The human body systems
The nervous and the respiratory system
Science project in CLIL
To continue with, I am going to present my teaching unit, but not all of it. I will only present how the sessions are distributed. To see extra features like the contents and competences worked, how the diversity is attended, etc, go to the end of this page.
MY IMPLEMENTATION: session by session
1 |
Introduction to the T.U |
- 1h 30 min -
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I enter to the class dressed as a scientist (once I put on the costum, I never stop talking in English. This helps them to change their language mindset too). Discussion on why am I there, and what do scientists do. Then we look at the "What do we want to know?" display to revise which questions and body systems have we worked previously (the first part of the project, which was not done by me), and which questions we still need to answer. We discover that we have some questions about the lungs and the respiratory system, so we decide to work on them.
I tell them that in order to learn about the respiratory system we will observe an experiment made with common material, but first they need to guess which material will represent every part of the respiratory system. I have a table with the material placed on it, and I present the material. I ask them if they know the name in English (and if not, Student L helps them). Then I pronounce and show the card with its name (they need to repeat after me). Then I stick the name right below the material.
(Note: in the class they have the "Project corner" in which they have brought a lot of books about the human body, and they are familiar with them because they have been doing research on them while working the other systems of the human body).
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In this activity they look at the books to get inspired on which material can represent every part. Then we put the opinions in common and I reveal the truth. I show them the experiment done (we will not have time to do it in the class, and the meaningful learning comes when observing how it works).
I ask them "what do you think it will happen when I blow through the straws?". This question is aimed to take conscious on the scientific process: this is the hypothesis (they have been learning the parts of the scientific report in other projects, so it will be a reinforcement). They say the hypothesis aloud and we will come back to them.
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We look at the video about the respiratory system. Discussion on the first scene of the video. "What does it mean to breathe in and breathe out?" Body expression: I say "breathe in" and they need to represent it. Then we repeat with "breath out".
2 |
Going deeper on the respiratory system |
- 1h -
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Daily routines and class vocabulary: greeting the Scientist Txell when she enters the classroom, removing everything from the table, doing active listening, etc. Refresh the first session. Ask them to breathe in and breathe out. Watch the video again without stopping.
We analyze the video. First thing we pay attention: our body needs the oxygen to live! As they have learned more human body systems, they know why we need it. We focus then on the difference of air and oxygen (as it is related with two questions of their "What do we want to know?"). Comparisons to understand these two concepts.
When we reach at the alveoli, we make a role play. Some volunteers (better if they wear red) represent the red globules of the blood, which go to the alveoli (more students needed to represent them) to exchange the carbon dioxide for the oxygen that our body needs. The students will represent the movement of the red globules and the meeting with the alveoli, where they will exchange the arrows (with the names of "oxygen" and "carbon dioxide") that they were holding.
3 |
The respiratory system quiz |
- 1h -
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I handle out a paper sheet with the questions of the quiz to every child. I also give each of them three little cards with the letters A, B and C. I put the PPT with the quiz and read and explain the question. Some simple sentences are aimed to be worked during this session too. These are: "Take your blue/ green pen", "Show me your answer" and "Is everyone ready?". They need to think about the answer, mark it in their papers and then take the letter card. Once I say "Show me your answers" they need to raise the letter that they have chosen. This is useful for me to have a general idea on how well they are performing before checking their papers, and to see if they are ready to move on to the next question.
(Note: the paper with this answers is added to the "Project memory" that they create of the whole human system, which is brought home at the end of the term. This serves as an assessment activity + a product of the T.U).
(Note: the paper with this answers is added to the "Project memory" that they create of the whole human system, which is brought home at the end of the term. This serves as an assessment activity + a product of the T.U).
4 |
Introduction on the nervous system |
- 1h -
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The scientist Txell asks again what do we still need to discover about the "What do we want to know?" display. We see that we need to answer the questions "How does the brain work?" and "How do the nerves work?", so we need to talk about the nervous system.
Explanation of the nervous system: with the help of visual images (PPT) and a display of the nervous system (without the name of its parts) we will learn about the nervous system. First of all, I show them a picture of the brain and I ask them what is it. My aim is that they answer that it is an organ (they have been working this a lot in Catalan, so the link should be done). We talk about the characteristic of the organs, which is that they are the responsibles of doing specific functions, so we need to discover the functions of the brain.
We use the comparison of the pirate boat and our body in order to understand the nervous system: our body represents a pirate ship. This ship, in order to move needs the orders from the captain (so the captain represents the brain, which controls our body). The pirates are placed all over the ship, looking at what happens outside (our pirates represent our senses, which percieve the information coming from outside). When the pirates see something, they inform the captain (the same happens with our body: if it is snowing outside, our touch feels the cold and informs our brain). The pirates then send a message to the captain (brain) through the sensory nerves. The captain (brain) reads the message and sends an answer, which goes through the motor nerves (because it ends up with an action that our body does). In the example of the boy that feels cold, the motor answer would be "put on a jacket".
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Revise the concepts: go through the explanation as many times as needed, taking them as examples (i.e. throwing a soft ball to one of them. "What has happened now?" Exploring and guessing which may be the messages sent between our body and our brain). Talk about what is the spinal cord, and place the names of the parts in the nervous system display. |
Examples of the PPT: I give each one of them two cards (one saying "Sensory nerves" and the other saying "Motor nerves". We look at the examples in the PPT, I say one possible message that can be sent in that situation and they need to guess if it goes through the sensory nerves or the motor nerves (so, they need to guess who sends this message and why).
5 |
Assessment on the nervous system |
- 1h -
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Interactive activities. This lesson is carried out in the computer room or in the regular classroom with laptops (depending on the disponibility of the moment). A pdf document is posted in the common server of the school. Children open it and it contains a lot of different activities on the topic of the nervous system. The activities are marked with green, orange and red colours according to their difficulty. The activities count the number of mistakes, and when children finish one activity they need to advise the teacher so that she/he can supervise how it is going. A part from these interactive activities, there is also a hands-on activity on sequence: there are 3 situations and 2 messages each (like the activities done previously in the class). Children need to guess which message goes through the sensory nerves and which one through the motor nerves.
(Note: the paper sheet with the links of the activities + an image with the names of the parts of the nervous system is added to the "Project memory" document of the whole human body and is brought home when the term finishes -it is like the product of the T.U).
(Note: the paper sheet with the links of the activities + an image with the names of the parts of the nervous system is added to the "Project memory" document of the whole human body and is brought home when the term finishes -it is like the product of the T.U).