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 Reproducible Master

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 friend’s face or hear your favorite music. Your Eyes. When you first open your eyes, your top 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 lightsensitive 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. Part A. Sometimes, your brain makes you see things that aren’t really there. For example, if you look down a long straight roadway, the sides of the road seem to come together in the distance. This is because of perspective— the way two objects appear in relation to each other. Try this optical illusion. Which flower has the bigger center?

T

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 those hairs in your ears. They are part of a built-in amplifying system that’s better than anything you can find in your local electronics store.

Hammer, anvil and stirrup

Part B. Sound is produced by vibration. Try this: Feel your throat as you place your fingers lightly on it and say, “My name is _______.” Do you feel the vibrations? Vibrations that come from the sources of sound cause air molecules to move, setting up sound waves. Your ears contain the three tiniest 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.

If you picked the flower on the left, you’re wrong! Actually, both centers are the same size. (Measure them with a ruler to make sure.) You can fool your brain into thinking that an object is bigger or smaller by placing it next to objects of different sizes. Your Ears. If you’ve ever been to a very loud rock concert, you may have experienced a ringing in your ears afterward. Your ears are sensitive to sound and can be easily—and permanently—damaged if you expose them to loud noises like this without protection. Your ears are in charge of collecting sounds and turning them into nerve signals that your brain interprets for you. Without your © 2001 DCI/BBC

Add-on Look at this illustration at right. Activity What do you think you see? Take a class poll on the results. Your eyes may fool you, but you can’t fool your ears—if you damage them when you are young, your hearing will get worse as you get older. Research the harmful effects of loud sounds and where you might find them in your everyday life. 13

Tasty Aromas
Student Objectives: To learn about the sense of smell, the relationship between taste and smell, and the “taste centers” on the tongue. Materials: Part A—small paper bags; small cups of water; odorants such as cinnamon, garlic, ginger, onions, vanilla extract, chocolate, rosemary, mouthwash, orange peel; small containers such as empty film canisters; lemon, grape and cherry mini-jelly beans. Part B—small glass containers, sugar, lemon juice, salt, tonic water or onion juice, toothpicks, water

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 water or onion juice (bitter). Have students dip clean toothpicks into each solution. Then, they should lightly touch different parts of the tongue and record what they taste on their chart. Be sure to have students use a clean toothpick each time they dip and take a drink of water each time they change taste categories. They also may want to nibble a piece of bread in between the taste tests. Explain to your students that their taste buds are located on the papillae, the little bumps they can feel on their tongue. Each papillae contains between 1 and 15 taste buds. Each of the taste buds is made up of a cluster of between 80 and 100 cells, including receptor cells that are attached to nerves. Different receptors are sensitive to different tastes. (This experiment also could be done as a take-home activity.)

Teaching Tips
Part A. The materials to be smelled (see list above) should be placed in containers that students can’t see through (35mm film canisters with holes in the lids or clear containers that have been covered with tape, etc). Containers should be numbered from 1 to 10. Keep a log of what is in each container. Select four odorants and put some of each in two different containers. Put some of two additional odorants in one container each.

Add-on Activities
s Lead a discussion on eating disorders and poor

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 s 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 s 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. s 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: s 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 s 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 s 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

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! Everything you need to smell with is inside your nose. It alerts you to those socks and tempts you with that aroma— then it even helps you enjoy the taste of the pizza!

Tasty Aromas
As you breathe in, odor molecules in the air enter through your nostrils, pass into the nasal cavity, and then go to the olfactory bulb. That’s where special nerve cells (receptors) determine just what the odor is. The nerve cells send signals to the brain, which lets you know what you’re smelling. Part A. Some people have a better sense of smell than 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. Follow your teacher’s directions to identify the odorants in the containers prepared for you. Hold the container in front of your face and waft your hand over it toward your nose to get the best whiff. Which containers are the same? Identify them on the third line below each pair: # ____ # ____ # ____ # ____ _______________________ # ____ # ____ _______________________ ________________________ # ____ # ____ ________________________

Part B. All tastes come from different Activity combinations of four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Different taste buds interpret these tastes. Follow your teacher’s directions to find the Reproducible Master different “taste centers” on your tongue. Record 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.

