Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Digestive System

Vocabulary: absorption, amino acid, carbohydrate, chemical digestion, chyme, complex

carbohydrate, digestion, digestive system, elimination, enzyme, fat, fatty acid, fiber, food calorie,
mechanical digestion, monoglyceride, nutrient, peristalsis, protein, starch, sugar, villus

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Why do we need to eat food? Food provides a source of energy and raw materials for growth
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and development
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2. How do you think our bodies break food down into useful nutrients? __________________

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Teeth chew food into small pieces.which are swallowed

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and transported to stomach chemicals in the stomach

and intines further break down food into simple

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nutrients,which are absorbed into blood

Gizmo Warm-up

The digestive system is a group of organs that does three

things:

 First, the digestive system breaks food down into

useful nutrients, a process called digestion.

 Next, the nutrients move into the bloodstream, a

process called absorption.

 Finally, the leftover waste is removed from the

body, a process called elimination.

With the Digestive System Gizmo, you can arrange the organs of the digestive system any way

you like. To begin, look at the organs on the LARGE ORGANS tab. Place your cursor over each
organ to learn more about it. Small intestine and large

intestine
1. Which organs allow nutrients to be absorbed? ____________________________________

Rectum
2. Which organ stores and compacts waste before it is eliminated? ______________________

Mouth and stomach

3. Which two organs help to break food down mechanically? _____________ _____________

2019

Activity A:

Get the Gizmo ready:

Build a digestive
 If necessary, click Clear screen.

system

Goal: Design your own digestive system.

1. Explore: Read the descriptions of the large organs, as well as those of the small organs on

the next tab. Fill in the names of the organs that serve the functions listed below:

Large intestine
__________________ This organ absorbs water and vitamin K from digested food.

Pancreas
__________________ This organ produces enzymes that break down nutrients.

Capillaries
__________________ These tiny blood vessels transport absorbed nutrients.

Parietal cell
__________________ These cells produce hydrochloric acid (HCl).

Chief cells
__________________ These cells produce pepsin, which breaks down proteins.

2. Build: Now it is time to design and build your own digestive system! Start with the LARGE

ORGANS tab to build a basic system, starting with the Mouth/pharynx. Next, attach organs

from the SMALL ORGANS tab to the large organs to complete your system. Draw a picture

of your system below. (If you like, open the Tools menu and click Screen shot. Right-click

the image, choose Copy Image, and paste the image into a blank document.)

3. Predict: How well do you think your system will digest food? Explain your reasoning.

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Predictions will vary

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(Activity A continued on next page)

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Activity A (continued from previous page)

4. Prepare: Select the FOOD tab. The energy we get from food is measured in food calories

(Calories). Each Calorie is equal to 4,184 joules of energy. Calories are found in the three

main nutrients in food: carbohydrates (sugars and starches), proteins, and fats.

Drag the Cheeseburger above the mouth in your digestive system. How many Calories in

the cheeseburger come from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats?

226 cal
Carbohydrate Calories: ________ 140 cal
Protein Calories: ________ 361 cal
Fat Calories: ________

5. Run the Gizmo: Click Play ( ), and observe the food moving through the digestive system.

The muscular contractions that push food through the system are called peristalsis. When

food has finished passing through the system, you will see a message.

will vary
A. What percentage of Calories were absorbed by your system? ________

Will vary
B. What percentage of water was absorbed? ________

C. Based on these results, how well do you think this digestive system worked? Explain.

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Will vary

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6. Revise: Click Reset ( ). Rearrange the organs of your system to try to improve your

results. Describe how you changed your system below.

_________________________________________________________________________

Will vary
_________________________________________________________________________

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Will vary

7. Test: Click Play or Fastplay ( ). List the results below. Did the system improve? ________

Percentage of Calories absorbed: ________

Will vary Percentage of water absorbed: ________

8. Explain: If your system improved, why do you think this was so? ______________________

Will vary
_________________________________________________________________________

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2019

Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Mechanical and  Click Reset and Clear screen.

chemical  Build a system with a Mouth, Salivary gland,

digestion Esophagus, Pancreas, and Rectum.

Introduction: Before nutrients are absorbed, they must be broken down to their simplest

components. Teeth and muscular contractions in the stomach break food down into smaller

particles, a process called mechanical digestion. In the meantime, powerful chemicals break
down food in a process called chemical digestion.

Question: How are nutrients broken down in your digestive system?

1. Set up the Gizmo: Check that the current digestive system has a mouth, salivary gland,

esophagus, pancreas, and rectum, as shown above. From the FOOD tab, drag the Baked
potato to the mouth. A potato mostly consists of complex carbohydrates, such as starch.

