In this unit, students learn about the form and function of the human heart through lecture, research and dissection. Following the steps of the Legacy Cycle, students brainstorm, research, design and present viable solutions to various heart conditions as presented through a unit challenge. Additionally, students study how heart valves work and investigate how faulty valves can be replaced with new ones through advancements in engineering and technology. This unit demonstrates to students how and why the heart is such a powerful organ in our bodies

Students study how heart valves work and investigate how valves that become faulty over time can be replaced with advancements in engineering and technology. Learning about the flow of blood through the heart, students are able to fully understand how and why the heart is such a powerful organ in our bodies.

This site answers questions such as:

What Does the Heart Do?
What Does the Circulatory System Do?
What Are the Parts of the Heart?
What Are the Parts of the Circulatory System?
How Does the Heart Beat?
How Can I Help Keep My Heart Healthy?

This site also includes a diagram of the circulatory system.

Students learn about the form and function of the human heart through lecture, research and dissection. They brainstorm ideas that pertain to various heart conditions and organize these ideas into categories that help them research possible solutions. An expert in the field of cardiac valve research was interviewed for this lesson and shares his ideas with the class. Students conclude by researching various possible heart defects.

Students learn about the form and function of the human heart through the dissection of sheep hearts. They learn about the different parts of the heart and are able to identify the anatomical structures and compare them to the all of the structural components of the human heart they learned about in the associated lesson, Heart to Heart.

Students use provided materials to design and build prototype artificial heart valves. Their functioning is demonstrated using water to simulate the flow of blood through the heart. Upon completion, teams demonstrate their fully functional prototypes to the rest of the class, along with a pamphlet that describes the device and how it works.

Students are introduced to several types of common medical sensor devices, such as ear and forehead thermometers, glucometers and wrist blood pressure monitors; they use the latter to measure their blood pressure and pulse rates. Students also measure their heights and weights in order to calculate their BMIs (body mass index). Then they use the collected data to create and analyze scatterplots of the different variables to determine if any relationships exist between the measured variables. Discussions about the trends observed and possible health concerns conclude the activity.

Students learn how to take blood pressure by observing a teacher demonstration and then practicing on fellow classmates in small groups. Once the hands-on component of this activity is completed, the class brainstorms and discusses how blood pressure might affect a person's health. This activity acts as hook for the second lesson in this unit, in which blood pressure is presented in detail, as well as how variances in blood pressure can affect a person's cardiovascular system.