7

Part of Tongue Tip Middle Left side Right side

Now, use the information above to draw a “taste map” of your tongue, using a different color for each type of taste and shading to show how strong the tastes are in each area. How does your taste map compare with those of your classmates?

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 Human Body, is one thing. What happens next is not quite as tidy. Biting into that great-tasting pizza is the first step on an amazing journey through your digestive system. After your molars grind it up, 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. The final stage of your pizza’s journey takes place in the large intestine, which is a kind of drying chamber. The liquid 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 what happens to it! Your body’s “team” approach to this process should make it a little easier to understand the problems that can occur when you don’t get enough to eat or eat the wrong kind of food. Use resources to check out the USDA’s food pyramid and compare what you usually eat with what it recommends. Where can you improve your diet?

Which containers are not the same? Identify them below: # ____ is ___________________________________ and # ____ is ____________________________________. When you have a bad cold, does everything “taste the same”? That’s because you’ve lost the ability to smell
what you’re eating! Use the chart below to record the results of a test that will show you how important that smell/taste partnership is. Smell Only Taste Only Smell & Taste

Bag 1 Bag 2 Bag 3
© 2001 DCI/BBC

s Activity 8

Bone Basics
Student Objectives: To learn about bones—how to build healthy bones and how to protect our bones. Materials: None

Add-on Activities
Post-viewing s Just as good nutrition is important to good health, Activity environmental factors can affect our health, too—even that of unborn babies. Students might investigate environmental hazards such as smoking and discuss solutions to deal with them. s Students might explore how the shapes of different bones relate to the amount of force they must withstand. s Students might explore the amazing “engineering” that allows the spine to support the human body. For example, they might experiment with a ball of modeling clay and four X-ray of a skeleton coffee-stirrer straws placed vertically to see how the head sits on the little vertebrae in the neck. s Students might do research to see how the skeletal systems of other animals are designed to provide different kinds of mobility. s Students might do observational research to see how different types of shoes affect posture and balance.

Why are high heels so bad for the female foot? s Students can make a “rubber bone” by soaking a chicken bone in vinegar for several days. Because vinegar is an acid, it dissolves the calcium, leaving the bone thinner and vulnerable to breaking, much as it would be if it were diseased from osteoporosis due to a loss of calcium. Refer to www.flinnsci.com/homepage/ bio/rubbone.html. s Have students investigate Hand bones other uses for thermal imaging, the technology that showed Luke’s
image in the film (for example, fire fighters can locate victims overcome by smoke who have hidden in a burning house by pointing a thermal imaging camera at the house). Can students think of how this technology might be medically useful?

Teaching Tips
Part A. Provide this background information for students: The spine (also known as the spinal column or backbone) is a collection of 33 bones known as vertebrae that are stacked up and held together by connective tissues called ligaments. The spine is what allows us to stand upright and to be flexible—to twist and turn and bend. The spine also provides protection for the spinal cord—the group of nerves that helps to send information from the brain to other parts of the body. Moving joints allow for flexibility, too. If students are having difficulty finding examples of hinge joints and ball-and-socket joints, you might want to provide them with a few examples. (Hinge joints could include the hinges on a door or a lift-top desk; many swivel desk lamps have ball-and-socket joints. Students might relate best to the example of a computer joystick.) Part B. Examples of protective equipment used in sports include: bicycle helmets, batting helmets for baseball and softball, helmets for riding scooters, knee and elbow pads for inline skating, and skateboarding.

This activity provides an excellent introduction to a discussion of sports safety in general. Use the activity about calcium in food as the basis for a discussion about good nutrition. To extend the discussion, you might want to have students plan a week’s worth of lunches that are well balanced and supply significant amounts of calcium. Explain that the body’s need for calcium changes with age. For example, the National Academy of Sciences recommends that adults under age 50 should have 1,000 mg of calcium daily, while people over 50 should have 1,200 mg daily.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

Activity

Bone Basics
In The Human Body, we see Luke pedaling his bike—or, more specifically, it’s the thermal image of Luke, surrounded by thermal images of people walking thermal images of pets. Thermal imagers are instruments that create pictures of heat. So, we’re looking at the heat Luke’s body is generating. (He’s a pretty colorful guy, don’t you think!)

