Models (11–14): Animal Physiology
I designed this topic to solve one of the major problems I saw in biology curricula: a lack of meaning. In Biology Made Real, I explain how meaning, in biology, arises from seeing how parts of organisms affect their way of life. Most curricula, however, begin with cells or molecules as things to memorise and the link to the organism’s way of being isn’t made.
In this topic, then, I introduce my young students to cells within the context of maintaining a whole body alive. This requires seeing many connections across levels of organisation; to help, I build a stock and flow model over many lessons. Learn how to introduce stock and flow models here, and learn how to teach with them in my book Difference Maker.
The cell’s life and death
The cell’s way of being
The cell’s place in a larger living whole
The circulatory system delivers to cells
The respiratory system
The digestive system
Discover how to make biology meaningful, and how to teach through diagrams and conversation in my books:
