FOOD AND THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

PURPOSE
To learn about the digestive system. To begin to explore where nutrients come from, as well as their importance for particular tasks in
the body.
CONTEXT
Students are starting to view the body as a system in these grades. One important thing they should start to understand is that
in order for their "systems" to properly function, they need energy and materials from food (as the benchmark states). Though students
know they must eat to live, they may not have made the distinct connections between food and the body properly repairing itself, or
food and growth; even a connection as simple as a lack of iron or carbohydrates making one tired.
This lesson will focus on the digestive system in order to address the latter part of the benchmarkthat undigested food is eliminated.
In addition, it will begin to explore where nutrients come from and their importance for particular tasks in the body.
This Science NetLinks lesson is the first of a three part series. It works in conjunction with Nutrition 2: Good Food, Good Health, a
lesson that teaches about the food groups and how vitamins and minerals help the body function properly, and Nutrition 3: Got
Broccoli?, a lesson that encapsulates what students have learned about nutrition.
Note: Younger elementary school students might think that the contents of the body is what they have seen being put into it or coming
out of it. Students know food is related to growing and being strong and healthy, but they are not aware of the physiological
mechanisms. In upper elementary, students can list a large number of organs and by 5th grade, "students know that food undergoes a
process of transformation in the body.
MOTIVATION
Get students involved in the topics of this lesson by discussing their food intake.
Ask questions such as:
What have you eaten today?
Why did you choose to eat those foods?
What happened to your food after you ate it?
Students should naturally begin talking about the digestive system in response to the final question listed above. Let them
know that food and the digestive system are the topics for this lesson.
Now read aloud Your Digestive System, from Discovery Kids.
Once students have done some preliminary exploration of the digestive system, ask these questions:
Where do people get energy?
(They get energy from food.)
How does the energy from food get into the body?
(Nutrients flow into the bloodstream from the small intestine)
What happens to the indigestible parts of the food?
(Leftovers go into the large intestine and are eliminated.)
Next, brainstorm answers to these questions. There are many answers, many of which are not very obvious, but this will get students
thinking beyond the basic processes of the digestive system.
What do you think your body uses the energy from food for?
(These answers can include just about anything the body does. The goal is to demonstrate that without food, the body would not
function properly and if it went without food for a prolonged period, the health of that person would deteriorate.)
If your body didn't get enough nutrients, what do you think would happen?
(Ask students if they would grow, or think as well. Try to get students to think about this question in relation to junk food.)
DEVELOPMENT
In this part of the lesson, students will learn about the digestive system in more detail.
First, students should use their Digestive System student esheet to go to and read the KidsHealth's article Your Digestive System.
They should click on the Digestive System diagram on the first page and explore the different parts of the system.
Note: Depending on your students' ability, this article can be read online or printed out and read in class. Also, it is not necessary to
click on the links within the text for this lesson.
Provide students with the Digestive System student sheet. They should get into groups and cut out parts of the digestive system from
colored construction paper as they make their way through the article. On each organ, students can write a one- to two-sentence
description of the organ's purpose. In the end, they will have a recreated digestive system of their own.
Another way to approach this is for you to hand each group a "puzzle" which would consist of the different parts of the digestive system
already cut out. Students could sequence the digestive system as they read through the site. This will give them the big picture.
After this exercise, students should write short answers to these questions:
Where in the digestive system do nutrients enter the body?
What happens to the indigestible parts of food?
Next, students should go to a Digestive System Activity on The Learning Site. Once at the activity, students should review what they've
learned by clicking on the link, "Building Your System." Then they should study the digestive organs in more depth by clicking on the
"Inside Story."
As the benchmark for this lesson states, it's important for students to realize that the indigestible parts of food are eliminated and that
people obtain energy and materials for body repair and growth from food. To continue to illustrate these ideas, students should follow
the final link on The Learning Site, "Food Path." This activity depicts various foods traveling through the digestive system and
introduces students to nutrition terms such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.

