Teacher Guide: Digestive System

Learning Objectives
Students will …
 Explore the three functions of the digestive system: digestion, absorption, and
elimination.
 Create a model of the human digestive system using available organs and cells.
 Determine the importance of mechanical digestion by the mouth, stomach, and bile.
 Describe the steps of chemical digestion for carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
 Explain how nutrients are absorbed into the body.

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

Lesson Overview
Digestion is an intricate process in which a
variety of organs work in sequence to break
food down physically and chemically, absorb
nutrients, and eliminate waste products.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if this sequence were changed? The Digestive
System Gizmo allows students to do just that! Students can arrange the organs of the digestive
system in any order and measure the results. While designing their ideal system, students will
gain a deeper understanding of how digestion occurs.

The Student Exploration sheet contains four activities:

 Activity A – Students design their own digestive systems and measure the results.
 Activity B – Students explore mechanical and chemical digestion.
 Activity C – Students determine how different nutrients are absorbed.
 Activity D – Students apply their learning to the human digestive system.

Suggested Lesson Sequence

1. Pre-Gizmo activity: Peristalsis ( 15 – 30 minutes)

The wavelike muscular contractions that push food through the digestive system are
called peristalsis. To demonstrate peristalsis, students can take turns squeezing
toothpaste from a tube. By compressing the tube from bottom to top, toothpaste is
squeezed through the tube just as food is squeezed through the digestive system.

Next, ask for two student volunteers. One volunteer should stand on his or her head,
while the other student holds the first student’s feet. Challenge the upside-down student
to drink a glass of water. The fact that the student can swallow water against gravity
demonstrates the power of peristalsis to move food through the digestive system.

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2. Prior to using the Gizmo ( 10 – 15 minutes)
Before students are at the computers, pass out the Student Exploration sheets and ask
students to complete the Prior Knowledge Questions. Discuss student answers as a
class, but do not provide correct answers at this point. Afterwards, if possible, use a
projector to introduce the Gizmo and demonstrate its basic operations. Demonstrate how
to take a screenshot and paste the image into a blank document.

3. Gizmo activities ( 15 – 20 minutes per activity)

Assign students to computers. Students can work individually or in small groups. Ask
students to work through the activities in the Student Exploration using the Gizmo.
Alternatively, you can use a projector and do the Exploration as a teacher-led activity.

4. Discussion questions ( 15 – 30 minutes)

As students are working or just after they are done, discuss the following questions:
 What are the steps of mechanical digestion?
 What are the steps of chemical digestion?
 Why is it important that the stomach wall contains chief cells and parietal cells?
 Why don’t you think nutrients are absorbed through the walls of the stomach?
[The thick layer of mucus that lines the stomach inhibits absorption.]
 Look at the nutritional information for the apple and salad.
o Which digestive structures are most essential for digesting the apple?
o Which structures are most essential for digesting the salad?

5. Follow-up activity: Making poop! ( 45 – 60 minutes)

You can make a model of the human digestive system with everyday materials. Use a
bowl and spoon to represent the mouth and teeth, Ziploc® bags to represent the
stomach and rectum, cellophane tubes (such as the packaging for posters or wrapping
paper) for the esophagus and small intestine, and a section of nylon stocking for the
large intestine. Graham crackers and bananas can be used for the “food,” and various
liquids can be used to represent saliva, pepsin, HCl, bile, and pancreatic juice. (Use a
green or yellow liquid for bile.)

Arrange the materials in sequence and assign students to specific organs. Students can
model chewing by mashing food with a spoon. Then food is pushed through the
“esophagus” and added to the stomach bag, where it is churned by squeezing the bag.
Add “gastric juices” before churning. Then, pass food through the second plastic tube,
representing the small intestine. Remind students that nutrients and water are absorbed
here. Next, pass food through the nylon stocking. (Hint: Place newspapers on the table
to absorb the water that leaks through the stocking.) This models the absorption of water
in the large intestine. Finally, add the remaining food to the second plastic bag. Squeeze
the food to the bottom of the bag, and then cut off one of the bottom corners. The food
that is squeezed through the hole will look remarkably like poop.

As students model each part of the digestive process, ask them to explain to the class
what they are doing and how it represents the steps of digestion. See the Selected Web
Resources on the last page for related activities.

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Scientific Background
The nutrients in food often are large molecules that
must be broken down into smaller components
before they can be absorbed and used by the body.
The digestive system performs the functions of
breaking food down (digestion), absorbing
nutrients, and eliminating waste.

