Explanation of the resource:
‘All Systems Go!’ is a website which includes an activity that requires students to drag organs of different body systems into the human body cartoon (Arnold) classifying them according to certain systems (digestive, skeletal, circulatory/respiratory, and nervous). For each system, once the correct organ is placed into the body, it will stay there. However, if an incorrect organ is placed into the body, all the organs will move out of the human body (Arnold) and the student will have to start over for that body system. Once all of the correct organs for a body system have been placed within Arnold, the next organ system will automatically appear at the bottom of the screen as Arnold articulates (in an engaging voice) instructions and explains how each system is dependent on every other system to help him function. When all four systems are done, the clothed Arnold reappears. The "Learn More" section provides information about each of the systems used in this activity.
Relevance to the outcome:
This resource is relevant to the aim of the Stage 2 Science Living Things unit outcome (LT S2.3 Identifies and describes the function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their environment) as it allows students to gain an understanding of both the structure and function of different organs and systems within the human body, highlighting how each organ and system must work together in order for a body to function at its optimum.
Aspect of Literacy suitable to be explored:
This online interactive activity is a multimodal text that is simple to navigate and is therefore suitable to implement during the teaching and learning process of this Stage 2 integrated unit of study. Multimodality involves the collaboration of written, verbal and visual elements to create meaning in a text (Henderson, 2008, p. 12). This resource enhances students' understanding of multimodality by allowing students to gain practical experience of how written text (labels and descriptions of organs and systems), visuals (of different parts of body systems) and sound (engaging voiceover narrating the relationship within and between systems and organs) work together to construct meaning and serve the text's function and purpose.
The effective combination of sound, visual and written text within this resource also interactively develops students' Science literacy, which is important as it creates a strong link between content knowledge and a text format which students find engaging (Waldrip, Oakes & Knight, 2001, p. 39). By exploring this website to its fullest extent, students will learn that by eating food, humans obtain energy and materials for body repair and growth; by breathing, humans take in the oxygen they need to live; by communicating with all parts of the body, the brain understands what is going on at different parts throughout the body; and the skeleton provides the body with structure and protection. This resource also enables students to begin to view the body as a system, in which parts do things for other parts and for the organism as a whole. It also promotes the understanding that parts within a system usually influence one another and that a system may not work as well, or at all, if a part is missing, broken or worn out, or misconnected.
Research indicates that primary school students may believe that a system of objects must be doing something (interacting) in order to be a system and/or that a system that loses a part of itself is still the same system (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2009, p. 355). Studies also show that student misconceptions about systems arise from their difficulty in recognizing that a natural phenomenon such as the human body occurs by systems working independently and together, as students at all ages tend to interpret phenomena by noting the qualities of separate objects rather than by seeing the interactions between the parts of a system. Fortunately, this resource has enough scope to dispel the above misconceptions in an engaging way, thus providing students a positive and non-threatening experience with multimodal texts.
Overall, by completing the game and reading the "learn more" section of this online resource, students not only build their science literacy by learning that separate components work together to build a body system and that body systems work together to build the functioning human body, but also become more aware of how different modes work together to enhance the function of a text. This resource will ultimately allow students to grasp an understanding of some key features they are expected to consider when creating their rich multimodal task near the end of the unit.
References:
Henderson, R. (2008). It's a digital life! Digital literacies, multiliteracies and multimodality. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 16(2), 11-15
Waldrip, B., Oakes, S., & Knight, B. A. (2001). Primary teachers' views about integrating science and literacy. Investigating, 17(1), 38-41. Science NetLinks AAAS (2009). All Systems Go! Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html
Science NetLinks AAAS (2009). All Systems Go! Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html
‘All Systems Go!’ is a website which includes an activity that requires students to drag organs of different body systems into the human body cartoon (Arnold) classifying them according to certain systems (digestive, skeletal, circulatory/respiratory, and nervous). For each system, once the correct organ is placed into the body, it will stay there. However, if an incorrect organ is placed into the body, all the organs will move out of the human body (Arnold) and the student will have to start over for that body system. Once all of the correct organs for a body system have been placed within Arnold, the next organ system will automatically appear at the bottom of the screen as Arnold articulates (in an engaging voice) instructions and explains how each system is dependent on every other system to help him function. When all four systems are done, the clothed Arnold reappears. The "Learn More" section provides information about each of the systems used in this activity.
This resource is relevant to the aim of the Stage 2 Science Living Things unit outcome (LT S2.3 Identifies and describes the function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their environment) as it allows students to gain an understanding of both the structure and function of different organs and systems within the human body, highlighting how each organ and system must work together in order for a body to function at its optimum.
Aspect of Literacy suitable to be explored:
This online interactive activity is a multimodal text that is simple to navigate and is therefore suitable to implement during the teaching and learning process of this Stage 2 integrated unit of study. Multimodality involves the collaboration of written, verbal and visual elements to create meaning in a text (Henderson, 2008, p. 12). This resource enhances students' understanding of multimodality by allowing students to gain practical experience of how written text (labels and descriptions of organs and systems), visuals (of different parts of body systems) and sound (engaging voiceover narrating the relationship within and between systems and organs) work together to construct meaning and serve the text's function and purpose.
The effective combination of sound, visual and written text within this resource also interactively develops students' Science literacy, which is important as it creates a strong link between content knowledge and a text format which students find engaging (Waldrip, Oakes & Knight, 2001, p. 39). By exploring this website to its fullest extent, students will learn that by eating food, humans obtain energy and materials for body repair and growth; by breathing, humans take in the oxygen they need to live; by communicating with all parts of the body, the brain understands what is going on at different parts throughout the body; and the skeleton provides the body with structure and protection. This resource also enables students to begin to view the body as a system, in which parts do things for other parts and for the organism as a whole. It also promotes the understanding that parts within a system usually influence one another and that a system may not work as well, or at all, if a part is missing, broken or worn out, or misconnected.
Research indicates that primary school students may believe that a system of objects must be doing something (interacting) in order to be a system and/or that a system that loses a part of itself is still the same system (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2009, p. 355). Studies also show that student misconceptions about systems arise from their difficulty in recognizing that a natural phenomenon such as the human body occurs by systems working independently and together, as students at all ages tend to interpret phenomena by noting the qualities of separate objects rather than by seeing the interactions between the parts of a system. Fortunately, this resource has enough scope to dispel the above misconceptions in an engaging way, thus providing students a positive and non-threatening experience with multimodal texts.
Overall, by completing the game and reading the "learn more" section of this online resource, students not only build their science literacy by learning that separate components work together to build a body system and that body systems work together to build the functioning human body, but also become more aware of how different modes work together to enhance the function of a text. This resource will ultimately allow students to grasp an understanding of some key features they are expected to consider when creating their rich multimodal task near the end of the unit.
References:
Henderson, R. (2008). It's a digital life! Digital literacies, multiliteracies and multimodality. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 16(2), 11-15
Waldrip, B., Oakes, S., & Knight, B. A. (2001). Primary teachers' views about integrating science and literacy. Investigating, 17(1), 38-41.
Science NetLinks AAAS (2009). All Systems Go! Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html