Central idea:
The effective interactions between human body system contribute to health and survival.
Lines of inquiry:
Our journey
We looked into Body Systems and how it is interconnected. Keeping a healthy mind and body is essential. For this reason, we tapped into the brain and nervous system to answer some essential questions like, “Does my brain really have a memory? How do I balance my thoughts? and many more.
Our amazing journey started off with a quiz as a pre-assessment tool and we realized that we have lots to discover/uncover about our bodies and how it actually functions.
Our first leg of the journey was the skeletal system. Students showed great enthusiasm towards designing their own display boards. Students worked in groups/pairs and in this cooperative setting, they soon discover each other’s strengths and capitalize on it. They did a lot of research and realized the importance of extracting important details from text. Through observation, discussions, feedback and reflections, the journey unfolded in acquisition of valuable knowledge, NO BONES ABOUT THAT!!!!!!!
Next, we tuned into the Nervous System. We collaborated with the Art teacher and students made “clay Brain models”
Tapping further into the brain and Nervous system took the students on a health quest. We discovered the cause of many illnesses like headaches, flu’s. and stomachaches. We went further to inquire about medicines, traditional and medicinal. Students connected with their own health issues, at school and at home. This led them to formulate question for the school nurse. Students did a very successful interview with the school nurse, who in turn answered most of their queries.
The potential of visiting the doctor and getting vaccines, raised some serious questions about how we can practice health enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks. Our parents had some serious explaining to do. We interviewed our parents to find out about our vaccine status and their efforts to help us to stay healthy. Here’s a peek at what they had to say!
We ended our unit with a presentation. Students simply applied their knowledge gained over the course of the unit, and put together a presentation. We assessed speaking and group work skills.
