The Interactive Science Classroom
Grades 4-6
Grade 5 Understanding Life Systems:
Human Organ Systems
LEGEND:
Individual Activity
Group Activity
Demonstration
Outdoor Activity
Having a model to play with and experiment with can help your students understand the respiratory system. For this activity, you can either choose to have your students build the lung system themselves or you can build it and have it on display in the classroom for the students to manipulate.
If you do have your students build the model, it is preferable to use an inquiry-based approach. For example, give your students a set of materials and ask them to create a model that represents the respiratory system. Without a set of instructions, this activity will get them thinking about how the system works and how the materials given can represent its functions.
Create a Lung Model
Combining DPA with Science Class
Why not combine physical activity with your science class? A big part of this unit is not only teaching students about the different systems in our body but also relating these to our health.
Show your students how to measure their heart rate when they are resting. You will want to practice finding their pulses and counting the beats per minute. After your students are comfortable with this, lead an exercise, such as doing thirty jumping jacks in a row. Have students then re-evaluate their heart rates and compare them to their resting heart rates.
Challenge students to come up with their own exercises to do with the class over the next few weeks. Whose exercise increased your heart rate the most? Was the hardest exercise the same for everyone?
Relate heart rates to the circulatory and the respiratory system. Why does our heart rate go up when we exercise? What other times does our heart rate increase?
Check out this YouTube Channel for some great "Just Dance" videos. Your students can move to their favourite songs while also getting some DPA!
The National Geographic website has a great section on the human body. The model of the human body is interactive; students can move their cursor over the different parts of the body and click on them to learn more about their functions and how they relate to health.
This website is a great way to show students how the systems in the body are connected to each other and how they work together.