Reproducible Master

What would Luke look like if all you saw were his bones? Skeletons or fossils in a museum are dry and brittle, but Luke’s bones, like those in your body, are very much alive. Living bones contain marrow, the soft tissue that manufactures red and white blood cells and produces nutrients vital to your body. The 206 bones in your body hold you up, allow you to move and protect your internal organs. They’re growing and changing just like other parts of your body. Part A. The place where two bones meet is called a joint. And, while many joints move, some—like those in your skull—are fixed.

One kind of moving joint, a hinge joint, allows the bones to bend and straighten. Your elbows contain hinge joints. Another kind is called a balland-socket joint, because the round end of one bone fits into a cuplike area on another bone. Ball-and-socket joints allow the bones to swivel and turn in all directions. Your hips have ball-and-socket joints. People who build things use joints, too. How many examples of hinge joints and ball-and-socket joints can you find in things you might encounter every day? Make your lists in the space below. Hinge Joints Ball-and-Socket Joints

Part B. If you have ever broken a bone, how long did it take to heal? Professional athletes, such as hockey and football players, wear equipment to protect their bones. What are other examples of protective equipment in sports?
Clues. You need more than equipment to protect your bones, however—it’s also important to eat a diet rich in calcium. Calcium is a mineral that helps bones harden and become strong. If you don’t get enough, you could be at risk for osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to fracture easily. And if you don’t have enough calcium, your body will actually steal it from your bones. Your risk of developing osteoporosis depends in large part on how much bone mass you attain between the ages of 25 and 35. Bone mass is determined by: s your genes (the bone strength you inherit from your parents) s the amount of calcium in your diet s the amount of exercise you get Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt are high in calcium. What are some other good food sources of calcium? List them below and add them to your Body Maintenance Plan.

Move It or Lose It! Weight-bearing exercise done on your feet— walking, running, skiing, tennis, etc.—also can help to build strong bones as well as muscles. Did you eat any foods yesterday that had calcium in them? Did you exercise? Fill in the information below. Compare what you ate to the calcium sources you listed above. Do you need to improve in any areas? Yesterday I ate: Here’s where I could improve my diet and exercise plan: together to represent the different vertebrae.

Add-on Build a model spine by stringing Activity spools or other circular objects

© 2001 DCI/BBC

On the Other Hand
Student Objectives: To experiment with the sense of touch and to learn how fingerprints are classified. Materials: Small paper bags, rice, small paper clips, index cards, unpopped popcorn, sugar, seeds, sand

Part B. Provide students with this background: Fingerprints are ridges on our skin that make it easier for Post-viewing us to hold onto things. Just as everyone’s DNA is different, Activity no two people have the same fingerprints. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. Fingerprints can be classified by patterns— arches, loops and whorls—by the size of the patterns, and by the position of the patterns on the finger. Have students work in pairs. Each student should take a #2 pencil and make an “ink pad” by coating a small area (about 1 inch square) of the card with pencil lead. Each student should then take an impression of the pad of their index finger and pinky finger of the hand they write with.

After the student rolls one finger over the pencil lead, his or her partner will carefully “lift” the
fingerprint onto a piece of transparent tape and attach the tape to a blank The hand index card. The second print should be placed next to the first print. Students should label each print (e.g., left index finger) and write their name on the reverse side of the card. Designate one desk for loops, one for whorls and one for arches, and have students place their cards on the appropriate desk. Which is the most common pattern? (Use a magnifying glass if needed to see better.) Note: As a safeguard of their identity, have students destroy the fingerprints after they have created them.

