Kate Loftus – Unit Plan Design – Circulatory & Respiratory Systems

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Title: Stayin’ Alive!

Unit Description:
The purpose of this unit is to allow students to explore the interactions between
the circulatory and respiratory systems, and their importance within the human body.
The driving question used for this unit will be "Is it more important for our hearts to beat
or for our lungs to breathe?" The ultimate goal will be for students to realize the
interdependence of these two functions, and their role in keeping humans alive and
healthy. Throughout the study of the human body, connections between all organ
systems will be made, since research shows that learning is more meaningful when
bridges are created between topics than in learning the concepts in isolation.

Emphasis will be placed on the importance of knowledge of the human body as

an essential life skill for all citizens, since it will be relative to all people throughout their
lives. It is also intended that students will link together the information learned in this
unit with their studies from the beginning of the year, including the characteristics of
living things and cellular function.

Students will conduct independent research on various topics, such as life-saving

techniques related to circulatory and respiratory function, the health of these systems,
etc. In class, students will investigate the parts of the systems, including observing
blood and calf hearts, and conducting experiments on the relationships between lung
capacity, pulse, and exhalation rate. Reading, writing, and online activities will also
enhance the learning of this topic.

Unit Enduring Understandings:

1. All organ systems of the human body are interdependent upon one another, and
have specific purposes to maintain the body.
2. Cells are the basic unit of structure & function in all organ systems.
3. Interactions between cells, tissues, organs and organ systems are the reason our
bodies stay healthy and function normally.

Unit Essential Questions:

1. Is it more important for your heart to beat or your lungs to breathe?
2. How do the circulatory and respiratory systems support the human body?
3. How do the circulatory and respiratory systems function together?
4. Why are blood and oxygen important to us?
What students will need to know and be able to do (knowledge and skills):

The heart is the center of the circulatory system and pumps blood throughout the
body.

The alveoli in the lungs are the sites of the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide
molecules to/from the blood.

The diaphragm facilitates inhalation and exhalation.

The trachea and bronchi are tubes that filter air prior to entering the lungs.

The blood is the transportation system for many of the nutrients and wastes
needed or created by the body’s cells.

Oxygenated blood travels through the arteries, and deoxygenated blood travels
through the veins.

Blood pressure is determined by how well the heart pumps blood, which directly
affects how well materials travel through the body.

Blood is made of plasma, red cells, white cells, and platelets.

Plasma contains nutrients which travel to cells through lymph.

Red cells carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.

White cells fight diseases.

Platelets clot wounds.

The health of the circulatory and respiratory systems can be measured by vital
signs, such as pulse, blood pressure, exhalation rate, and lung capacity.

Diseases with the circulatory system affect the respiratory system, and vice
versa.

Blood type is determined by markers on the red blood cells, and is essential
factor in receiving blood from a donor.

Without oxygen and nutrients, cells cannot create energy; therefore, they cannot
survive.

Materials move in and out of cells through the process of diffusion.

Red blood cells do not live long, and new ones are constantly created in the
bone marrow.

What do students typically misunderstand?

 Blood does not travel from the heart to the lungs.

 Blood is not contained in vessels; rather, it flows openly throughout the body.
 One blood cell travels through all veins and arteries in the body prior to returning
to the heart.
 Air tubes carry air to the body’s cells.
 Blood is created in the heart.
 The heart is completely hollow, without chambers.
 Blood, itself, is vital to life. (as opposed to the materials the blood is carrying)
 Nutrients and oxygen “ooze” into a cell.
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Title: Body Business Plan

Goal: Understand the importance of the heart and lungs in the body.

Role: Each student is the CEO of the body, the brain. They will make the decision for
the final budget plan for the body.

Audience: The audience will be the body council, including representatives from all
organs of the body.

Situation: As the brain of the body, the student has the decision of allocating $1million
dollars between the heart and the lungs. Based on their importance in the body,
students must decide how much of the money each organ will receive. The money may
be completely designated to one organ, or may be divided in some way between the
two.

Product: An address to the company in the form of a letter will be written by each
student to justify the decision. Also, a graphic organizer will be provided to show the
allocation of the budget between the heart and lungs.

