Organs and Body Systems Lesson Plan: The Guts and Bolts Game

Lesson Procedure:

1. Ask students to turn and talk to a partner about the function of the body system you've selected for today's activity. Bring the class to a whole group discussion and guide students to define the body system succinctly. Write their ideas on the board or on chart paper for student reference.
2. Explain that students will role play how the body system works. Divide students into groups and pass out the blank signs/index cards. Ask students to discuss which organs and parts the body system is comprised of, and to write one part on each card. If students need more background knowledge, you can show the related BrainPOP movie now instead of after the role play.
3. Have each each group member take one card and assume the role of a body part. Explain that the ping pong ball represents food for the digestive system, blood for the circulatory system, and air for the respiratory system. Emphasize the goal for each group: the digestive system must pass food through itself and remove nutrients; the respiratory system should pass air through itself, removing oxygen, and expelling carbon dioxide; and the circulatory system must take oxygen from the respiratory system (while giving it carbon dioxide) and nutrients from the digestive system, then passes those things on to all the cells of the body.
4. Talk with students about the layers of teamwork that happen between each system within our bodies, and clarify how the systems are each made up of semi-autonomous organs communicating with one another and with other body systems.
5. Show the related body systems movie from BrainPOP, ensuring that closed captioning is turned on. Encourage students to take notes on the vocabulary sheet as needed. Afterward, allow the groups to discuss their order for the role play again and make adjustments as needed. You may want to play the movie through a second time.
6. Have each group (or one or two groups who volunteer) come to the front of the classroom and demonstrate the role play, holding up their signs/index cards to show which organ they represent. Talk with students about their choices: how did they determine which organ would stand in which place? What would happen if their places were changed? What if a particular part was missing or not working correctly--could another body part compensate? What would be the effect on the body?
7. Tell students they will now have the opportunity to conduct a body system simulation through online game play. Let them know that the game is like a puzzle: there are no clearly defined instructions, as the object is to figure out how the game works by testing different ideas.
8. Pass out the Moby's Notebook game worksheet. Explain that it will function like a blueprint for a project students will build at the end of the unit (if you choose to do the final activity below.) Alternatively, inform students that the worksheet is like a blueprint of the system they will build during the game, and they should feel free to use the form to record their confidential plans.
9. Allow students to explore the game in pairs for 10-15 minutes. Students should have enough time to complete the digestive level.
10. If students have individual logins through My BrainPOP, they’ll be able to take snapshots during game play to capture significant moments and reflect on their work. Clicking on the snapshot tool generates a thumbnail image which is stored on the bottom left of the screen. At any point during game play, students can click on their snapshot(s) and type a caption or response to a prompt, and save or submit it to your teacher’s account. Check out Guts and Bolts: SnapThought Prompts for more information and specific snapshot prompts you can give students during Guts and Bolts game play.
11. Bring students back to a whole class discussion to talk about their strategies. What worked? What strategies were not successful? Give students time to record these thoughts on their worksheet and document how they solved the digestive level. You may want to play portions of the game as a class to model strategies and help students make connections. This video can give you more ideas for facilitating student thinking.
12. Provide an additional 10-15 minutes of time for game play. Encourage students to reflect back on their worksheets as they progress to harder levels.
13. After the time for game play is over, ask students to pause the game before closing it out and draw their creation at the bottom of the worksheet.
14. Explain that students will design their own level of the game and build it in real life, combining both the role play activity and the simulation they did online. Challenge students to work with their initial group to get their ping pong ball through a system they build together. Each students should bring in an object to represent a body part to build a prototype. They may bring in random items, or brainstorm in advance what they might be able to use from home to represent each part. Encourage students to make a blueprint by creating a diagram on the back of their worksheet.
15. The following day, have students construct their prototypes. Observe as students pipe it together, and ask questions to stimulate their thinking about the flow. Make sure each group has a clear goal, which is to get the ping pong ball to go completely through the system. As an assessment piece, you may want to have them reflect on their learning through this experience either in writing, by taking photographs and captioning them, or through a video/podcast.