Digestive System

Content Area: Body Systems

Title of Lesson: Functions & Structures

Teaching with the End in Mind

Students will be able to describe the path of digestion through the digestive system by filling in a
worksheet.

Key Concept(s) to be Covered in Today’s Lesson

 Functions of digestive system

 Structure of the digestive system

Objectives

Cognitive: Students will be able to describe what is the digestive system.

Students will be able to distinguish the major parts of the digestive systems.

Students will be able to identify the functions.

Affective: Students will be aware of the health benefits of having balanced diets

Materials: PPT, handouts, activity sheet,

Introduction to the Lesson (Set Induction):

“When we eat food, it is not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Food must be changed
into smaller particles of nutrients which are then absorbed into the blood and used by the body.”

Section 1: what is the digestive system

“What system helps with breaking down the food into smaller molecules?” – the digestive system

Based on the opening statement, we can then define the digestive system or digestion as the
process by which food is broken down into its smallest parts so that the body can use it to build and
repair cells as well as provide energy.

Maze: Students will be shown a picture of the digestive system and a maze inside. They will observe
and follow the path of food through the body. Food enters the mouth and travels down the
esophagus into the stomach, it then enters the small intestines, then large intestines and ends at the
anus.

From the maze we saw that digestion starts at the mouth and ends at the anus and includes the
esophagus, the stomach, the small intestines and the large intestines.
Section 2: functions of the digestive system

From the introduction, we understood that we eat food, it is not in a form that the body can use as
nourishment. Food must be changed into smaller particles of nutrients which are then absorbed into
the blood and used by the body. We also noted the components of the digestive system starts at the
mouth and includes the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestines and the large intestines and
ends at the anus.

So, using that information, what are the functions of the digestive system are:

• Take food into the body through the mouth (ingestion)

• Break food down into smaller particles to be used by the body (digestion)

2 types of digestion occur; chemical digestion (break down of food through the use
of acids and enzymes in the mouth, stomach and small intestine)

mechanical digestion (occurs when food is chewed or churned and broken up into
small pieces. For example: in the mouth and stomach)

• Pass the digested food into the blood stream (absorption)

• Eliminate the undigested waste from the body (excretion)

Recap of 6 food groups - nutrients passed into the bloodstream during absorption: carbohydrates,
proteins, fats, vitamins, mineral salts & water

Recap and closure

Q&A Quiz at the end of PPT.

Follow-up: next class we will look at the workings of the parts involved in the digestive system and
how the digestive system is interrelated to other body systems.