236 cal
A. View the ANALYSIS tab. What is the initial value of complex carbohydrates? ______

204.68 cal
B. Click Play or Fastplay. What is the final value of complex carbohydrates? ________

31.32 cal
C. How many Calories of complex carbohydrates were converted to sugars? ________

The complex carbohydrates decreased by 31.32 cal

Explain how you know: ________________________________________________

and the sugars increased by the same amount

The pancreas produces three digestive enzymes: Amylase breaks down complex
carbohydrates into simple carbohydrates (sugars), trypsin breaks down proteins into amino

acids, and lipase breaks down fats into fatty acids and monoglycerides.

2. Experiment: Click Reset. Move the Rectum, Esophagus,

and Pancreas to the right and insert the Stomach so that

the system looks like the image at right. Click Play/Fastplay.

A. After digestion is complete, what is the value of

30.26 cal
complex carbohydrates? ________

205.74 cal
B. How many Calories of complex carbohydrates were converted to sugars? ________

C. Why do you think the results were different? ________________________________

Will vary.The churning action of the stomach breaks up food chunks

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and exposes complex carbohydrates inside to the action of enzymes

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The muscular walls of the stomach churn food, transforming food chunks into a thick liquid

called chyme. The nutrients in chyme break down more easily because they are exposed to
digestive enzymes rather than hidden in food chunks.

(Activity B continued on next page)

2019

Activity B (continued from previous page)

3. Observe: Click Reset. Drag the Steamed tofu above the mouth. The Calories in tofu mostly

come from proteins and fat. We will look at fat digestion first.

90 cal
A. What is the initial number of fat Calories? ________

27 cal
B. Click Play. How many fat Calories were converted to fatty acids? ________

4. Experiment: Click Reset. Move the Pancreas one space to the right (still attached to the
esophagus). Place the Gallbladder on the esophagus to the left of the pancreas. Click Play.

86.36 cal
A. How many fat Calories were converted to fatty acids in this situation? ________

Fat digestion improved

B. How did adding the gallbladder affect fat digestion? __________________________

Fat molecules can be difficult to break down because large fat droplets do not mix well with

water-based enzymes such as lipase. For lipase to work, it helps if the fat is emulsified into

tiny droplets. This is done with the help of bile, which is stored in the gallbladder.

5. Observe: Now look at the results for proteins. (Do not press Reset yet.) Proteins are

complex molecules formed from long chains of amino acids.

1.44 cal

How many of the original 72 protein Calories were converted to amino acids? ________

6. Experiment: Click Reset. The process of protein digestion is helped by the enzyme pepsin.

Chief cells
A. Look at the remaining small organs. Which ones produce pepsin? ______________

Add these cells to the stomach.

29.09 Cal
B. Click Play. How much protein is converted to amino acids now? ________

C. Click Reset. Pepsin works best in an acidic environment. Which of the remaining

Parietal cells

small organs produces an acid? ____________________ Add these to the stomach.

69.87 cal
D. Click Play. How much protein is converted to amino acids now? ________

7. Explain: How do mechanical and chemical digestion work together to break down food?

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Mechanical digestion by the mouth,stomach,and

bile break up large chunks food into smaller

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pieces.this increases the surface are of enzymes to

act chemically break down carbohydrates,fats,and

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proteins into sugars,fatty acids,and amino acids

2019

Activity C: Get the Gizmo ready:

Absorption  Click Reset and Clear screen.

Introduction: Digesting nutrients into simple carbohydrates, amino acids, and fatty acids is

important, but it doesn’t matter unless the nutrients get into the bloodstream to feed body cells.

This process is called absorption.

Question: How are nutrients absorbed?

1. Observe: Look through the descriptions of the large and small organs.

A. Which of the large organs allow nutrients and water to pass through their walls?

The small intestine and large intestine allow nutrient to pass through their walls

Ju

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B. Which of the small organs transport absorbed nutrients to the bloodstream?

The capillaries lymphatic vessels transported nutrients

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2. Set up the Gizmo: Create the digestive system shown. The small intestine has three parts:

the duodenum (attached to the stomach), the jejunum (the middle portion), and the ilium

(attached to the large intestine). Drag the Pecan pie to the mouth.

Test each of the scenarios below. For each setup, record the nutrients that are absorbed by

the system. (Be sure to look at the “Absorbed” row of the Analysis table.)

