Summary Look at your own blood, find your pulse and look at a real heart Science content Biology: Features, Adaptations of Living Things (K, 1, 3, 7) Biology: Sensing, Organ Systems (4, 5, 6) Activities in this lesson Blood vessels, pulse and heartbeat Heart dissection CO2 acidifies water Procedure First find places that you can see your own blood. (See Blood vessels, pulse and heartbeat activity.) Work with a partner to shine the flashlingt on or through your skin to find places that your blood is near the surface. The heart pushes the blood through the blood vessels, to carry oxygen to all the cells of our body. Look at photos of a heart and videos of it beating: Or if available, look at a real heart to see the impressive heart muscle that pushes the blood through the entire body, and look at other parts of the heart including the valves. Wash hands. Students listen to their own heart beat using a stethoscope (see Blood vessels, pulse and heartbeat activity) and connect the sound to the closing of the valves on the real heart. Students feel their pulse (see Blood vessels, pulse and heartbeat activity) and discuss that is is the movement of the blood that you are feeling. This can be run as two stations to switch between, to halve the number of stethoscopes required (they should wipe the ear pieces off after use). As a class, measure pulse before and after 30 seconds of vigorous on-the-spot exercise, to see that the pulse goes up automatically, to bring more oxygen to your cells and to remove the increased CO2 made by the body exercising. When you exercise, your heart rate increases automatically. Do the CO2 acidifies water activity to find out how the brain measures blood acidity levels and signals the heart rate to increase. Grades taught Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 4 Gr 5
