Lesson 3: Path of Oxygen
What We're Going to Learn and Why it Matters
We've been talking about muscles for a few days. For all of those muscle cells to work, they'll need energy. Our body primarily releases the ATP energy needed to move actin and myosin fibers around through cellular respiration: a cascade of chemical reactions that ends by running (my favorite) ATP synthase enzyme. Here's the catch. Cellular respiration requires oxygen and muscles deep in your body are far from the air. How does that oxygen get there?
By the end of this lesson, you'll be a be able to trace the path that oxygen follows through the body to a muscle cell AND apply what you've learned about that path to argue for the evolutionary advantages of having a heart set up the way that the human heart is.
By the end of this lesson, you'll be a be able to trace the path that oxygen follows through the body to a muscle cell AND apply what you've learned about that path to argue for the evolutionary advantages of having a heart set up the way that the human heart is.
Small Group: Prediction
(15:00 minutes)
In your small group, take a poster and divide it in half to make space for two pictures. (One will be your prediction BEFORE you delve into resources; the other will be for AFTER you do.) In the BEFORE half, make a labeled illustration to show how one molecule of oxygen gets from the air into a cell in a specific muscle. (How about deltoids? I like deltoids.) In another color, show the path that carbon dioxide waste will take as it leaves the body.
Your model should
You know the drill by now. Don’t use your text yet. Use color. Put your names on it. .
In your small group, take a poster and divide it in half to make space for two pictures. (One will be your prediction BEFORE you delve into resources; the other will be for AFTER you do.) In the BEFORE half, make a labeled illustration to show how one molecule of oxygen gets from the air into a cell in a specific muscle. (How about deltoids? I like deltoids.) In another color, show the path that carbon dioxide waste will take as it leaves the body.
Your model should
- names all of the organs, tissues, or structures that you include in your explanation
- give a numbered list of steps that describe (in full sentences) the processes that cause/allow the oxygen to get there
You know the drill by now. Don’t use your text yet. Use color. Put your names on it. .
Summarizing the Scientific Model
Below is a list of body structures (and one physiological process) that are part of the scientific model that would explain how our oxygen molecule gets to that deltoid muscle.
What are these things? What roles do they play?
With your group, read chapters 39.5 to find out. (A peek at 39.6 may also be helpful.) Talk it out. Use some notes to organize your thinking. Then close your text and make a revised picture on the AFTER side of your poster. (Don't forget to include the numbered list of steps as well.) Update your first model to
Snap a picture. Post it to Classroom.
- aorta
- arterioles
- artery
- atrium pl. atria (left and right)
- capillary
- capillary bed
- diffusion
- heart
- pulmonary circulation (or circuit)
- systemic circulation (or circuit)
- vavle
- vein
- ventricle (left and right)
- venules
What are these things? What roles do they play?
With your group, read chapters 39.5 to find out. (A peek at 39.6 may also be helpful.) Talk it out. Use some notes to organize your thinking. Then close your text and make a revised picture on the AFTER side of your poster. (Don't forget to include the numbered list of steps as well.) Update your first model to
- capture the roles of the all the items above
- reflect the ideas (and the depth) of the text.
Snap a picture. Post it to Classroom.
Individual Summary
(4:00 minutes)
Look at both posters. In the question on Google classroom, describe how your models differ. Then reflect on how your thinking has changed as a result of today's lesson. Thanks for playing!
Look at both posters. In the question on Google classroom, describe how your models differ. Then reflect on how your thinking has changed as a result of today's lesson. Thanks for playing!
Homework
Ventricular Septal Defect is a common congenital heart defect. Based on your work from the last two activities, what’s the big deal with this defect? Would it be serious or relatively benign? What effects would it have on the person who had it?