ASSESSMENT

Ask questions such as the following to assess student

understanding of the benchmark ideas:
How is protein in milk broken down?
(It is broken down by digestive juices in the stomach.)
What happens once food enters the small intestine?
(Nutrients are absorbed, and minerals and vitamins move into
the bloodstream.)
What does bile do?
(It helps the small intestine break down fat so it can be
absorbed into the bloodstream.)
What is broccoli made up of?
(It is made up of water, fiber, and vitamins.)
What happens to fiber in the body?

(It's not digested, and is eliminated.)

What is chicken largely made up of?
(It is largely made up of protein)
What does your body use the nutrients in protein for?
(To repair or replace worn-out cells.)
What is pasta largely made up of?
(It is largely made up of carbohydrates.)
What do carbohydrates offer the body?
(They offer long-lasting energy.)
Why do you feel a quick burst of energy after eating
foods with a lot of sugar?
(Because sugar is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream.)

Article: Your Digestive System

The story were about to tell is of stormy seas, acid rains, and dry, desert-like conditions. Its an arduous journey that traverses
long distances and can take several days. Its one in which nothing comes through unchanged. Its the story of your digestive
system whose purpose is turn the food you eat into something useful for your body!
Down the Hatch
It all starts with that first bite of pizza. Your teeth tear off that big piece of crust. Your saliva glands start spewing out spit like
fountains. Your molars grind your pizza crust, pepperoni, and cheese into a big wet ball. Chemicals in your saliva start chemical
reactions. Seemingly like magic, starch in your pizza crust begins to turn to sugar! A couple of more chews and, then, your
tongue pushes the ball of chewed food to the back of your throat. A trap door opens, and there it goes, down your gullet!
Next, your muscles squeeze the wet mass of food down, down, down a tube, or esophagus, the way you would squeeze a tube
of toothpaste. Its not something you tell your muscles to do they just do it in a muscle action called peristalsis. Then, the
valve to the stomach opens and pizza mush lands in your stomach!
Inside your stomach
Imagine being inside a big pink muscular bag sloshing back and forth in a sea of half-digested mush and being mixed with
digestive chemicals. Acid rains down from the pink walls which drip with mucus to keep them from being eroded.
Sound a little like an amusement ride gone crazy? Every time you think youve got your equilibrium back, the walls of muscle
contract and fold in on themselves again. Over and over again, you get crushed under another wave of slop. Every wave mixes
and churns the food and chemicals together morebreaking the food into even smaller and smaller bits. Then another valve
opens. Is the end in sight you ask, as the slop gets pushed into the small intestine.
Inside the small intestine, chemicals and liquids from places like your kidneys and pancreas break down and mix up the
leftovers. The small intestine looks like a strange underwater world filled with things that resemble small finger-like cactus. But
theyre not cactus, theyre villi. Like sponges, theyre able to absorb tremendous amounts of nutrients from the food you eat.
From the villi, the nutrients will flow into your bloodstream.
But hold on! The storys still not over yet the leftovers that your body cant use still have more traveling to do! Next, theyre
pushed into the large intestine. Its much wider and much drier. You find that the leftovers getting smaller, harder and drier as
theyre pushed through the tube. After all, this is the place where water is extracted and recycled back into your body. In fact, the
leftovers that leave your body are about 1/3 the size of what first arrived in your intestines!
Where Food Turns Into Poop
Finally, the end of the large intestine is in sight! Now the drier leftovers are various handsome shades of brown. They sit, at the
end of their journey, waiting for you to expel them out your anus. Of course, you know the rest! A glorious,if slightly stinky,
journey, dont you think?
Factoids:
An adults intestines are at least 25 feet. Be glad youre not a full-grown horse their coiled-up intestines are 89 feet
long!

Chewing food takes from 5-30 seconds

Swallowing takes about 10 seconds

Food sloshing in the stomach can last 3-4 hours

It takes 3 hours for food to move through the intestine

Food drying up and hanging out in the large intestine can last 18 hours to 2 days!

Americans eat about 700 million pounds of peanut butter.

Americans eat over 2 billion pounds of chocolate a year.

In your lifetime, your digestive system may handle about 50 tons!!