Middle School Inquiry Lab on the Endocrine System
In this lab students will learn that the endocrine system is made of eight glands that help maintain homeostasis. Each gland is an organ that releases a hormone that has a specific receptor and a specific job to do. They work like a lock and key which will be represented by puzzle pieces.
Each inquiry lab will contain an essential question that will drive the lesson and make students think. For this lesson, the essential question is:
- What is the function of the endocrine system? How does negative feedback control hormone levels?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND MATERIALS LIST:
Students will begin the lab by reading the essential question and background information. This can be done individually, as lab groups, or as a whole class. If you consider lab groups, you also might include some type of whole class formative checks before digging into the lab.
Materials List:
- puzzle pieces
- diagram of location of endocrine organs (teacher will distribute or display)
- equal arm distance
- 2 items to balance (example: sand/weights or sand/marbles)
PROCEDURE:
Students will be tasked with finding the second piece of their endocrine hormone puzzle. Once students find their matching piece, they will have to perform the task indicated on the two pieces. This will give you a quick formative assessment that the students have completed the hunt correctly. Students will also have to complete a feedback loop to balance sand/marbles. Students will have to work in partners to balance out each other's added masses to a scale.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:
At this point in the lab, students will be checked for understanding by answering questions about their findings. Here are a few that come with the lab:
- Name two functions of the endocrine system that you learned from the group puzzle-matching activity.
- Explain how the negative feedback loop is different from the verbal or audio feedback of your lab.
CONCLUSION
Students will go back to the essential question and write a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) to conclude the lab. Once completed, students will reflect back on their learning by answering the following questions:
- The nervous system sends impulses to regulate the body. How does the endocrine system regulate the activity of the body?
- What organs release these chemicals?
- Give 2 examples of glands, their chemicals, and their function.
MODIFIED AND INDEPENDENT INQUIRY VERSIONS
All of the Kesler Science inquiry labs come with three different modification levels. Each lab is differentiated using the icons below.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
TEKS: 7.12B – Identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems.