Standards:
COMPANY LETTER:
INFORMATION:
The letter describes the evidence that was used to make the decision. The letter must
accurately address both organs and their functions within the body.
ORGANIZATION:
The letter is written using proper English, and is organized in a manner that is easy to
understand and has flow.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER:
INFORMATION:
The organizer contains accurate information in a clear fashion.
ORGANIZATION:
The organizer is neatly arranged in a way that clearly shows the outcome of the budget
decision. It should contain a few sentences to summarize the final judgment.
TECHNOLOGY PRESENTATION:
The organizer should be created using a computer program, such as Word or Power
Point, should be neatly done, and words should be easy to see and read.
Preconceptions Assessment:
1. How does oxygen get to a cell in the body? How does it get into a cell?
2. Draw a picture of a cross-section, or the inside, of the heart.
3. Does blood go to the lungs? Why or why not?
4. Where is blood made?
5. Why is blood important?
6. Draw a flow chart to show all the stops a drop of blood makes on its travels.

Quizzes, Tests, and Academic Prompts:

Students will take quizzes to assess their knowledge of the vocabulary associated with
the topic.
Students will take tests to demonstrate their understanding of the functions of the heart
and lungs.
Students will create a presentation based on their group assignment (maintenance of
organs, life-saving techniques, etc.) to answer the driving question “Is it more important
for the heart to beat or the lungs to breathe?”
Students will perform lab activities to measure the relationships between pulse, blood
pressure, lung capacity, and exhalation rate.
Students will view blood cells and calf hearts.

Other Evidence:
Students will record evidence they learn in their “company” notebooks.
Students will submit writing samples periodically to show their knowledge of the topic.
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences, Instruction, and Resources

Where are they headed and why?

Begin by reviewing the six characteristics of living things. Remind students that the
purpose of studying the human body is to understand what keeps us alive. Two
functions of the body that keep us alive are our heart beat and our breathing. Introduce
the driving question for the unit “Is it more important to breathe or have a heart beat?”
Conduct the preconceptions assessment.

Hook
Present the rubrics for the Body Business Plan and the presentations for the groups that
will research topics for the driving question (see last pages). A class discussion will
provide ideas for concepts to investigate to determine the answer to the driving
question. Final groups should incorporate some of the ideas from the discussion, but
should ultimately consist of these: life-saving techniques, respiratory and circulatory
disorders, and keeping your heart and lungs healthy.

Experience

*Online Heart Transplant & associated teacher-developed questions:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/transplantwave.html - completed independently at
home

*Calf Heart Dissection: Teacher will dissect, and students will draw and label parts while
investigating the chambers and vessels.

*Online Sheep Heart Dissection - http://www.zerobio.com/videos/sheep_heart_anatomy.html -

Use with the Calf Heart to show the differences and similarities between the two.

* Vital Signs Experiment: Students will test lung capacity, carbon dioxide exhalation and
pulse and blood pressure to research the correlation between them. A lab report will be
written at the conclusion of the tests.

* Microscope Slides - Students will investigate what blood looks like by viewing
prepared slides under the microscope.

*I Am Joe’s Heart and Lung articles – Describe the functions of these organs from first
person of the organ. Students should identify key words in the articles.

*Hollywood or Hospital activity – determine if patient would survive a blood transfusion

based on blood type combinations.

* Blood typing simulation – determine which blood types can mix, and which cannot

* Blood-letting – read story about blood-letting – displays the importance of blood

*Emphysema description – read brief description of emphysema – displays the
importance of lungs

* Red Gold – Journey of Blood – information about blood

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/journey/index.html

* Review of Diffusion Labs – egg in various liquids – Students will review exemplar lab
report conclusions which described the process of diffusion on a cell. This will remind
students how materials transport in and out of the cell.

* Pump Your Blood song – reviews, generally, the path of blood through the body –
Singing this song every three days allows students to remember the path easily.

* Blood recipe – Using everyday items to represent the parts of blood and mix them
together.

*Online pictures of cardiovascular & respiratory systems:

http://www.nucleusinc.com/animation2.php - Can be used to show what the organs of
the system look like – animations and illustrations

*Animation of Lymph Node inflammation:

http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/lymph_nodes_animation_000486.htmj - Displays
what “swollen glands” are

* Brain Pop videos on blood, lungs, and heart – reviews functions of the circulatory and
respiratory systems

*Super Healers site: http://www.smm.org/tissues/healers_intro.php - reviews the

functions of blood components

*Review of bone marrow – remind students where red blood cells are created
(previously discussed in bone chapter)

*Web pictures of lungs – healthy vs. unhealthy lungs, animation of lung irritants and
reaction by body

*Research & presentations of group information on driving question topics – Reserve

the computer lab one day for groups to find and print research. Students should review
the research for homework, and present their findings in class. Any additional research
will be conducted at home.
Reflect
Students will keep “company” journals as they learn information relating to the driving
question. They will also record important ideas from other groups which will help them
determine which system is more vital to the body – circulatory or respiratory. Twice
during the group projects, students will write a reflection paragraph to evaluate how well
their project is progressing. Prior to the exhibit portion of the project, select answers
from the preconception assessment will be presented to students. They will briefly
respond to each preconception assessment question by listing the reasons why they
believe average citizens and fellow students do/did not understand the correct
responses.

