This lesson will continue the study of each of the 11 systems of the human body as a class. It will strengthen each students' understanding of a system that they are assigned, and through peer participation, they will be exposed to and learn about other body systems. The project itself is 3 parts: research, transformation and creation/presentation. In research (covered in this lesson) students will research one particular system of the body, in transformation they will take pertinent information and transform it into a "tour" of their system, and in creation/presentation they will turn their "tour" into a travel brochure and present it to the class. Prior to this lesson, it is imperative that students have a basic understanding of the cell and cell diversity, tissues and their functions and at least an overview of the systems themselves. Following this unit, I find it important to review each system in more detail as the lesson supports learning of the basics of each system and some detail, but student understanding of each system is usually not deep enough. Typically, I "fill in the gaps" to complete the necessary information. Students will acheive a greater learning and appreciation of the systems through their research and transformation of the information into a fun and creative format. They will see the complexity of the system and just how important each system is, and that they are linked to form a smooth operating organism.

Scientists usually inquire about how physical, living, or designed systems function. Conceptual principles and knowledge guide scientific inquiries. Historical and current scientific knowledge influence the design and interpretation of investigations and the evaluation of proposed explanations made by other scientists.

For this lesson of the unit, students will have needed to complete their research questions from Lesson 1 of this unit. No other skills are necessary.

This segment of the unit may prove the most challenging for your students. Students will now take the information acquired in the research segment of the unit and transform it into a "tour" of their system. For example, the student may write of the Digestive system "The first stop on today's tour is in the Cave of Mastication (mouth). It is here that solid foods are broken down by mechanical and enzymatic actions. Once food has passed through the mouth, it continues down the line through the Esophageal Expressway. It's time to take a little trip to our next stop..." I recommend having a few tools such as a thesaurus, medical terms dictionary and real travel brochures on hand. These will help your students in their task.

Assessment is a bit tricky in this segment, as the student's projects vary widely, based on the creativity and language proficiency of the group. Typically, I grade based on the following: -One entry for each organ in the system -Written in the style of a tour guide -Explanation within the entry of the function of each organ Participation points are also accrued.

Here is the handout I use with my class: Tongue to Toe Tours Congratulations on your new career as a roving reporter for the firm of Tongue to Toe Tours. It will undoubtedly be a challeging and rewarding career. For your first assignment, your boss, Seymour Anatomi, the famous physiologist has assigned you the system listed below. I'm sure that you're a bit nervous as you really want to impress the boss. He's told you that he needs a new travel brochure for an upcoming tour of your system. He's given you a few guidelines for the brochure: -Write an entry for each of the organ stops on the tour of your system. -Make sure to include highlights from each of the stops on the tour. Explain the functions as you will be writing for the novice tourist who has never visited your system before. -Use correct anatomical terms such as superior, inferior, medial, lateral, proximal and distal -Write an appealing brochure, sure to stir the emotions of those tourists who may be taking a tour of your system Make sure that before you submit your brochure draft that it's free of grammar and spelling errors. The boss hates mistakes! Once it's received his editorial approval, it will be off to art & design to complete your brochure to make it print ready. Good Luck! -

Computers for word processing Internet Access is often useful Printer