Old Version Digestive System

The digestive system is responsible for taking the food that you eat and transforming it into a form that cells can use. It must break down your food, remove the nutrients, pass the nutrients and some waste products to the circulatory system (blood), and then get rid of whatever is left over.

Like every other organ system, the digestive system is very complex. It is possible to study the digestive system in a very basic way, and it is possible to study it in a very complex way. In 7th grade Health Science, we need to study it somewhere in the middle. You won't be expected to understand all of the chemical processes that take place during digestion, nor will you be expected to be able to describe all of the things that happen to your food on its way through the digestive tract. What you do need is a basic understanding of how the digestive system provides all of your cells with the nutrients they need. This will require you to know the names and functions of the major organs that form the digestive system, as well as some of the chemicals that help the digestive system to function.

For the digestive system, I will not be creating a separate section of information here in the Online Textbook. Instead, I am providing links to the videos and the readings that contain all of the information you will need for the test. I am also posting Study Guide. If you are able to answer the questions in the study guide, you should do great on the test. If there are questions that you do not understand, please bring those questions to class.

Learning Links

First, here is a link to the Bill Nye Digestion video that we viewed in class. This video provides a good overview of how the digestive system works.

Second, here is a link to the Crash Course Biology video that we watched in class. As I explained in class, this video moves very quickly and assumes that you know some things that you haven't learned yet (it was designed for high school Biology students). When watching this video, pause it often. Remember that the reason that I showed it in class was so that you could understand the concept and importance of surface area. You are going to need to have this concept nailed down when we move to the Respiratory and Circulatory systems.

Third, I have provided a link so that you can view, download, or print the Digestive process handout that we used in class for the structured journal activity.

Finally, I have provided a link so that you can view, download, or print a Study Guide. See if you can answer all of the questions in the Study Guide. If you can't, go back and review the videos, the handout, and your Structured Journal from your composition book. If you still have questions, ask me in class.