Human Body Systems
Ever since I was a young girl, I have always been crazy about the human body and the amazing things the body could do. At a young age, I noticed how the body could heal scrapes and wounds that I got from play structures. In elementary school, I fractured my arm during fencing practice. At the doctor’s office, I was wondering why I only came out with a cast. With time, my body healed itself and I was astonished at what the human body could do. In Season 10 about Kingdom Animalia, I learned so much about the different body systems and I want to share the content with you. Hopefully, I can teach more curious children about our awesome body systems through this book.
Want to study and learn more about the human body systems? Check out this free resource that provides an (introductory) infographic, an activity/article, and a graphic organizer for EACH body system! (BTW, don’t get carried away… I ended up staying on this resource for about an hour 😬!)
https://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/human-body-systems/tr40161.tr
Also, check out these video about the human body systems! All your systems work hard together in harmony to in order to keep you healthy, safe, and protected. For this reason, let’s celebrate our bodies!
Arabella’s star review on these resources:
Fetal Pig
Growing up, I heard stories from my mother about how she was able to dissect cats, frogs, and baby sharks in medical school! When I heard about the fetal pig dissection in AP Biology, I was so excited. Although I was not able to get full hands-on experience, Mrs. Girard still showed us the dissection via Zoom!
Image taken by Mrs. Girard
Prior to watching the fetal pig dissection, I never realized how similar pigs are to humans. I found this idea very fascinating when we were going through the pig’s anatomy. Also, I was surprised to see that diagrams online look extremely similar to the actual body!
Images taken by Mrs. Girard
The image on the left is the fetal pig’s heart. Blood flows through the entire body, carrying different products such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hormones! There are several blood vessels and structures that is part of the circulatory system such as the superior and inferior vena cava, right atrium, tricuspid valve, right ventricle, pulmonary semilunar valve, pulmonary trunk, pulmonary arteries, left atrium, pulmonary veins, left atrium, mitral valve, left ventricle, aortic semilunar valve, and the aorta. The heart also has 4 chambers, which makes the heart so efficient because the several chambers don’t allow oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix! Around the heart is the pericardium, which is a membrane that is responsible for holding the heart in place, prevents the heart from getting too big in size, serves as a layer of protection from diseases or infections, and lubricates heart muscles.
We also covered several other body systems, such as the digestive, respiratory, and reproduction systems; however, I thought the circulatory system was the most fascinating. When the heart was cut in half, I was so surprised to see the right and left ventricles because of how intricate they looked.
The abdominal and thoracic cavity were also very surprising to me because I did not expect for the organs to look very similar to labeled images online of the body. I was able to see the liver, diaphragm, heart, gallbladder, pancreas, and the large & small intestine (as seen in the image on the left). As a class, we discussed the functions of these organs in the body. The liver produces bile, stores sugars and nutrients, removes toxins, and so much more! The gallbladder stores bile from the liver, while the pancreas aides in food digestion and regulates blood sugar. When food passes the small intestine, nutrients are taken, while the large intestine (or colon) absorbs water from the food. Thinking about how food moves through our body and leaves as feces (or poop!) is just absolutely fascinating to me.
One curious question I have is: If humans and pigs are so similar in anatomy, why has evolution for both organisms been so drastically different?
Citations
Amoeba Sisters, director. Human Body Systems Functions Overview: The 11 Champions (Updated). YouTube, YouTube, 24 Apr. 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEUu-A2wfSE.
Gabriel, Angeli. Human Body 101 | National Geographic. YouTube, YouTube, 1 Dec. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4MadKPJC0.
“Human Body Systems.” Carolina Biological Supply, Carolina Biological Supply Company, http://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/human-body-systems/tr40161.tr.
Arabella Krystienne's AP Biology Blog 
Ahhh the anatomy, I remember my time back then on the accident I had when I was putting formalin in a cat for dissection that backfired to my face when the syringe malfunctioned. Too bad in the 3rd world countries back then, safety wasn’t a priority. I do remember the same fascination you had about animal anatomy. Studying all the systems that a living organism could possibly have. I like how you have summarized the systems with catchy icons and such. I wonder, which system amazed you most? It would be fun if the images you created by systems can be overlaid in top of each other to see the system integration but that’s a bigger and harder task to do. Thanks for sharing the articles, I never realized that it has been such a long time since I looked at the human systems. Kudos to you!
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Arabella, There is so much information in this post. You used a variety of resources to engage your audience. Love that you created a “picture” book with emojis, diagrams, and a flowchart. Very visual. Do you have an electronic copy of your “book”? I’d love to use it with students in the future?
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