Amino Fatty

Scenario Sugars
acids acids
Water

Capillaries attached to the small intestine 27.2 16 21.43 cal 0 cal

segments only cal 18.9 g

Capillaries attached to the large intestine 7.2 cal 0 cal 0 cal 3.83 g
only

Lymphatic vessels attached to the small 0 cal 0 cal 174.8 cal 0 g

intestine segments only (no capillaries)

Lymphatic vessels attached to the large 0 cal 0g

intestine only (no capillaries) 0 cal

0 cal

(Activity C continued on next page)

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Activity C (continued from previous page)

3. Analyze: Examine the results of your four experiments.

A. Which nutrients were absorbed by capillaries in the small intestine? _____________

Sugars,Amin acids,and water

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B. Which nutrients were absorbed by capillaries in the large intestine? _____________

Sugars and water

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Bacteria in the large intestine break down some types of fiber—a difficult to digest

complex carbohydrate—into sugars that are absorbed in the large intestine.

Fatty acids
C. Which nutrient was absorbed by small intestine lymphatic vessels? ______________

No
D. Did lymphatic vessels absorb anything from the large intestine? ________________

4. Draw conclusions: Based on your experiments, where should the capillaries and lymphatic

vessels be placed to maximize the absorption of nutrients from food?

Capillaries should be placed on the small and large

Capillaries: ________________________________________________________________
intestines

Lymphatic vessels should be placed on the

Lymphatic vessels: _________________________________________________________

small intestine only

5. Investigate: Click Reset. From the FOOD tab, drag the Apple to the work area to view its

Nutritional Facts. What nutrient makes up most of an apple’s Calories? Sugar

_______________

6. Challenge: Using a total of only five organs, design a digestive system that can absorb the

maximum number of Calories from the apple. Describe your system below.

I_________________________________________________________________________
created system with a mouth,stomach,and small intestine jejunum/le with a

pancreas and capillaries attached.

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7. Test: Click Play. What percentage of Calories did your system absorb? _______

The system described above will absorb 73.91% of the apple’s calories

8. Explore: Use the Gizmo to determine how absorption of water affects the texture of the stool

(poop) that is produced by the digestive system. What do you conclude?

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The texture of the stool depends on how much water was

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removed from the food.if most of the water is remnoved and the waste

is compacted in the rectum,the stool will be lose or liquid

2019

Activity D: Get the Gizmo ready:

Human digestion  Click Reset and Clear screen.

Introduction: Now that you have explored a model of human digestion, it is time to apply what

you have learned to the real human digestive system.

Goal: Describe the human digestive system.

1. Label: Based on what you have learned, identify the organs of the human digestive system.

Salivary glands

Gallbladder

Esophagus

Stomach

Small intestine

duodenum Pancreas

Small intestine

Large intestine

Rectum

2. Think and discuss: Why is it important that the mouth and stomach are near the start of the

digestive
system? __________________________________________________________

The. Mouth and stomach account for most mechanical digestion.it

_________________________________________________________________________

important for food to be broken up into tiny pieces so nutrients

can be exposed to the action of digestive enzymes

(Activity D continued on next page)

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Activity D (continued from previous page)

3. Match: Match each structure, chemical, or process to its function.

K
_____ Amylase A. Upper section of the small intestine

E
_____ Peristalsis B. Muscular tube connecting the throat and stomach

_____
A Duodenum C. Organ that produces a variety of digestive enzymes

_____ Lymphatic vessel D. Chemical that breaks up large fat droplets

_____ Anus E. Muscular contractions that push food through the

G

digestive system

J
_____ Large intestine F. Enzyme that starts to digest proteins in the stomach

_____ Esophagus G. Opening through which wastes are eliminated

F
_____ Pepsin H. Produces hydrochloric acid in the stomach

_____ Pancreas I. Transports absorbed fatty acids to the bloodstream

H
_____ Parietal cell J. Organ that absorbs water and vitamin K

D
_____ Bile K. Enzyme that breaks down starches into simple

carbohydrates

4. Infer: The diagram at right shows part of a villus. A villus is a tiny,

fingerlike projection in the wall of the small intestine. The small

intestine contains millions of villi.

A. What are the names of the vessels labeled A and B in the

Lymphatic vessel and capillaries students do

not need to know this,but a represents the

diagram? __________________________________________

lymphatic vessel and b represents capillaries

B. What do you think is the function of a villus? ______________

The villus absorbs nutrients in the small

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intestine

5. Evaluate: In humans, the small intestine can be over 8 meters (26 feet) long. Why do you

think

this organ is so long? ___________________________________________________

Most nutrient absorption takes place in the small intestine.the great

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length of the small intestine maximizes nutrient absorption

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2019