Teaching Tips
Part A. Paper clip/bag activity: Partially fill the bags (enough so that each small group of students has one bag) with rice. Add several small paper clips and mix well. Students should close their eyes, reach into the bag, and try to pick out the paper clips. Identification activity: Coat the index cards with glue and cover each card with one of the materials. Place each coated card in a numbered bag. Students should reach into the bag and try to identify the material they are feeling. You can use this activity as a springboard to a discussion of the role of the hand as a sensory organ. Have students ever used their hands to feel their way down a dark hall? To pick an object from a drawer without looking? Have they ever noticed the Braille “bumps” next to the buttons in an elevator? You also might include a discussion of Braille, and even let students experience touching the letters in the Braille alphabet, or invite someone from the local Braille association to speak to the class about Braille.

Add-on Activities
s Modern fingerprint identification techniques date from 1880, when the British journal Nature published letters by Henry Faulds and William James Herschel that described the uniqueness of fingerprints. Have students do research to learn more about fingerprint classification as a crime-solving technique. What other purposes can fingerprinting serve (for example, identification of missing children)? s Students might do some research to find out how hands sweat and what triggers that response. s Ask if students have footprints from their birth in the hospital. They could call the hospital to ask why Arch fingerprints aren’t taken instead; could a
footprint really identify a baby?

Reproducible Master

our hands are truly amazing things. They help you pick up a pen and write. They help you throw a baseball, comb your hair and do so much more. As you saw in The Human Body, they were formed when cells died off from the original paddle-shaped structures you had as an embryo. Imagine trying to pick up a pen with paddle-shaped hands! Part A. Your sense of touch originates in the dermis, or bottom layer of your skin. Some areas of your body—like your fingertips— are more sensitive than others because they have more of the nerve endings that send signals to the brain. Place a penny on your desk. Close your eyes and pick it up. Is the side on the top heads or tails? Now open your eyes. Did you guess correctly?___________ Describe what you felt: ____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________ Close your eyes again. Reach into the bag prepared by your teacher and try to pick out a paper clip.

Open your eyes. Were you successful? ____________ What did you feel? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Now reach into each of the bags and try to identify what it contains. How did you do? Bag 1. I guessed: ____________________________________________________ It really was:____________________________________________________ Bag 2. I guessed: ____________________________________________________ It really was:____________________________________________________ Bag 3. I guessed: ____________________________________________________ It really was:____________________________________________________ Bag 4. I guessed: ____________________________________________________ It really was:____________________________________________________ Surface of a fingertip

Have you ever wondered why your thumb is stuck down there on the side, all by itself? Try this experiment to find out. First write your name on the first line below. Then have your partner tape the thumb to the index finger on the hand you write with. Write your name on the second line. What does your signature look like this time? Signature #1 ____________________________________________ Signature #2 ____________________________________________ While taped, try the following: Pick up a penny, comb your hair and button a shirt. After you are untaped, write a description on the back of this paper of how you felt and what happened.

Part B. Follow your teacher’s directions as you take your fingerprints. Then, answer the following questions: What kinds of patterns do you see in your index fingerprint? ______________________________________________ In your pinky fingerprint? ______________ How different are your prints from the prints of your partner’s hand? __________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Add-on Create a display that shows how our hands are different from the Activity paws of animals, and how those differences reflect our varied needs. Loop
© 2001 DCI/BBC

Living System

Student Objective: To consider how the different body systems work together. Materials: Advertising brochures for new cars (optional)

Teaching Tips
Part A. In preparation for this activity you might want to have students review ads and flyers for new cars, collected from dealer showrooms, to see how ad agencies promote the features of the various automobile systems in their sales brochures. For example, if students were to visualize the human body as if it were a new car with “loaded” features, they could use the following as a sample:

You may choose to share the following with students: X-rays, developed in 1895, use radiation waves to form images of organs and other objects Post-viewing Activity inside the body that show bones as white and softer tissues as different shades of gray Ultrasound, developed in . 1957, uses high-frequency sounds to create images of internal tissues. CT (or CAT) scans (computerized axial tomography), developed in 1967, use a highly sensitive X-ray beam that passes through the body and feeds information into a computer, creating a picture. MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging), developed in 1974, use computer-controlled radio waves and a magnetic field to create three-dimensional pictures of the inside of the body.

