Making
One-Computer Teaching
Fun
By Soo Boo Tan
Soo describes how she uses a Java
applet to help
her students conceptualize the human heart. Here's a
description
of the entire activity.
This activity takes about 20–35 minutes, including
some time
for explanantion and feedback. Students can get it done in
one class
period!
Creating
a 3-D Model
- Bring
up the heart
animation Web page on your classroom
television and
go over the structure, parts, and working of the
heart. Leave
this Web site on the TV screen till the end of the
period.
- Then
ask students to form small groups to create a working
3-D model
of the human heart, which must be able to demonstrate
the path
of blood flowing through it in exactly the same way as
shown
in the animated model in the Web site.
- Give
each group a 12" length of foil to start with (more
can be given
out later if needed) and a large flat tray. They can
use the
foil in any way (tear, bend, fold, etc.) to construct
the walls
of the heart and the blood vessels. They will use the
beating
heart Web site as a guide.
- After
building the heart, students use an eyedropper to send
"blood"
(red food coloring in water) through their models to
demonstrate
how blood flows through the heart, explaining as they
tilt the
tray to allow the blood to flow from one part of the
heart to
the next, the names of the blood vessels, the
direction of blood
flow, and so on.
- Finally
after cleaning up, students sit down and write a short
description
of the path of blood through the heart without looking
at the
Web site or textbook. I allow them to sketch a diagram
to support
their description.
Also, they have to discuss how their model of the
heart is different
from an actual heart.
This
is a great activity to help students understand how the
heart works.
The 3-D aspect of the heart is usually not apparent to
students
at first glance. Often it is only when they try out the
path of
blood with their model that the students conceptualize it,
beginning
to visualize parts of the heart and their functions. Some
of my
students don't realize until they complete this activity
that the
aorta and pulmonary artery actually cross over each other!
I find
myself constantly refering to the pulsating heart on the
TV screen
as I send students back to reconstruct many a faulty
heart. I also
send students back to repair their heart if the "blood"
leaks out
from the walls because of sloppy foil-building. Can't have
a hole
in the heart or a defective heart. Throughout the period
you will
find the students looking up at the java-applet as they go
about
constructing and reconstructing their heart. A textbook
diagram
could never teach structure and function like this.
You could use any of the other Java applets on Human Anatomy Online in other anatomy
lessons.
Happy
teaching!
Soo Boo Tan
Copyright © 1998, ISTE (International Society for Technology
in Education).
All rights reserved.
|
