| Code |
Description |
| SC.5.L.14.1: | Identify the organs in the human body and describe their functions, including the skin, brain, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas, muscles and skeleton, reproductive organs, kidneys, bladder, and sensory organs. |
| SC.5.L.14.2: | Compare and contrast the function of organs and other physical structures of plants and animals, including humans, for example: some animals have skeletons for support -- some with internal skeletons others with exoskeletons -- while some plants have stems for support. |
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Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Science Salvage: | Students will investigate the relationship between an organ and its function focusing on the stomach, liver, small and large intestines, and pancreas. They will be given a budget when purchasing their items to make their organ prototypes (adding/subtracting decimals). |
| Mechanical Hands: | In this STEM design challenge, students will build a working hand model to examine the function of the skeletal and muscular systems. |
| Are you Inspiring?: | Have you ever wondered why we have lungs? What really controls our breathing? In this lesson, students will identify parts of the lungs and explain their functions. Students will also create a working model of the lungs. |
| Name That Organ!: | Can you name that organ with one clue? What about two? Students will get the opportunity to research organs and create clue cards with at least four clues that will help others Name That Organ! |
| The Three Main Sections of the Brain: | This lesson is an easy to follow guide to teaching students about the three main sections of the brain and some of their functions. |
| “Beating On and On…”: | Have you ever wondered why we have a heart? What is the hearts function within our body? In this lesson students will identify the parts of the heart and its functions in conjunction with the circulatory system. Students will be exposed to an interactive diagram where the parts of the heart are displayed individually its functions are explained. Students will get hands-on by completing several pulse experiments with their own heartbeat. |
| Work that Body- Human Organs MEA: | This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 5th grade level. In this open-ended problem, students are presented with a variety of exercise machines, the best health feature of each machine, prices, and popularity (based on a local competitor's gym). Students must rank the exercise machines and describe their procedures for ranking. The durability of each machine feature is later added as a twist so that students can revise or test their original procedures.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx |
| Body Swatter: | Students work in cooperative groups to research and write questions for an active game designed to review the major organs of the systems of the human body (digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and excretory system). |
| Frankenchicken: | It's ALIVE! Or is it? Engage students with a hands-on look at muscles, tissues, bones, bone marrow, cartilage, ligaments, tendons and connective tissue. It is an exciting way to hook students into learning the structures promoting a better understanding of how they work. It will be a lab students will refer back to and remember! The lab takes about 1 hour; however the research and presentations can take up to a week. |
| Are We Like Robots?: | This lesson explores the similarities between how a human being moves/walks and how a robot moves. This allows students to see the human body as a system, i.e., from the perspective of an engineer. It shows how movement results from (i) decision making, i.e., deciding to walk and move, and (ii) implementing the decision by conveying the decision to the muscle (human) or motor (robot). |
| Are We Like Robots?: | This lesson explores the similarities between how a human being moves/walks and how a robot moves. This allows students to see the human body as a system, i.e., from the perspective of an engineer. It shows how movement results from (i) decision making, i.e., deciding to walk and move, and (ii) implementing the decision by conveying the decision to the muscle (human) or motor (robot). |
| Is My Epidermis Showing?: | Have you ever wondered why we have skin? What is the skins function for our body? In this lesson, students will identify the parts of the skin and its functions in conjunction with the integumentary system. Students will be exposed to an interactive diagram where the parts of the skin are displayed individually its functions are explained. Students will get hands-on by creating a 3-dimensional model of the skin and its parts. |
| Kidney Filtering: | In this activity, students filter different substances through a plastic window screen, different sized hardware cloth and poultry netting. Their model shows how the thickness of a filter in the kidney is imperative in deciding what will be filtered out and what will stay within the blood stream. |
| Making the Cut!: | The general manager (GM) of a National Football League (NFL) team has to decide which injured players to going to cut (remove) from the team and which players to keep. This is a very difficult decision for the GM to make. The GM cares about the players and this decision will end the football careers of those who are cut. This happens every season, so the GM wants a system that can be used to make this decision every year. Experts in the organs of the human body and their functions are needed to create this system. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Walk, Run, Jump: | In this activity, students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. The students compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space. |
| Name |
Description |
| Dive Like a Dolphin-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students make predictions, then plan and conduct an investigation. They discuss whether their evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation and communicate the steps and results from their investigation. |
| Design a Sea Lion-A SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students investigate sea lion adaptations and create a sketch that illustrates a sea lion's body parts and adaptations. |
| Animal Mouth Structures: | In this teaching idea, students gather evidence to understand features that enable animals to meet their needs. In particular, students examine images and videos of the mouth structures of different animals to help them understand how animals are adapted to obtain food in their environment. |
| Create a Coral Polyp-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students will explore the structure, colonial lifestyle, and feeding strategy of a reef-building coral. |
| Do You Have the Strength?: | In this activity, students squeeze a tennis ball to demonstrate the strength of the human heart. Working in teams, they think of ways to keep the heart beating if the natural mechanism were to fail. The goal of this activity is to get students to understand the strength and resilience of the heart. |
| From the Inside Out-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | In this activity, the student will learn about fish anatomy as he or she builds a fish model. |
| Human Organ Project: | In this project idea, students are tasked with defending a specific organ and its need to survive in the body. Students write to support their positions and prepare a presentation for the class. |
| Scale Study-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | In this activity, the students will identify and describe three different types of fish scales. |
| Understanding Kidney Disease: | Students will have an opportunity to explore how the scientific method can be used to understand kidney disease and how the kidneys and urinary system work in the human body. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