Add-on Activities
s Students might use dry pasta shapes, pipe cleaners, wire and other small objects to construct small models of the human skeleton—the backbone, for example. s Students might do online research and compile an annotated directory of Web sites about the human body. s Students might research and report on an athlete of their choice who has been in the news because of an injury, how the injury was diagnosed (MRI, CT scan, etc.), and the medical treatment he or she received. How different do they think the athlete’s chances for recovery are today compared to that of a past era or decade? s Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German physicist who discovered the X-ray, refused to patent his Lung cells discovery or realize any financial gain from it, preferring instead that the world benefit from his research. You might have students discuss the ethics involved in profiting from medical research. s Medical science has made tremendous progress in the field of organ transplants, but waiting lists for donors are long (as of spring 2001, they number 75,000 in the U.S. alone).

Not every patient who needs a transplant will get one, and difficult choices sometimes must be made. How would students feel if the choice for a transplant were between a close relative they loved, a celebrity they greatly admired, and a brilliant scientist whose work could potentially change the world? They could form a position panel to debate how transplant recipients should be selected—the person who needs it the most, the person who can pay the most, or the person who has the most to contribute to society. Or should there be some other way to choose?

Redesigned for 2001!
10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty! Look What You Get! Automatic Power Windows Power Locks Air Conditioning Power Steering Power Disc Brakes CD Player Power Mirrors Rear Defroster Tinted Glass Intermittent Wipers Tilt Wheel

The various features can be equated to those of the human body; for example, intermittent wipers function like eyelashes, which keep our eyes clear of irritants. Our ears give us stereo sound like the car’s sound system, and a V8 engine might equate to a strong, healthy heart. Encourage students to have fun and engage their imaginations as they write their brochures, but remind them that their copy must contain factual information. They might use the classroom computer to create their brochure’s layout and design. Part B. Have students write a plan for their Web site and create drawings to show what it would look like. Alternatively, each team might focus on one aspect as they work together to develop an actual class Web site.

Systems of Imaging
The Human Body gives us a remarkable glimpse of the amazing things that go on, hidden in our bodies. Today’s medical technology can provide high-resolution pictures of any organ or area of the body, avoiding exploratory surgery in many cases. 20

© 2001 DCI/BBC

The

Living System
Activity

An eyeball or a big toe by itself wouldn’t be worth very much. But, when you put them together with other body parts in a complete human body, you have one pretty incredible organism!

Part A. Imagine that you’ve just been named as a member of the lead copywriting team at the Beautiful Bodyworks Agency. Your job is to write the copy for a new brochure that’s designed to sell the human body as a
first-class system. Work with your team to develop sales copy or a slogan of 50 words or less to promote each of the following body systems. Next to the system, write the name of an object you think best represents it (see first example): s The Digestive System (wastebasket)

our brand new human Reproducible Master body will need the best body parts to make it zoom along in top form. What parts will you need to “hire” so that your body can eat, play sports and so on? List as many body parts below as you can and name their functions (see first example): Heart—pumps blood throughout the body; the engine that keeps me going Part B. Now, use the information you gathered in Part A of this activity as the foundation for the Beautiful Bodyworks Web site, to promote the human body. There are lots of other things you might do, too. s Create a body-parts puzzle that has an outlined body and major parts that Web users must put in the right places. s Develop an interactive display that shows how the parts of a disposable camera work like a human eye. How will you tie all the body parts and systems together? This is your chance to show how creative you can be. Get those neurons going!

Add-on Work in groups to develop model mini-ecosystems that Activity show how humans and other living things are linked in a web of life. Show how the sun, water, oxygen and other factors are part of how we function as people in our environment.

 Now, pull it all together in brochure copy that will make every reader want to own a genuine human body.

