All Systems Go!

Ages 8-10
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What You Need

• An All Systems Go! activity sheet for each student [download PDF]
• An apple or other healthy snack
• Pencils or pens
• Computers with Internet access

Background

You might not give much thought to how your body operates throughout the day. For instance, 206 bones make up the skeletal system that holds us up. Tendons, ligaments, and muscles are part of the muscular system that helps us move around. Body systems, including the digestive, skeletal, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems work together. For instance, your stomach, part of the digestive system, sends messages to your brain, part of the nervous system, when your body is hungry. Respiratory and circulatory systems work together to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the entire body. There are different systems within the human body and these systems work independently and together to form a functioning human body.

Activity Instructions

Set-Up

Hold up an apple or snack. Ask your group: “If I were to eat this, what body parts would I use?” (There are several body parts that could be used: teeth and jaw muscles for biting and chewing; the throat and esophagus for swallowing; and the stomach for breaking down the food. You may want to write these on a blackboard.)

Now ask: “If you have the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines working together, what do all of those body parts make up?” (They make up the digestive system.) “What would happen if say, the esophagus were not there?” (What you want kids to realize through discussion is that parts make up a system, and work together for the system to function. If you take a part away, the system would not work to its full potential or at all.)

Now, students can play the All Systems Go! interactive to see if they can correctly place body parts in the appropriate system.

Activity

Give each student an All Systems Go! activity sheet and a pencil. The student activity sheet will provide students with the URL to access the student web page and interactive.

They will do an online interactive that instructs them to construct the following:

• The digestive system: esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine
• The skeletal system: skull, rib cage, pelvis, and femur
• The respiratory and circulatory systems: arteries and veins, heart, trachea, and lungs
• The nervous system: spinal chord, brain, nerve net, eyes, nose, and ears

As kids move through the activity, ask them if they can think of other body parts not pictured in the game that might be included in each system. After they've completed the activity, they can answer the questions on their student sheet and, if there's time, you can discuss the answers as a group.

Related Activities

For a continuation of exploring body systems, send kids to Your Gross and Cool Body.

Learning Goals

Benchmarks for Science Literacy

In something that consists of many parts, the parts usually influence one another. -- 11A Common Themes: Systems (3-5) #1

National Science Education Standards

Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. -- Life Science Standards: Characteristics of organisms (K-4) #1

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