Digestion starts in the mouth. Teeth chew food into

smaller pieces, while saliva lubricates the food to
aid in swallowing. Amylase in saliva starts to break
down starches into simple sugars.

After passing through the esophagus, food enters

the stomach, where it is churned into a thick liquid
called chyme. Hydrochloric acid excreted by
parietal cells lowers the pH in the stomach, which
activates and increases the effectiveness of
pepsin—an enzyme that begins the digestion of
proteins.

The chyme then passes into the first section of the

small intestine, called the duodenum. Here bile and
pancreatic enzymes are added to the food. Bile
emulsifies fats, reducing large drops of fats to small
droplets, which increases the surface area of the
fats. Three pancreatic enzymes digest nutrients
here: lipase breaks down fat molecules into fatty
acids and monoglycerides, amylase reduces
starches to simple carbohydrates, and trypsin
breaks up proteins into short chains of amino acids. Human digestive system

The walls of the small intestine are lined with folds and tiny finger-like
projections called villi, which greatly increase the surface area of the
small intestine. Each villus, shown at left, contains capillaries and a
lymphatic vessel. Nutrients diffuse through the thin walls of the villus
and into either the capillaries or lymphatic vessel: fatty acids and
monoglycerides into the lymphatic vessel, and monosaccharides
(simple sugars), amino acids, and water into the capillaries. The
capillaries and lymphatic vessels deliver the nutrients into the
bloodstream, where they are transported to body cells. The small
Villus intestine is very long, measuring about 7 meters (23 feet) in length.

After the small intestine, food passes into the large intestine, or colon. The large intestine is full
of bacteria, some of which produce useful vitamins such as vitamin K. These bacteria also
ferment fiber—which is otherwise indigestible—producing nutrients that nourish the cells of the
large intestine. Excess water is also absorbed in the large intestine. A mixture of waste material,
bacteria, and mucus are passed to the rectum, where the mixture is compacted and readied for
elimination. Wastes are eliminated through an opening called the anus.

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Health Connection: Lactose intolerance
Milk and many dairy products contain a sugar called lactose.
Lactose is an example of a disaccharide. Each lactose
molecule consists of two monosaccharides—in this case
glucose and galactose—joined together. Lactose molecules
are split by the enzyme lactase, which is produced by the cells
lining the walls of the small intestine. When lactase is present,
the lactose molecules are split into their component
monosaccharides, which then are absorbed through the villi of
the small intestine. Lactose molecular structure

If lactase is not present, the lactose is not absorbed in the small intestine and passes intact to
the large intestine. Here it is fermented by bacteria, producing large quantities of gas. The
simple sugars produced by fermentation of lactose disrupt the osmotic balance in the large
intestine, reducing the amount of water that is absorbed. The excess gas production and
decreased water absorption may result in bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence, and diarrhea.

In most mammals, lactase is produced abundantly in nursing young, but not produced after
weaning because milk is no longer a part of the diet. Therefore, most adult mammals are
lactose intolerant. Humans are unusual because in many cultures it is common to drink milk and
eat dairy products into adulthood. As a result of these dietary changes occurring over several
thousand years, many human populations have adapted to the presence of dairy products by
producing lactase throughout life. This condition is known as lactose tolerance.

The history of lactose tolerance can be deduced by comparing different human populations. In
northern Europe, where cheese and other dairy products are commonly consumed, the rates of
lactose tolerance are greater than 80%. In eastern Asia, where dairy products are not a major
part of the diet, rates of lactose tolerance are less than 20%.

People who are lactose intolerant can consume modified dairy products such as Lactaid® milk.
In these products, lactase is added directly to the milk, causing the lactose to break down before
it is ingested. This milk has a slightly sweeter taste than ordinary milk because the lactose has
been broken down into the simple sugars glucose and glycogen.

Selected Web Resources

Digestive system demonstrations: http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1303.html,
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nutrition/6418
Digestion: http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/index.html,
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-human-digestion-process.html
Digestion for kids: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/digestive_system.html,
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/digestive-
system-article/, http://kitses.com/animation/swfs/digestion.swf
Lactose intolerance: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001321/,
http://darwinstudents.blogspot.com/2009/02/evolution-of-lactose-tolerance.html

Related Gizmos:
Identifying Nutrients: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?452
Circulatory System: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?662
Dehydration Synthesis: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?464

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