© 2001 DCI/BBC

21

s Activity 11

My Personal Body Inventory and Health Profile
Student Objective: To create a personal health profile. Materials: None

Add-On Activity
s Now that students have completed the unit

activities and have seen the film of The Human Body, you may wish to have fun with the quiz below. Photocopy this page, clip the quiz along the dotted
line, and distribute it to students. After they have tested themselves, you may wish to have them take copies home to family and friends, so everyone can see who is the smartest “brain” of all! Answers: The statements are all true with the exception of: 2. Over half the body’s bones are found in the hands and feet. 6. The brain weighs roughly three pounds. 7. Dolphins can hear 14 times better than humans. 8. Taste is the weakest of the senses. 11. The bone marrow manufactures red and white blood cells. 15. Your nose can tell the difference between 3,000 and 10,000 different odors.

Post-viewing Activity

Teaching Tips
This is a personal profile. Your students should take this activity master home along with the “Dear Parent” letter on page 24 of this guide, and complete it with their parents. Suggest that, if your students do not know some of the information (for example, blood type, blood pressure, and so on), they can have the tests done the next time they visit their doctor or at a free community screening, etc.

Did You Know That?

Interesting Facts About the Human Body
The Human Body is full of amazing information about the human body! Test your knowledge by answering true or false to each of these statements. After you’ve checked your answers, take another copy of the quiz home and test your family and friends. Who is the smartest “brain” of all? True False True False

1. The average person has about 10,000 taste buds in his or her mouth. 2. One-fourth of your body’s bones are in the hands and feet.

s 3. You’ll grow an average of 35 yards of hair today. s

4. Your heart will pump about one million barrels of blood during your lifetime—enough blood to fill more than three supertankers. s 5. You’ll make over 200 billion new red blood cells today.

1 If you laid all the DNA in your body end to 2. end, it would be more than 10 billion miles long. s 1 Your brain uses up nearly a fifth of all the 3. calories you eat or drink each day.

s 6. The brain of an average adult weighs 9 ounces. s

1 When your ears “pop,” it’s actually the eustachian 4. tube opening to make sure the air pressure is the same on both sides of your eardrum. s 1 When your nose is at its best you can tell the 5. difference between 1,000 and 5,000 different odors. 1 Your heart beats about 100,000 times | 6. in one day. 1 The longest bone in your body is the femur. 7.

7. Animals can hear better than humans, and dolphins have the best hearing of all. They can hear five times better than we can. s 8. Taste is the strongest of the five senses.

9. In three months, the average person grows over five inches of fingernails. s

18. You get dizzy after spinning around fast because the liquid in the semi-circular canals in your ears is still moving after you stop. s

22

© 2001 DCI/BBC

fter seeing The Human Body, you have a better appreciation for the daily miracles that make you who you are today and who you can be tomorrow, next year and for the next eight or nine decades. To help keep your future body in top physical and mental form, fill in the chart below. You may want to ask family members for help with some of this information. When you complete it, put it in a safe place and add to it from time to time to keep it current. My name: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _______________________________ My birth date:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _____________________________

My Personal Body Inventory and Health Profile A

Activity

11

Reproducible Master

Vaccination Record

I have been vaccinated against the following diseases: Type of vaccination Date of vaccination

Injuries/Illnesses
I have had the following injuries or illnesses (other than common colds): Injury/Illness Date

Physical Characteristics
I am _____________ tall and I weigh _______________. I am _____________ -handed. My skin color is ______________________________. My eye color is ______________________________. My hair color is ______________________________. Left thumb print Right thumb print

Allergies
I am allergic to:

Physical Activities
I participate in the following sports or activities: My blood type is ______. My blood pressure is ______. My resting pulse is ______ and my active pulse
is ______. Check one of each choice: s I think I am ___ left-brained ___ right-brained. s I am a ___ visual ___ auditory ___ kinesthetic learner. s I am ___ nearsighted ___ farsighted ___ neither. s I still have my (check if yes) ___ tonsils ___ appendix.

I have (number) ______ wisdom teeth.
© 2001 DCI/BBC

23

Dear Parent/Guardian:

A

s a special addition to this year’s classroom curriculum, your child’s class is planning a visit to the ___________________ Theater to view The Human Body.