Exhibit
Students will choose three of the preconception assessment questions and create a 8 ½
x 11 inch sign informing others of the truthful answer to it. These posters will be
displayed in the hallway, and the most effective answers of each will be scanned and
attached to the teacher’s eBoard website. Students will also take a traditional
assessment to practice responding to the facts in the enduring understandings as well
as the “What students will need to know” statements. This assessment will help
students to prepare for the cumulative multiple-choice final exam at the end of the year.
Rubric for Lab Reports
1 point Title – must be appropriate, creativity is encouraged!

2 points Purpose – must be clearly written in statement form

4 points Hypothesis – 2 points for clarity, 2 points for being based

on past knowledge, experience and/or
observations

2 points Materials – must be complete

3 points Procedure – must be numbered & complete – unless you

created the procedure, you need only write
“See lab instructions” or “See page … in the
textbook”

10 points Data – 4 points for having complete information,

3 points for organization, and 3 points for
appropriate labels on all parts – all graphs must be
created using Microsoft Excel
Illustration (when appropriate) – title of what the
illustration shows, labels on all parts

13 points Conclusion
4 points for stating what happened (relates to the
purpose)
5 points for explaining whether or not the hypothesis
was supported and what led you to decide that it was or was not
supported
4 points for stating what was learned, or describing patterns, or
comparing to others’ results – try to include all of these

5 points Application – Give an example of how you can use the

information or skills in real life, an invention that could
be created using what you learned, or how you might
use what you learned to explain how something else
works
3 points for having a specific example,
2 points for having an appropriate example

Theory guides, experiment decides.

~Unknown
Remember:
When writing your lab report, keep in mind that the purpose of the report is
to inform any reader about what you did and what you learned from your
experiment. For example, your social studies teacher should be able to
clearly understand how you conducted the lab, and the results you
discovered, even though he was not in the class at the time of the
experiment. This is your chance to show the world what you know, and
prove that you are a true scientist!

Basic steps – How to create an XY scatter plot in Excel

1. Enter one set of values in column A, starting with rows 1, 2, 3…
Enter the other set of values in column B the same way.
2. Click on Insert, then Chart.
3. Click on XY scatter, then “Scatter with data points connected by
smooth lines.” Then, click on Next.
4. Click on Series, and click on the box with the arrow to the right of “X
values.” Highlight the set of numbers you want on your x-axis. (This
should be the dependent variable, the thing that you did not change,
but was altered as a result of your experiment.)
5. Click on Series, and click on the box with the arrow to the right of “X
values.” Highlight the set of numbers you want on your x-axis. (This
should be the dependent variable, the thing that you did not change,
but was altered as a result of your experiment.) Then, click on the
arrow box to the right of the formula that was automatically entered in
the pop-up box.
6. Do the same thing to enter your “Y values” numbers. (This should be
the independent variable, or the thing that you changed during each
stage of your experiment.)
7. Click Next. Enter a title for your graph, and the name of the values
on your x and y axes. REMEMBER TO INCLUDE UNITS!
8. Click Next, and Finish. You can now paste your graph into your lab
report.
I’m finished!
 Oral Presentation Rubric : Individual Circ/Resp Presentation
Teacher Name: Ms. Loftus
Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement

Content Shows a full Shows a good Shows a good Does not seem to
understanding of the understanding of the understanding of understand the topic
topic. (13-16 points) topic. (9-12 points) parts of the topic. (5- very well. (0-4 points)
8 points)

Preparedness Student is completely Student seems pretty The student is Student does not
prepared and has prepared but might somewhat prepared, seem at all prepared
obviously rehearsed. have needed a but it is clear that to present. (0 points)
(3 points) couple more rehearsal was
rehearsals. (2 points) lacking. (1 point)

Comprehension Student is able to Student is able to Student is able to Student is unable to

accurately answer accurately answer accurately answer a accurately answer
almost all questions most questions few questions posed questions posed by
posed by classmates posed by classmates by classmates about classmates about the
about the topic. (3 about the topic. (2 the topic. (1 point) topic. (0 points)
points) points)

