Due: Friday, November 18th / Name: ______
Teacher: ______Period: ______
Part I:Read the story and then answer the questions on the last page.
With a jar in one hand and a fish net in the other, Miles eagerlywalked towards forest behind his new home. Before him was a line of oak trees, separating his backyard with the almost alien world in front of him. Above all else, Miles enjoyed collecting insects, a hobby he found difficult to achieve in the city. But now, among the towering trees, he might finally observe something far more exciting than a cockroach or fruit fly. The excitement and adrenaline filling his body was too much, and so he simply began to laugh. As he laughed, he thought he heard his mother yell something about bears or maybe bees. No matter, he thought; no force of nature – not even mom – could delay this expedition.
In just 1 hour, Miles had collected over 50 insects in his jar. Actually, there had been more, but one passenger, a carnivorous praying mantis, could not control her hunger. Not one of the insects was anything like the onesMiles normally caught in his old apartment or in the alleywaysof his old city.
Miles sat on a fallen tree, now being slowly eaten by mushrooms and mosses that blanketed its surface. And there, he saw a most interesting insect. Its back legs were giant, and its two green eyes stared directly into his. Miles felt awkward. It reminded him of his last birthday. His Aunt Kim had given him a dog toy. Miles did not own a dog, and unsure of how to respond, he and his aunt just stared at each other in silence for almost 2 minutes. It was a terrible feeling, one he was experiencing again with an insect. Miles slowly reached for his jar, but the movement frightened his small, green-eyed companion. It jumped nearly 3 feet away. Miles now understood the function of the large, back legs.
Miles ran to capture the insect, but tripped and accidently set free all the insects captured earlier in the day. It did not matter. Miles now only wanted this insect, the one that reminded him of his Aunt. After a 20 minute high-speed chase, he finally grasped the hopping insect in his left hand.
“Excuse me,” a small but firm voice said. Miles jumped and turned to look around. He saw no one else in the forest. Again, Miles heard the voice, “Excuse me!” Unsure, miles looked down at his left hand. He opened his left hand just enough to let in a small amount of light.
“That’s better. You’re not as dumb as you look.” Miles now saw that it was the insect speaking to him. Miles, who was already out of breath from running, began to breathe faster, but stood frozen like the trees around him. “What are you doing,” the small insect cried out. Miles could not respond. How could he? He didn’t speak insect. All he could do was breathe faster.
“Are you going to explode?” the insect asked. “If so, I would very much like it if you let me go.” Without thought and in a voice more like his sister’s, he whispered, “I’m breathing.”
“So am I, but you don’t see me panting like a dog,” the insect responded. “And speak up.”
“That’s because you don’t have a diaphragm!” Miles shouted uncontrollably. At first, Miles didn’t understand what he was saying or why he yelled. The insect was similarly confused.
“A what?”
“A diaphragm,” Miles yelled again. “It’s a muscle that causes air to move in and out of your lungs.” Again, Miles was shocked by his words. Why am I discussing the respiratory system with an insect? Miles enjoyed science, and so he guessed it was the topic his mind was most comfortable talking about under such stressful conditions. Also, he believed that by talking about science, it made the situation less imaginary and frightening.
“Ah. Of course,” the insect muttered, “but what are lungs?”
“That’s right. You don’t have lungs either.” Miles remembered that insects don’t breathe like humans. Insects have small holes all over their bodies. The oxygen needed by their cells enters the small holes and the waste gas, carbon dioxide, exits out the same openings.
“You see,” Michael began, “humans can’t breathe like you. We’re too big. We have to force oxygen into our bodies and then force carbon dioxide out. First, our diaphragm, the muscle I was just talking about, contracts. This causes lungs…we have two of them and they are like spongy balloons…to fill with air.”
“Yes,” the insect interrupted, “and that’s when oxygen is transformed into carbon dioxide.”
“Sort of. Well, not really.” Miles continued, “Oxygen gas just doesn’t magically turn into carbon dioxide gas. It’s a lot more complicated than that. The carbon in carbon dioxide comes from the sugar, glucose, an organic compound used by mitochondria to generate energy for the cells.” The insect, confused and slightly scared by what was just said, stared blankly at Miles. Miles chose to pass over this detail.
“As I was saying, the diaphragm,” Miles drew a line with his finger just above his stomach, “contracts and causes air to enter my lungs. Inside my lungs,” Miles was now pointing to both sides of his chest, “are structures that look like trees. The trunk of the tree is called the trachea, which splits and forms hundreds of branches called bronchus tubes. And, just like berries at the ends of the branches, there are tiny round sacks call alveoli.” Again, the insect smiled and was comforted by the sound of familiar words.
“But,” the insect asked, “If your lungs are in your chest, how does the oxygen get to your feet or head?”
“Good question,” Miles replied. “We have another thing you don’t, blood cells, which is why my blood is red and the liquid inside your body is a yellowish green. Blood cells pick up oxygen in the alveoli…the berry-like structures…and transport the oxygen to all the cells in my body. They also pick up carbon dioxide waste from the cells and take them back to my lungs so I can breathe them out.”
“You mean exhale”, the insect quickly corrected.
“Exhale…breathe out… it’s all the same,” Miles responded.
“No, no, dear boy,” the insect continued, having regained some lost confidence. “If you we are going to discuss science, we will use proper academic vocabulary. Now, I can infer that if the diaphragm contracts to inhale oxygen, it must relax again in order for carbon dioxide to be forced back out of the body.”
“You’re not as dumb as you look either,” Miles joked. “You’re correct. The diaphragm relaxes, the gas travels back up the bronchus tubes to the trachea, and finally exits out my nose or mouth.”
The insect huffed and glared at Miles. “Yes. Well, it all sounds a bit silly. Diaphragms, lungs, bronchus tubes, trachea, alveoli, and blood cells; I think you made some of it up.”
Miles was about to respond when suddenly he sneezed. He opened his eyes only to discover that the insect was gone. Miles was unsure whether the sneeze or the explanation he could offer for it ultimately scared the insect away.
Name:______
Part IIUsing the description from the story and the vocabulary box to label the different parts of the picture below.
Part III: Answer the question below using information from the story.
- What body system is Miles describing to the insect? ______
- What is the function of this body system? Use the words “oxygen”, “carbon dioxide”, and “cells” in your answer.
The function of the ______system is to ______
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- Using complete sentences, compare the respiratory system of an insect and human:
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- What is the function of the diaphragm? Use the words “contracts” and “relaxes” in your answer.
The function of the ______is to ______
______. When it ______, we inhale and air moves into the lungs. When it ______, we exhale and air moves out of our lungs.
Extra Credit Option:
Write a fictional story that includes scientific facts and describes 1 or more human body systems. The story must be at least 2 double spaced pages and typed.