Science Take Out Lab Kits - Life Support for a Developing Baby

If you haven't tried Science Take-Out's lab kits you're missing out.

(No, I have not been compensated in any way - I just love their labs!)


Today we used the Life Support for a Developing Baby lab kit, and it's both really engaging and full of information.  It reinforces the idea that red blood cells do not diffuse across the membrane, but alcohol and viruses can cross and affect the baby.








Students build a model of the placenta from dialysis tubing and a cup of warm water.  Substances diffuse across for 15 minutes while students analyze charts and build a puzzle of the baby-placenta-blood supply to reinforce their understanding of the anatomy.




The chemical tests screen for alcohol and a virus in the baby's blood, and students see a dramatic result, comparing it to what birth defects may be caused during different stages of fetal development shown in the chart provided.

I think it's a great way to tie in the anatomy & physiology with the students' future real lives.  It's always nice to get in a health lesson (Fetal Alcohol System) alongside the required science.  

I also like to combine this lesson with the Human Fetal Growth lab I purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.  It has students measure and graph fetal growth in length and graph mass values for fetal development as well.

If you're interested in seeing MY teachers pay teachers store - check out Carrie's Chemistry and Anatomy for my own lessons.

Circulatory STEM Challenge lab

Carolina offers a STEM Challenge lab for Anatomy & Physiology that has been a great addition to my Physiology class for the last two years. 

The students work their way through the inquiry process using pipets, tubes, and valves to model blood movement through a two chambered heart.




If you have the funds to try it in your classroom, it's well worth the investment.  I re-used a lot of the pieces in year two, and that helped cut down on the cost. 

Have students save their materials at the end and sort into separate bins for tubing, pipets, and connectors.  Almost all items in the kit are reusable.  The only thing I will need more of next year is the flexible tubing in longer lengths.  Students would also need more parafilm, but that's easily available outside the kit.





The hardest part for my students was not having explicit instructions to build the prototypes.  They are students who usually do really well following lab guidelines and the freedom to try things on their own was difficult.  By the third prototype they realized I wasn't going to tell them if they were right or wrong and got more comfortable trying things on their own.  There are multiple setups that meet the requirement in the instructions, so they can be creative!



It's so difficult to find something related to physiology that includes inquiry, and I would highly recommend this activity!

I would also recommend this for students who need a good homeschool activity about the Circulatory System, as it's very simple and instructions for the teacher are very clear with good sketches of the models.

Diagnosis Success: Making Anatomy and Physiology Come Alive

Last spring I purchased a few new books from NSTA, one of which is titled "Diagnosis Success: Making Anatomy and Physiology Come Alive" by NH Maller.  I've implemented most of the book now, so i feel good about speaking to its success in my classroom.

The students pretend to be doctors, including starting with "Medical School" where they research four medical conditions (later seen in their patients), and reading and signing the Hippocratic Oath.

The book has four anonymous celebrity patients, and encourages you to choose popular faces from the entertainment industry to connect students to their work.  Each patient has a chart and over the course of six lab tests, students identify which condition the patient has and creates a final diagnosis.

Teachers are encouraged to support each lab test with information about a different body system, and covers the Urinary, Digestive, Blood, Lymphatic, Respiratory, and Endocrine Systems through the labs.  This has taken more time than I anticipated, but the students have stayed engaged each time I bring back their "Celebrity" patients and updating their medical charts.  I've kept manila folders in the class for each group to keep their lab results and patient charts in, so they're always accessible.

Some of the labs are a bit gross (digestive by-products), or socially edgy (HIV test), but the students have really enjoyed the work and I think they see a more powerful connection to WHY we might want to know how the body systems work.

One of the best things is, when I had a question I was able to email the author from her website, and she responded to me the next day (question about materials needed for a lab).  She was very friendly and helpful, and was interested to hear how the implementation worked out in the classroom.

Overall, I think this term was very successful, and the increased student engagement was compliments of Maller and her new book.