Our Inner City: The Human Body

This class is for individuals with either a VERY basic understanding of anatomy and physiology or for individuals with no prior experience learning about these subjects.

Class meeting 1: Skeleton, Muscles, Brain and Nervous System
Class meeting 2: Heart, Lungs, practice and exploration activities 

What is this class talking about very specifically: 

Basic anatomy and physiology will be taught in a way for learners with little understanding of these systems to enjoy. It would be a good idea to make sure learners at least understand that the body has bones, muscles, a brain, nerves, a heart, and lungs. However, this class is an introductory anatomy class and would be most appropriate for someone who has seen anatomy in the past but hasn’t taken a full class on it. 

Skeleton: How the skeleton is a support system and its important jobs such as protecting internal organs, storing minerals, and creating blood cells. Examples will be given of types of bones and their function such as the skull bones, arm bones, and leg bones. 

Muscles (muscular system): How muscles help us move around with different types of movements like sitting or smiling. The makeup of muscles and how they are like small rubber bands adding up to make a bigger structure. We will talk about the 3 different muscle types and examples of each. Then we will name some easy to understand muscles like the biceps and do a short muscle dance to see the movements these muscles cause. 

Brain( part of the neurological system): We will talk about how the brain is like our inner supercomputer and the other structures are part of that computer like the spinal cord and nerves. We will use the idea of the brain taking “photos, videos, and calling your family” to explain how memory, thinking, and communication throughout the body via the nervous system works. We will then do an activity to see how a message gets sent from the brain all the way to our hands so that we can pick up our phone. 

Heart (part of the cardiovascular system): We will talk about how the heart is a large pump for blood and how to understand these through a water pump and water hose example. We will talk about the location and size of the heart and its chambers as well as what the blood does for the body. We will then show simple images of parts of the heart and how the blood flows through the heart and to the body. Finally, we will do 2 activities to show how the heart expands and contracts the same way our hands do when we clap and how to feel the heart beating by finding our pulse and taking out heart rate. 

Lungs (part of the respiratory system): We will talk about how lungs are big balloons and air filters as well as where they are located in the body and how they help to take in oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. We will quickly talk about what oxygen and carbon dioxide do to the body and we will talk about how the blood helps deliver and remove these gases. Finally, we will simulate how breathing happens and what happens to our body as we take a deep breath in and exhale out. 

How these sections will be taught:

The class is broken down into 2 35 minute meetings to permit students to explore concepts in between meetings as well as facilitate learning and make the topics easier to digest. 

We will give examples/metaphors to make these ideas more clear after each detailed slide 

Application and exploration exercises to see if students can summarize 1 thing each of these systems can do using the metaphors we will use in class

An optional exploration exercise will be given to students to explore all the ideas covered in class on their own. The tools shared will be a free package of online resources related to the anatomy and physiology discussed including videos, quizzes, and online articles. 

This class will be taught through a google slides presentation and dialogue between myself and the students.
 
Takeaway points: 
We will be going over each of the body systems previously discussed, giving easy to remember examples of how they function and what they do and using hands-on activities to solidify what we have learned in the class