Science ideas

• Investigate which objects float in a bowl or sink filled with water. Check with an adult before you test the objects in the water!
• Draw pictures of a healthy meal and an unhealthy meal.
• Design an imaginary creature. Where does it live? What does it eat? How is it adapted to living in its environment? Could you make a food chain that includes your creature?
• Use yoghurt pots and string to make a telephone.
• Write a set of instructions to show people how to look after a plant.
• Place ice cubes in bowls in different places (for example by a window, in the fridge, in a cupboard). Which one will melt the fastest?
• Set up a simple Science experiment. Science Bob has some great suggestions.
• Blow some bubbles. Can you blow small bubbles? Could you make a giant bubble?
• Write some secret messages using invisible ink (you only need lemon juice for this activity).
• Choose your favourite animal and find out more about them using books or information online. Can you present the information in different ways (e.g. a poster, a written report or a video)?

What did you learn in Lesson 1?

Can you finish these sentences:

1. A human could never........

2. Humans and animals share......

In our Being Human Lesson 2 we will be looking at the work of 18th Century Doctor James Lind, who conducted the world's first known clinical trial. We will also find out how scientific ideas about food and diet were tested in the past and how this has contributed to our knowledge of a balanced diet.

Being Human Lesson 2 Activities

What did you learn in lesson 2?

Can you answer these questions:

1. What causes scurvy?

2. What can we do to ensure we don't cause any diseases caused by vitamin deficiencies?

TASK: How does the circulatory system work?

Write a description of how the circulatory system works. Include details about what is transported in the blood, how it gets into the blood and how the heart works. Don't forget to send us your descriptions so we can share and give you feedback.

Extra information about the heart

Did you know that your heart is made up of muscles? Not just any muscles, though! The muscles that keep your heart pumping are called cardiac muscles. They are particularly strong and can work constantly without becoming tired or sore the way other muscles often do.

Cardiac muscles are involuntary muscles, which means that they work whether you think about it or not. Think about the muscles in your arm. If you want to pick something up, you have to use your muscles to move your arm. Those muscles are voluntary muscles because you can control them.

The muscles that keep your heart pumping are involuntary because you cannot control them. It's a good thing, because if you forgot to tell your cardiac muscles to pump blood, even for a moment, it would cause a lot of problems for the rest of your body!

Human hearts have four chambers and work as a pump constantly delivering blood to the body.

Deoxygenated blood—which needs a fresh supply of oxygen—is brought by veins in from the body into the first chamber, known as the right atrium. The heart then pumps the blood through the first valve and into the right ventricle. Then it is pumped through the next valve and off to the lungs through a large artery.

In the lungs, the blood receives oxygen. From the lungs, the oxygenated blood is brought back to the heart. The blood passes through the left atrium through another valve and into the left ventricle; from there it is pumped through yet another valve into arteries to be taken to the rest of the body.

This process of pumping blood through the body is called circulation and it repeats itself all day, every day throughout your life! Valves act like doors in your heart, controlling how much blood goes in and out. The "lub dub" beating sound your heart makes comes mostly from the valves opening and closing.

Can you think of any other examples of a pump? How about the pump on a soap bottle? A pump like that also has a valve inside that allows the soap to come out of the tip rather than sliding back down the tube.

How about other kinds of valves? A sports drink bottle also has a valve that allows water out, but you can't pour water back in through it.

Heart Pump Investigation

Find out how the amazing muscles that make up your heart work to keep your blood pumping every day. Make a pump using a jar, a balloon, and two straws to get an idea of how your heart pumps blood.

What You Need:

• beaker or wide mouth jar
• large balloon**
• 2 flexible drinking straws
• wooden skewer
• scissors
• water
• tape
• large pan or sink

What You Do:

1. Fill the jar half full of water.
2. Cut the neck of the balloon off at the part where it starts to widen into a balloon. Set the neck part aside.
3. Stretch the balloon over the opening of the jar, pulling it down as tightly as you can. The flatter you can get the surface of the balloon, the better.
4. Carefully use the tip of a skewer to poke two holes in the surface of the balloon. Make them about an inch apart from each other and near opposite edges of the jar.
5. Stick the long part of a straw into each hole. The straws should fit securely in the holes so no air can get through around the straws.
6. Slide the uncut end of the balloon neck onto one of the straws and tape it around the straw.
7. Set your pump in a large pan or the sink to catch the pumped water. Bend the straws downward. Gently press in the center of the stretched balloon and watch what happens to the water in the jar.

What Happened:

You made a simple pump that moved water from the jar through the straws and into the pan. The cut end of the balloon worked as a valve to stop the water from going back down the straw. Your heart pumps blood out into your body through your arteries in a similar way.  

Human hearts have four separate chambers inside. This pump shows how one chamber and its valve works.

A valve is used to keep blood that has been pumped from one chamber to another from flowing back into the chamber it came from.

Try taking the balloon valve off of the straw and pump water again. Did you notice anything different? You likely saw that water still came out of the straw, but without the valve, there was nothing to keep some water from going back down the straw.

In order to keep blood moving through your heart and into your body, your heart needs valves to separate its chambers.

Original project found here.

What did you learn in lesson 3?

Can you answer these questions:

What is the job of the circulatory system? 

How does the circulatory system work?

What happens to your heart rate when you exercise?

Take your pulse before and after exercise and record your results ready to send to your class teacher.

What kind of exercise will you be doing? 
How long will you do your exercise for?
 

What is your resting pulse rate?    ______beats per minute.
What do you predict your pulse rate will be after exercise? 

Now do your exercise and count your pulse as soon as you have finished. 
What is your pulse rate after exercise? _______beats per minute.

Was your prediction correct? Why? Why not?

How many more times did your heartbeat in a minute after you exercised? 
What does this tell you about how exercise affects your heart?
What other changes did you notice in your body as you were exercising? 
What do you think would happen if you exercised again for a longer time and why? 
 

Can you find out how different types of exercise affect your body? How could you investigate this? 

What did you learn in Lesson 4?

Can you explain how the heart is affected through exercise?

What does the heart need to stay healthy?

Being Human Lesson 5 Activities

What did you learn in Lesson 5?

How do your muscles work to move different parts of the skeleton?

Do you know why muscles need an increased flow of blood when you are exercising? 

Fun Brain Facts

• Did you know that our brains use 20% of the body’s energy, but only make up about 2% of it’s weight?

• Our brain is surrounded by a liquid called cerebrospinal fluid which acts like a cushion in case we bang our heads and also helps keep infections out.

• The human skull is made up of 22 bones joined together.

The brain can be divided up into six main areas:

The frontal lobe

• reasoning, planning, parts of speech and movement, emotions, and problem-solving

The Parietal lobe 

• Senses touch, pressure, temperature and pain

The Occipital lobe 

• Controls vision

The Temporal lobe 

• Recognition of hearing and memory

The Cerebellum  

• Controls and coordinates movements of the muscles

The Brain stem

• In charge of keeping the automatic systems of your body working, like breathing!

How to make a play dough brain model

Roll each colour playdough into a sausage shape and wind it around itself to represent the ridges and grooves seen in the brain.

The outer part of the brain is called the Cerebrum, which is divided into two hemispheres, by a central fissure. Each Hemisphere is split into the 4 lobes, as shown above. Under the Cerebrum are the Cerebellum and the Brain Stem.

with thanks to https://www.science-sparks.com/make-a-model-brain/