Circulatory System: The Beat Goes On!
With schools focusing on physical fitness activities, now is the perfect time to teach students about the circulatory system.
By Jennifer Sinsel
“My heart feels like it’s going to jump right out of my chest!” exclaimed one of my second graders as he completed his turn with the jump rope and handed it off to a classmate. “Why does it do that?” he then asked.
Around this time of year, many schools are participating in Jump Rope for Heart, an event geared toward raising money for the American Heart Association. While most of the event centers around physical fitness, it’s also a great opportunity to integrate some science.
All children are curious about how their bodies work, and it makes sense to learn about the circulatory system in conjunction with Jump Rope for Heart. Because there is some difficult and often misused vocabulary associated with the circulatory system, I like to use the Frayer Model in order to teach vocabulary words in this unit. Using this strategy, students create a graphic organizer with the vocabulary word in the center. In each corner of the paper, they put four boxes with the titles: Definition, Characteristics, Examples, and Non-examples. For a term such as artery, the definition might read “blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.” Characteristics could include “thick, muscular walls” and “carries blood at high pressure.” Examples of arteries are the aorta and arterioles, while non-examples include veins and capillaries. Students can refer back to their graphic organizers while completing other activities during the unit.
Once they have a basic understanding of circulatory system vocabulary, they can use their knowledge to complete online heart dissections (or real ones, if you choose to order cow or sheep hearts from a scientific supply company!), conduct investigations related to heart rate, or listen to a guest speaker (such as a cardiologist) discuss his/her career. As a culminating activity, my students enjoy creating a travel brochure describing a trip through the circulatory system. Their brochure must trace the path of a drop of blood as it travels from the right atrium to the aorta using both words and pictures, and they are allowed to be as creative as possible while still providing factual information. With the brochures, we create a bulletin board display to advertise Jump Rope for Heart. For more activities involving the circulatory system, try the following lesson plans.
Circulatory System Activities and Lessons:
In this lesson students learn about the circulatory system and find out how exercise effects heart rate. They compare their heart rate before and after physical activity. Students look at a target heart rate chart and caluculate heart rates.
This lesson has students discuss what pulse is and measure heart rates. They compare heart rates in different situations. They make a device to measure heart rates, monitor heart rates, and record the results. Students talk about how engineers design complex heart rate monitors.
How Does the Cardiovascular System Work?
In this lessson students learn about the cardiovascular system. They identify the parts of this system and describe how each part works together. Students trace the path of a blood cell as it makes its way through the cardiovascular system.