Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Key Stage 5 Biology
Lesson Plan 8 – Heart and Circulation
Lesson aim
To act as an introductory lesson to the heart and circulation, familiarising students with
the function and structure of the human heart and circulatory system
.
Lesson objectives
Students will be expected to:
 Work in pairs to construct and improve a heart and circulation simulator.
 Design and deliver a 10 minute ‘lesson’ on the heart and circulation using the
simulator.
Lesson Outcomes
By the end of this lesson:
 All students must be able to understand the basic structure and function of the
heart and the basic structure of the circulatory system. They should also
understand the role that the circulatory system plays in transporting oxygen and
other substances around the body.
 Most students should be able to understand why blood pressure which is either
excessively high or excessively low can cause problems.
 Some students may be able to compare graphs of aortic, atrial and ventricular
pressure and understand the main features of the graph and why they might differ
from a graph showing pressure variation in their heart and circulation simulator.
Time Required
Approximately three hours. This will be best split over two lessons on separate days
to allow students to carry out some of the research as homework.
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Specification links
Board
AQA
Biology
Unit
1
2
AQA
Human Biology
1
Edexcel
(concept approach)
1
Edexcel
(context approach)
1
OCR
Biology
OCR
Human Biology
F211
F221
F222
Spec.
3.1.1 (heart disease)
3.1.5 (heart structure and function, heart
disease)
3.2.7 (the circulatory system)
3.1.6 (heart structure and function, heart
disease)
Topic 1 Lifestyle, health and risk (structure
and function of the heart and circulation
system, heart disease)
Topic 1 Lifestyle, health and risk (structure
and function of the heart and circulation
system, heart disease)
1.2.2 (structure and function of the heart
and circulatory system)
1.2.1 (structure and function of the heart)
1.2.2 (the circulatory system)
2.4.1 (coronary heart disease)
Materials and equipment required
Per student

Resource Sheet 8.1 – The Human Heart

Resource Sheet 8.2 – Heart Disease

Resource Sheet 8.3 – Circulation
Per pair of students

A basic heart and circulation kit – see Technician Notes for details

Resource Sheet 8.4 – Build Your Own Heart and Circulation Simulator
Note: All components used in this activity are readily available. Specific suppliers and
part numbers are given in the Technician Notes at the end of this lesson plan.
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Lesson structure
Intro activity:
 Without the aid of text books or other references give students 3 minutes to work
in pairs and attempt to draw an outline diagram of the heart and circulation
system. It will help if the diagram is done on large (A3 or bigger) sheet of paper.
 Choose several pairs to show their diagrams to the class and explain them.
 This exercise will allow students’ prior knowledge to be assessed and will also act
as an introduction to the subject matter of the lesson.
 Discuss the basic structure and function of the heart.
20 mins approx
Practical:
 In this practical, students will build a heart and circulation simulator. They will be
given a basic kit and it will then be up to them to add further refinements to make
it as realistic as they can. They will then use their simulator to deliver a short
lesson on the heart and circulation system.
 The practical is designed to deliver a set of specific subject related learning
outcomes and to also allow students to learn about some aspects of the role of
cardiologists and associated healthcare professionals working in the NHS.
 Students can find out more about these roles at www.nhscareers.nhs.uk.
 Issue the students with the following resource sheets:
o
Resource Sheet 8.1 – The Human Heart
o
Resource Sheet 8.2 – Heart Disease
o
Resource Sheet 8.3 – Circulation
o
Resource Sheet 8.4 – Build Your Own Heart and Circulation Simulator
 If time allows, students can be given access to a range of different bore tubing
and suitable adapters to allow them to add more blood vessels of differing sizes
to their simulator. They could also think about how they might simulate organs,
such as the liver etc.
120 mins approx
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Plenary activity:
 Students can present their lessons back to the group.
 Presentations should be no more than 10 minutes in length and should clearly
explain the following points:
o
The mammalian double circulation system.
o
Why heart muscle is able to work without fatigue.
o
The names of the major blood vessels and the organs or parts of the
body that they serve.
o
The passage of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.
o
Diastolic and systolic pressure.
o
The effect of atherosclerosis and other diseases of the heart and
circulatory system.
o
The role of healthcare professionals in caring for patients with diseases
of the heart and circulatory system.
 If time allows at the end of the lesson discuss any interesting points that may
have arisen.
40 mins approx
Extension/Homework
 Students could film the rise and fall of ‘blood’ in the pressure gauge with a stop
clock in the background and plot a graph of how pressure varies with time during
a series of simulated heart beats. They could then compare this with a graph
showing real aortic, atrial and ventricular pressure and discuss the similarities
and/or differences. Searching for the term ‘aortic pressure’ will find a large
number of websites displaying these graphs.
Risk assessment
It is the responsibility of the supervising teacher to carry out all risk assessments with
regard to this activity and to make sure that any such risk assessment complies with
the requirements of the particular institution in which it is being conducted.
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Technician Notes
Preparation
Please read Resource Sheet 8.4 – Build Your Own Heart and Circulation Simulator.
Each heart and circulation kit will require the following components

