Body System and Frog Dissection

Evidence of Work

This project took us to explore body systems. The first part of this unit was learning about the human organs and organ systems. We obviously only did this through textbook research and by making posters of each body system, and then walking around taking notes off of every other poster. This gave us a decent understanding of what each body system is, and what it does.

The second component to this unit was the frog dissection, where we put the knowledge of body systems to work by cutting open frogs and identifying various organs, and concluding what organ system they are part of.

Content

Organ
- Made of tissues, make up organ systems
- Perform necessary life functions
  - Heart
    - Pumps blood
  - Lungs
    - Exchanges gases
  - Liver
    - Filters blood from digestive tract
  - Brain
    - Controls body functions, allows conscious thought
  - Kidneys
    - Filter blood, turns waste into urine
  - Stomach
    - Digest food
Organ system
- Systems of organs helping each other perform different tasks
  - Circulatory system
    - Transfer materials to other parts of the body
      - Heart
      - Veins
      - Arteries
      - Capillaries
  - Respiratory system
    - Exchange gases with the atmosphere
      - Lungs
      - Trachea
  - Digestive system
    - Break down foods into necessary molecules
      - Pharynx
      - Esophagus
      - Stomach
      - Small intestine
      - Large intestine
  - Nervous system
    - Sends and receives signals
      - Brain
      - Brain stem
      - Spinal cord
      - Nerves
      - Eyes
      - Ears
  - Skeletal system
    - Supports and protects the body
      - Bones
  - Endocrine system
    - Controls growth and development through hormones
      - Thyroid gland
      - Parathyroid
      - Hypothalamus
      - Pituitary gland
      - Pineal gland
      - Thymus
      - Adrenals
      - Pancreas
      - Ovaries
      - Testes
  - Muscular system
    - Allows for voluntary and involuntary movement
      - Cardiac muscles
      - Skeletal muscles
      - Smooth muscles
  - Lymphatic system
    - Protects the body against disease
      - Lymph nodes
      - Tonsils
      - Thymus
      - Spleen
  - Excretory system
    - Disposes of waste
      - Bladder
      - Sweat glands
      - Liver
      - Lungs
Organism
- A collection of all of the above.

Reflection

Yet again, a successful project. A hands-on exploration of organ systems, there was bound to be some upsides and downsides to each student's performance. One of my strong points was Communication, because as I was cutting the frog open, I needed to get the procedure without having to go and read through it myself. Also, I demonstrated Conscientious Learner skills throughout this project by actively identifying what I was cutting open.

However, my partner and I never really used Collaboration, because one of us would be doing the packet, and the other would be doing the dissection. We never collaborated on the same thing. Also, I did get frustrated once when my partner didn't help clean up, demonstrating a momentary lack of Character.