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Middle School Curriculum

Back in 1963 when LAB-AIDS® shipped its first kit, we had a vision, to revolutionize the middle school classroom with one of the first inquiry-based approaches to learning science through hands-on activity. More Info

Body Works

Body Works

26-30 (6 weeks)

In the Body Works unit students investigate concepts and issues related to sustaining personal health. A major goal of this unit is to provide a foundation for evidence-based decision-making about health issues such as the use of medication, nutrition, exercise, and heart disease. The unit focuses on the role of organ systems in providing nutrients and oxygen to the body, and also on transporting and eliminating wastes (maintaining internal balance). Students investigate the heart and circulatory system in depth, with an emphasis on the relationship between structure and function.


Content in Body Works is organized into 19 activities, as follows:

Activity Title Activity Type Activity Overview
11. Traffic Stop Role Play Students perform a role play that explores how alcohol affects the systems of the body.
12. What’s Happening Inside? Investigation Students learn about human body systems as they classify organs and develop a 3-dimensional model of several systems. [Includes an optional web-activity on Human Reproductive system.
13. Living with Your Liver Role Play Students perform a role play on the function of the liver.
14. Breakdown Lab Students design an experiment to investigate the effect of mechanical break-down on chemical breakdown during digestion.
15. Digestion—An Absorbing Tale Reading Students read about functions and structures of the human digestive system.
16. Support System: Bones, Joints and Muscles Lab After exploring the structure and function of bones, joints and muscles as they dissect a chicken wing, students read about different joints and how they work as levers with bones and muscles in the human body.
17. Gas Exchange Lab Students quantitatively measure the amount of carbon dioxide in their exhaled breath by using an indicator to perform a titration. [Includes web-activity about the nervous system for those using Unit B only.
18. The Circulation Game Modeling As a class, students model the transport function of blood as it travels through the human circulatory system.
19. Heartily Fit Investigation Students collect data on their heart rates and recovery times as a quantitative measure of physical fitness.
20. Great-Aunt Lily’s Will Role Play After performing a role play, students decide on the best use of limited funds to fight heart disease and promote public health.
21. Inside A Pump Lab Students explore the role of valves in the heart by using different pumps as potential models.
22. The Heart–A muscle Lab Students investigate the strength of heart muscle as they attempt to pump water at the resting pulse rate.
23. Heart Parts Reading Students read about the structures and functions of the human circulatory sys-tem. [An optional sheep’s heart dissection is described in the Teacher’s Guide.
24. Round and Round Modeling In groups, students use pumps to design a working model of the human circulatory system.
25. Healing the Heart Reading Students read about the history of heart surgery and explore challenges of past and future heart surgery.
26. Heart Sounds Investigation After an introduction to specific heart problems, students listen to normal and abnormal heart sounds.
27. The Pressure's On Lab Students model the effects of high blood pressure on the circulatory system using clamps on the pump simulation.
28. Heart Problems Reading Students read about the physiological causes of high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart attacks.
29. Helping Hearts Project After taking a heart risk quiz, students design a public health brochure about a risk factor for heart disease.

LAB-AIDS® provides several useful tools to guide you and your students through the Body Works unit:

Body Works

Student Book

The Body Works soft cover Student Book guides investigations and provides related readings. The Student Book uses a variety of approaches to make science accessible for all students. SEPUP’s integrated literacy strategies help students process new science content, develop their analytical skills, make connections between related concepts, and express their knowledge orally and in writing.

The built-in assessment system helps teacher’s identify students’ strengths and weaknesses from the beginning of the course. This allows them to adjust activities when needed so that all students get the best chance to build their knowledge and appreciation of science.

Body Works

LAB-AIDS® Science Lab Notebook

The use of a science journal or notebook in SEPUP is strongly recommended. The journal not only models the way scientists work, but it helps to develop and reinforce students’ science learning and literacy skills.

