C1 (my old B1 class) has been studying science with me for a number of months. The last chapter in their book was on the human body. There were a couple of interesting but quick projects. One involved measuring heart rate at rest and after exercise. The kids really enjoyed that one because they got to go outside and run around for 5 minutes as part of it. Basically you have them measure their heart rate just sitting in the classroom. Then you get them up and running around (works particularly well if you have access to a playground) for a couple minutes. Then you have them remeasure their heart rate. You discuss how their heart rate changed as a function of their activity level.
The other activity they did was to make a model of human lungs using two balloons, two straws and some tape. You need the bendy straws. Tape the straws together. Fan out the bendy ends (this makes the two bronchial tubes). Then tape a smallish sized balloon to the bendy end of each straw. If you make them air tight, when you breath into the balloons, they’ll inflate just like real lungs do. Here are a few pictures.
I’ll try to remember to take a picture of mine and add it to this post.
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