THE SCOOP ABOUT POOP
Four students are talking about what poop is made of.
Circle the statement you agree with most. Explain your thinking.
The Scoop About Poop
Purpose: Elicit students’ prior knowledge about how food is processed in the body. To probe whether students differentiate between different pathways for the parts of food they eat after ingestion (digestion and circulation vs. elimination).
Explanation: Your poop consists mostly of indigestible cellulose (fiber) and dead bacteria from your digestive and elimination system. After ingestion, food (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) is digested (broken down) into small building block molecules (amino acids, glucose, glycerol and fatty acids) that are transported to cells via the circulatory system (blood). The indigestible parts of food (cellulose or fiber) are eliminated as solid waste (poop).
Related standards:
GLEs:
· 1.2.6 – Understand that specialized cells within multicellular organisms form different kinds of tissues, organs, and organ systems to carry out life functions.
o 8th grade - Describe the life function of organs or organ systems (e.g., the stomach breaks down food and the intestines absorb food in the digestive system).
· 1.2.8 - Understand the organization and function of human body structures and organs and how those structures and organs interconnect.
o 4th grade - Describe how the systems allow the human body to take in and use mineral nutrients, air, food, and water for living, growth, and repair (e.g., breathing in air supplies the oxygen in order to live).
o 6th grade - Describe the components and functions of the organ systems (i.e., circulatory, digestive, reproductive, excretory, nervous-sensory [brain, nerves, spinal cord, hearing, vision], respiratory, and muscular-skeletal systems).
o 8th grade - Describe relationships among the organ systems of the human body (e.g., the role of the senses and the nervous system for human survival, the relationships between the digestive and excretory systems).
Related research: See p. 138 of Science Curriculum Topic Study by Page Keeley, NSTA Press, 2005.
Written by: Darrel Tanaka, Bronwyn Wojcik 6/08