Science
Digestion
A practical session to model the stages of the
incredible human digestive system
There was gagging and guffawing aplenty during this practical!
We simulated the different teeth ripping, shredding, crushing and mushing before each 'mouthful' was swallowed. The bolus travelled down the oesophagus to the stomach where it was met with an acid attack. Here, we acted as the stomach muscles that pummel and pound the food until we considered the chyme clean enough to pas into the small intestine where digestion actually occurs. The tiny holes in the tights acted like the walls of the small intestine as we could see the 'goodness' pass through them. The final stage - the large intestine - gave the most gore as we absorbed the water from the leftover waster to form a semi-solid lump. Cutting the toe off the tight meant we could even simulate the toilet trip!
Disgusted or delighted... it was certainly a memorable morning!
Making casts of our teeth using fluffy white bread!
LIVING THINGS
School is a HABITAT. Within this, there are countless MICROHABITATS, each providing a home for living things which have specific needs. We explored our school grounds and identified different area that provide a home to living things. Back in class, we then sorted and grouped the living things we know live in our local habitat. We found lots of ways of doing this and also discussed how sorting by 'opinion' is not scientific.
Following this, we explored how dichotomous keys can be used to sort and classify animals based on features and characteristics. We worked hard to generate questions that would sort and single out individual creatures from our local environment.
Can you think of any questions we could have used?