Resources
Web Sites s The Human Body: www.thehumanbodyfilm.com s Cells Alive: www.cellsalive.com s Discovery Communications: www.discovery.com s Discovery School: www.school.discovery.com s Exploratorium: Brain Explorer:
www.exploratorium.edu/brain_explorer/index.html s Maryland Science Center: www.mdsci.org s Oregon Museum of Science and Technology: Life Science Lab: www.omsi.edu/explore/life s Science Museum of London: www.nmsi.ac.uk s Science Museum of Minnesota: Science of Sound and Sight: www.smm.org/sound/nocss/ activity/top.html s The Learning Channel (TLC): www.tlc.com s Yucky Gross & Cool Body: http://yucky.kids. discovery.com The Brain http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/what.html http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/lobe.html Mouth, Taste Buds, Etc. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tasty.html Nerve Cells, Synapses, Etc. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmodel.html http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/cells.html Olfactory System http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/nosek.html http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chems.html Books s The Robot Zoo: A Mechanical Guide to the Way Animals Work, by Philip Whitfield Obin. Turner Publishing, 1994. s Human Body Explorations: Hands-On Investigations of What Makes Us Tick, by Karen Kalumuck and the Exploratorium Teacher Institute. Kendall/Hunt, 2000.

The Human Body large-format film is co-produced by Discovery Pictures and the BBC. Discovery The trachea Pictures is a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., which includes The Learning Channel (TLC), Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and Discovery Health Channel. As coproducers of the film, Discovery Pictures and the BBC are extending their commitment to providing the quality, educational entertainment they are known for worldwide. The film uses state-of-the-art photographic techniques and the largeformat landscape to present an incredible journey into the body. Students will journey down the ear canal and into the caverns of the middle ear, where they will learn how our brains make sense of the sounds around us. They will follow a pizza lunch on its journey to the stomach and beyond. They will travel through the bloodstream and into the most spectacular muscle in our body—the heart. They will learn how the body’s systems and organs work together. X-ray image Pre-viewing and follow-up activities reinforce the concepts presented in the film.

These activities are designed to help students understand how the body works and—perhaps most important—how essential a healthy diet and lifestyle are to creating and maintaining a healthy body. After viewing the film, your child will be encouraged to talk with you about it and to share the activities and experiments he or she will have conducted in class. Be sure to take this special opportunity to review your child’s Personal Body Inventory and Health Profile, so he or she begins now to track important medical records and information needed in the years ahead. Sincerely, Credits Teacher’s Resource Guide for The Human Body was created by Youth Media International, Ltd., Easton, CT Roberta Nusim, Publisher Writer:

Carol A. Bruce Editor: Jane E. Fieberts Production Manager: Beth E. McNeal Art Director: Kathleen Giarrano Cover Design: Aspect Ratio Design Reviewers C. Ralph Adler, RMC Research Corporation, Portsmouth, NH Mary Rebecca Bures, Health Sciences Director, Discovery Place, Charlotte, NC Dianne Koval Butler, Marketing Manager, Discovery Pictures, Bethesda, MD Jim Heintzman, Educational Resources Manager, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN Mark E. Katz, President, nWave Pictures Distribution, Greenwich, CT Alex Patrick, Education Officer, BFI London IMAX Cinema and Science Museum, London Pete Yancone, Director, Education, Maryland Science Center, Baltimore, MD

The Human Body is a presentation of The Learning Channel and BBC Worldwide of a Discovery Pictures / BBC co-production in association with the Maryland Science Center and the Science Museum, London with major funding provided by the National Science Foundation and distributed by nWave Pictures Distribution.

P.O. Box 305, Easton, CT 06612 (203) 459-1562
www.youthmedia.com

Youth Media International Ltd.

Updated: Apr 29, 2023
Cite this page

An In-Depth Examination of the Bodys Intricacies. (2016, Apr 11). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-human-body-essay

An In-Depth Examination of the Bodys Intricacies essay
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