Welcome to Anatomy and Physiology! We will explore all aspects of the human body beginning with the microscopic. We will take a look at the chemistry of life and cells, and then move on to those parts of the body that involve covering, support, and movement. After exploring the integumentary, muscular, and skeletal systems, the next will involve regulation in the body through the nervous and the endocrine systems. Next semester we will take a look at all the systems that contribute to maintenance of the body including the cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, urinary, digestive, and immune systems. And finally we will explore the reproductive system and heredity. Throughout these units we will see God’s amazing design of how structure serves function to make the human body the incredible organism that it is. We will learn in a variety of ways, including labs, group work, writing, and more.

August 13 (Week 1)

We started off Anatomy this week by receiving our textbooks and taking a look at expectations, procedures, and safety guidelines for class. We received notes and handouts to keep in binders that will guide our unit. We found out a bit about what we already know about Anatomy and started to investigate a mystery disease. In doing so, we reviewed some science terms like qualitative and quantitative data and introduced some ideas that we will look at in Chapter 1 like levels of organization and regions of the body. We talked about how to do our homework reading and how to rank our own understanding.  I am looking forward to Week 2 as we will continue to investigate our mystery disease and use some of the terminology from Chapter 1 for our frog dissection! See the link below to see the slides that guided our class. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lbZKaqkWeXpJb2wlVrW3RfFpSJZlifcwA1XqkSzV7uk/edit?usp=sharing

August 20 (Week 2)

Today in anatomy we filled out some information on possible diseases that could be responsible for the mystery illness we are investigating. We touched on a few concepts that related the illness to the chemistry of life, which is the theme of Chapter 2. We took notes on some of the concepts in chapter 1, and then completed our frog dissection! During the dissection, we paid attention to those parts of the frog that are similar to humans and tried to use some of the terminology we learned in Chapter 1 like, “ventral, dorsal, medial, distal, sagittal, transverse”, etc. Here are the slides that guided our class: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rr6H7asibPe_cqPDJ9UD1MyyVswWdqEJ9Toe-xINDaA/edit?usp=sharing

August 27 (Week 3)

This week in Anatomy we began by taking notes on the regions and cavities of the body as well as homeostasis. We continued taking notes on body chemistry, and saw a video clip on intense, unexpected chemicals found in the human body. We also paused for a demonstration of the important reaction of cellular respiration (and fermentation) using yeast and apple juice. We ended notes with a video on the 4 major macromolecules and went on to do a lab on identifying starch, a common carbohydrate, in different foods and liquids using the iodine test.  We will write up a lab report on this as part of homework this week. We also revisited our patient with the mystery disease  and discovered an imbalance of gut bacteria to consider next week. Here is the link to the slides that guided our class today: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b5N5QBqWx4GlYHB6gkwJ6ieDW5W15aQyGFxtIW508hA/edit?usp=sharing

September 3 (Week 4)

In Anatomy we began by finishing a few notes on macromolecules. Then we took an open note quiz over major points from chapters 1 and 2.  We took some more notes on the microbiome and watched a short video clip before doing a station activity. Station 1 gave us some more information on the mystery disease and its effect on neurons.  Station 2 was a look at different types of bacteria , fungi, and protists through microscopes.  Station 3 gave us a chance to be creative and learn about good types of bacteria in our microbiome, turning them into superheroes. Station 4 gave us a peek into this week’s topic- the structure and function of the cell.  And at Station 5 we began a card sort activity on macromolecules. We will finish this up next week! Here are the slides that guided our class: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vi3e57TMhhGhF-7U0zWpzOibhxfqRtGhPtq9CyJsEBw/edit?usp=sharing

September 10 (Week 5)

In Anatomy this week we finished our stations from last week. Together we sorted out the characteristics of the 4 major macromolecules found in the body. We went on to read a couple of articles on lead poisoning and asbestos and made a decision about the culprit of the mystery disease- which ended up being lead poisoning. We discussed the reasons why and moved on to take some notes on cells and organelles, beginning with a video clip on why understanding cells is so important to understanding the human body. We did a few demonstrations of passive transport with perfume spray, and an iodine, corn starch, sandwich bag demonstration. We will take a look at how osmosis affects the size of eggs with no shells put into syrup and vinegar next week! We will have a test over these first four chapters next Monday. The slides that guided our class are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1X0NQdgzwS-7Cwbiv2i6AUDSziD0BK0toUwgkegjxamU/edit?usp=sharing

September 17 (Week 6)

In anatomy this week, we took our test on chapters 1-4 and then created a cell model out of a cookie and candy! Students received instructions for a project that will guide our next unit and will be due October 22. Here are the slides that guided our class: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QY4lh9voNuCYKyWMFSSmGCN7toQJnnjivBIeovJIcvo/edit?usp=sharing