2 diesel priming tools

Approximately 3 metres of 8mm bore PVC tubing

Approximately 3 centimetres of red rubber Bunsen burner tubing

1 long modelling balloon

1 solid rubber bung with bottom diameter 8 mm

A selection of tubing connectors to comprise minimum 3 straight, 6 ‘T’ shape, 3
‘Y’ shape

1 Hoffman clip

10 or more 12 mm tool clips or slightly smaller if you can find them

Small screws for use with tool clips

1 or more large sheets of paper – enough to cover the MDF board

1 thin MDF backing board to measure approximately 1 m by 0.5 m with a hole
cut as in the diagram below
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Please note that the dimensions of all of the parts mentioned above are designed to
work with the diesel priming tools specified in the parts table below. If you source
these from a different supplier you will need to check the dimensions of the necessary
tubing etc are still compatible.
Students will also require the following:

A plastic washing up bowl

Gloves

Plastic jug and funnel

A few drops of red food colouring and a plastic pipette

A screw driver to fit tool clip screws

A bradawl to help fit the screws

2 retort stands with clamps and bosses

A roll of electrical tape

A wooden metre rule
The retort stands are intended to hold the completed heart and circulation simulator
upright. It will be useful to check prior to the lesson that they will do this as some
thicker grades of MDF and smaller retort stands may not be stable.
A photograph of a partially constructed kit is shown below for reference.
Fig 1. A heart and
circulation kit under
construction. Note that the
pulse demonstrator is fitted
on an artery. Also note that,
in this model, the lungs have
been placed above the heart
and the right ventricle and
right atrium have been
inverted to make the pipe
work less complicated.
Science at Work in Healthcare
Post – 16 Science Education Pack
Sourcing the Parts
All of the parts necessary for this lesson are readily available. For convenience, the
table below gives part numbers for Screwfix and Timstar Laboratory Supplies. It is
possible to source the same or equivalent components from other suppliers.
Part No.
Amount required
per H&C Kit
Component
Supplier
Supplier website
Diesel priming tool
8 mm bore PVC
tubing
Bunsen burner
tubing
Solid rubber bung 8
mm bottom
diameter
Straight tubing
adapters 7/12/ x
7/12 mm
8 mm ‘T’ shape
tubing adapters
8 mm ‘Y’ shape
tubing adapters
Hoffman clip
12 mm tool clips
Screwfix
www.screwfix.com
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
ST14608/S (pack of 10)
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
AD00085 (pack of 5)
3 adapters
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
AD00051 (pack of 5)
6 adapters
Timstar
www.timstar.co.uk
AD00071 (pack of 5)
3 adapters
Timstar
Screwfix
www.timstar.co.uk
www.screwfix.com
CL04320 (pack of 5)
13985 (pack of 10)
1 clip
10 or more clips
77865
TU16856 (30 m roll)
TU16855 (per metre)
TU16766 (10 m roll)
TU16765 (per metre)
2
3 metres approx
3 centimetres
approx
1 bung