Blog Post #6 Human Body Game
Introduction
This interactive tool designed for students in elementary and middle school engages students digitally in order to explore skeletal, muscular, digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems. It utilizes drag-and-drop interactive models, quizzes, and 3D diagrams. Students discover how bones supplement movement, how nutrition travels through the digestive tract, and how blood circulates.
Integration
This simulation seamlessly follows along a health curriculum track focusing on anatomy and physiology. It cracks the surface level introduction to the systems that students will need to learn for future courses, as well as how and why their body needs exercise. The major objectives in the simulation are to identify skeletal features and their functions, trace the digestive tract, and illustrate how the heart and lungs support circulation. One way to integrate the simulation into classwork is to have students first construct a paper skeleton, a muscular diagram and circulatory system then have them translate it over to the simulation. By transferring it over to the simulation, a more hands on, digital approach may resonate more with students.
Implementation
Informal assessment and a discussion should be a precursor to the lesson. Questions like Where does water go when we drink? What body parts are needed to run? And what organ pumps blood? This will provide a base for prior knowledge. After showing diagrams and pushing repetition of vocabulary then we can introduce the simulation. A couple of group questions and demonstrations before allowing for individual learning. Examples of differentiation are to allow ELL’s a bilingual diagram while using and pushing advanced learners tackle challenge quizzes or mini-research tasks.
Assessment
Assessment will be informal to start. Prompting questions about incorrect answers or asking what else or what more that bone/muscle can do is a base for understanding. More formal assessment will be to assess students’ understanding and digital literacy by collecting completed worksheets and game quiz score. Further, ask students to write a short explanation of a body system using the technology as a resource. Assessments can include rubric-based evaluation of specific vocabulary, explanation of body systems, and digital literacy like being able to carry what they gathered from the simulation to paper or discussion. Lastly, the most challenging form of assessment is to push student limits and have them dive into more research-based projects like how we can improve bone and muscle function.
https://thehumanbodygame.co.uk/



Hi Sonny,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really neat website! This could be used in many different classes in addition to health. I know at my school we offer anatomy and physiology as an elective. This would be a great resource for that class. I used the website to explore the various functions and there's so many features that make this versatile across many different science disciplines.
Additionally, if students have the chrome translate extension on their devices already, this website will translate the text. This makes it a great resource for all students. As you mentioned, providing ELL students with the paper diagram in their native language would be a helpful additional support. This would be a great way for students to explore the body while also learning vocabulary!
Hi Sonny,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of providing a diagram to go along with this simulation. In my classroom we do a unit of body systems and I am always looking for engaging and interactive ways to supplement their learning. As I went through the digestive system simulation I realized that the body apron and Bill Nye videos that I am already showing my class would work nicely together.