The LAB-AIDS Science Lab Notebook is 112 three-hole punched pages which allow students to store the completed pages in their binder. It has a 2 column design and plenty of room for notes and responses to Analysis Questions. Graph Anywhere allows data tables and graphs to be drawn in a fraction of the usual time. The Science Lab Notebook was designed with “Best Practices” in mind.

Body Works

Complete Materials Package

All SEPUP materials packages are designed with teachers, students and environmental considerations in mind. Traditional laboratory style classrooms are not necessary to teach SEPUP.

Materials packages include most of the items needed for the activities. They support multiple classes – typically up to five classes of 32 students (160 total students) – before consumables need to be replaced. It’s important to note that materials are consumed at various rates; therefore, it will not be necessary to replace all consumable items every year. Exclusive to SEPUP programs are the molded tray liners that keep everything in place and easy to locate – even in a hurry.

Body Works

Teacher’s Guide

The Body Works Teacher’s Guide takes you through each activity in the Student Book and helps you see the development of concepts within the big picture of the units and the course you are teaching. It helps you set up the equipment from the kit, organize the classroom, conduct activities, and manage practical details, all of which enhance students’ learning environment.

The Teacher’s Guide is packaged as a series of loose-leaf binders that you can personalize with annotations, rearrangements, and insertions. The Teacher’s Guide provides full support for teaching the program. Additional support resources can also found in the Teacher’s Guide.

Body Works

Teacher Resource

The Teacher Resource provides background and suggestions to increase the overall effectiveness of implementing the program across all levels of learners. Sections include: SEPUP’s Approach to Teaching and Learning, Differentiation Strategies for Diverse Learners, Literacy Strategies for Supporting Reading Comprehension and for Enhancing Students’ Writing and finally Comprehensive instruction on the SEPUP Assessment System.

Body Works

Books Online

Individual, classroom or district licenses can be purchased for access to our student books on-line. It features editable Word documents for each set of Activity Assessment Questions which allows students to e-mail their finished work back to the teacher. Microsoft Word® Tools provide strong support for diverse learners. The Spelling and Grammar Checker uses red and green underline squiggles representing spelling (red) and grammar (green) errors alerting students to potential errors. The thesaurus helps to refine writing as well as expose students to new vocabulary words. Students with poor spelling skills often have difficulty using a dictionary. This feature provides an instant definition for a highlighted word, eliminating the task of dictionary look-up. Students can also use the Thesaurus to find the synonyms of words.

All pages were created using Adobe Acrobat Reader. A great feature of the Adobe program is “The Read Aloud Function”. The program audibly reads the text, allowing the student to follow the reading on the page. You can speed up or slow down the program based on the student’s ability. This helps all students increase their vocabulary.

Body Works

ExamView® Test Generating Software

ExamView® for Issues & Life Science makes it easier for educators to use your content to assess, track, and analyze student performance. Comprised of the Test Generator, Test Manager, and Test Player, ExamView® is the industry standard for paper, Internet, and LAN‐based question and test development.

Test Generator Educators can create assessments, quizzes, study guides, and worksheets using multiple question formats, pictures, tables, graphs, charts, and other multimedia elements. Works exclusively with eInstruction’s CPS™ student response systems for real‐time results.

Test Manager Educators collect results and generate comprehension reports in minutes. Test Manager also manages class rosters and automatically collects performance data from the school network to analyze student results and identify areas of concern.

Test Player Gives students the ability to take tests and view study guides over the school network. ExamView® adds even more benefits to your content.

QuickTest Wizard New tests can be created in a matter of minutes with easy step‐by‐step navigation. Simply select the question banks and the number of questions and ExamView® does the rest.

Style Gallery ExamView® tests can be easily formatted to match state or national standardized tests. Simply choose a layout based on predefined formats (e.g., TAKS, FCAT, GED, GMAT, NCLEX, etc.) and print a comprehensive answer sheet.

Multiple Question Formats ExamView® supports 14 question formats. An ExamView® question can contain pictures, graphs, charts, tables, and other multimedia elements. You can create dynamic questions (algorithms) for any subject area which allow infinite customization of a question using mathematical definitions.

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