Meeting Basic Needs and
Maintaining a Healthy Body

Curriculum Outcomes

• Knowledge
• Skills
• STSE

Subtopics

	Growth and Development
	Introduction to Body Systems
	The Digestive and Excretory Systems
	The Respiratory and Circulatory Systems
	The Skeletal, Muscular, and Nervous Systems
	Maintaining a Healthy Body

Introduction

Students can develop the understanding that the body has organs and systems that function together to help humans and other animals meet their basic needs. Students should have the opportunity to explore major internal organs through the use of models and simulations, and know where they are located in the body. It is important for students to recongize that many things may affect a healthy body. The body has it's own defences against germs, but students should understand that they must meet their own bodies' requirements for things such as nutrition and exercise.

Focus and Context

This unit could be integrated with the health/family living program, but it should extend beyond what is normally done to a more inquiry-oriented approach . For example, student's should investigate first hand the factors that can increase heartbeat rate, they should build models of organs and systems to see the function saliva plays in digestion. It is not enough for students to simply be able to draw or label diagrams of the various systems-they need to be involved in investigating the factors that affect them. Integrating with health/family living will faciliate a decision-making focus, and should be set in a context of making choices that lead toward living an active, healthy lifestyle. Students at this age will soon have to make importent decisions about smoking, drugs, and alcohol. This unit will provide them with oppertuniities to see how their body systems work together, and how these systems can be adversely affected when the wrong choices are made.

Curriculum Links

Students have already investigated the needs and characteristics of living things, as well as growth cycles in primary science. In this unit, they start to look at human body systems. This will lead to a more in-depth treatment of cells, tissues, organs, and systems in Grade 8.