Posture and Eye Stands up straight, Stands up straight Sometimes stands up Slouches and/or
Contact looks relaxed and and establishes eye straight and does not look at
confident. Establishes contact with establishes eye people during the
eye contact with everyone in the room contact. (1 point) presentation. (0
everyone in the room during the points)
during the presentation. (2
presentation. (3 points)
points)

Volume Volume is loud Volume is loud Volume is loud Volume often too soft
enough to be heard enough to be heard enough to be heard to be heard by all
by all audience by all audience by all audience audience members.
members throughout members at least members at least (0 points)
the presentation. (3 90% of the time. (2 80% of the time. (1
points) points) point)

Speaks Clearly Speaks clearly and Speaks clearly and Speaks clearly and Often mumbles or
distinctly all (100- distinctly all (100- distinctly most ( 94- can not be
95%) the time, and 95%) the time, but 85%) of the time. understood OR
mispronounces no mispronounces one Mispronounces no mispronounces more
words. (3 points) word. (2 points) more than one word. than one word. (0
(1 point) points)
Information Page - Student uses several Student uses 1 prop Student uses 1 prop The student uses no
submitted prior to pieces of information that shows which makes the props OR the props
presentation, and (graphs, bullets, considerable presentation better. chosen do not
placed in a packet pictures) that show work/creativity and (2 points) contribute
with other groups' considerable which make the educationally to the
information work/creativity and presentation better. presentation. (0
which make the (3 points) points)
presentation better. (4
points)

Date Created: Apr 02, 2006 04:55 pm (CDT)

Letter-Writing : Body Business Plan

Teacher Name: Ms. Loftus
Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement

Content Accuracy The letter contains at The letter contains 6- The letter contains 1- The letter contains no
least 10 accurate 9 accurate facts 5 accurate facts accurate facts about
facts about the topic. about the topic. (6-9 about the topic. (1-5 the topic. (0 points)
(10 points) points) points)

Evidence Every claim is Most claims are Few claims are All claims are
supported by factual supported by factual supported by factual unsupported by
evidence. (5 points) evidence. (3-4 points) evidence. (1-2 points) factual evidence. (0
points)

Length The letter is 15 or The letter is 12-14 The letter is 9-11 The letter is less than
more sentences. (3 sentences. (2 points) sentences. (1 point) 8 sentences. (0
points) points)

Ideas Ideas were expressed Ideas were Ideas were The letter seemed to
in a clear and expressed in a pretty somewhat organized, be a collection of
organized fashion. It clear manner, but the but were not very unrelated sentences.
was easy to figure out organziation could clear. It took more It was very difficult to
the decision reached. have been better OR than one reading to figure out what
(3 points) the decision was not figure out the decision was
clearly stated. (2 decision reached. (1 reached. (0 points)
points) point)
Grammar & spelling Writer makes no Writer makes 1-2 Writer makes 3-4 Writer makes more
(conventions) errors in grammar or errors in grammar errors in grammar than 4 errors in
spelling. (4 points) and/or spelling. (2-3 and/or spelling (1 grammar and/or
points) point) spelling. (0 points)

Date Created: Apr 02, 2006 05:19 pm (CDT)

Making A Poster : Body Business Plan Organizer

Teacher Name: Kate Loftus
Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement

Content - Accuracy At least 5 accurate 3-4 accurate facts 1-2 accurate facts No accurate facts are
facts are displayed on are displayed on the are displayed on the displayed on the
the poster. (5 points) poster. (3-4 points) poster. (1-2 points) poster. (0 points)

Required Elements The poster includes All required elements All but 1 of the Several required
all required elements are included on the required elements elements were
as well as additional poster. (2 points) are included on the missing. (0 points)
information. (3 points) poster. (1 point)

Labels All items of Almost all items of Several items of Labels are too small
importance on the importance on the importance on the to view OR no
poster are clearly poster are clearly poster are clearly important items were
labeled and text is labeled and text is labeled and text is labeled. (0 points)
easy to read. (3 easy to read. (2 easy to read. (1
points) points) point)

Attractiveness - The poster is The poster is The poster is The poster is

Created on computer exceptionally attractive in terms of acceptably attractive distractingly messy or
program attractive in terms of design, layout and though it may be a bit very poorly designed.
design, layout, and neatness. (3 points) messy. (2 points) It is not attractive OR
neatness. (4 points) it was not created on
a computer program.
(0-1 points)

Date Created: Apr 02, 2006 05:33 pm (CDT)