Thinking about how different areas of your body have more regions in the brain associated with them, do you think all of the organs and tissues use glucose at the same rate or in the same amount? Explain your answer below (yes/no is not a sufficient response).
Overview
In this lesson, students analyze a data table of energy consumption by body type and investigate what energy molecules are used in different parts of the body to create a "glucunculus" to understand what parts of our body rely on glucose to meet their energy requirements.
NOTE: It's helpful to print out the human body outline on 11 x 17 paper, but not necessary (I find it cuts down on students trying to make a perfect outline).
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
- Life Science
- [HS-LS2] Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- NGSS Crosscutting Concept
- Patterns
- Causation
- Systems
- Stability and Change
- NGSS Practice
- Analyzing Data
- Asking Questions, Defining Problems
- Using Models
Computational Thinking in STEM
- Data Practices
- Analyzing Data
- Modeling and Simulation Practices
- Using Computational Models to Understand a Concept
- Systems Thinking Practices
- Investigating a Complex System as a Whole
- Understanding the Relationships within a System
Credits
Unit designed by Eleanor Kemp a teacher at Lindblom.
Acknowledgement
These lessons utilize resources from Project Neuron, a curriculum program developed by the University of Illinois, and HASPI (Health and Science Pipeline Initiatives).
Activities
- 1. What is a Glucunculus?
- 2. Create Your Glucunulus
- 3. Analyzing the Data: Energy Consumption per Organ
- 4. Analyzing the Data: Organ/Tissue by Weight
- 5. Revising Your Glucunculus Using Data
- 6. Complete Your Understanding: Metabolic Pathways by Cell Type
Student Directions and Resources
In this lesson, you will analyze data to determine what areas of your body account for the highest rates of glucose utilization. You will also learn the different types of energy molecules the cells of your body use to perform their life sustaining functions.
This lesson was adapted from a set of resources from Project Neuron, from the University of Illinois.
You will need the following resources to complete this assignment.
1. What is a Glucunculus?
What is a glucunculus? A glucunculus is distorted drawing of the human body showing the relative size/proportion of the organs based on the amount of glucose that each organ uses. The glununculus is based on a similar type of drawing, called a "homunculus" that shows the parts of the human body as relative to the amount of your brain that is devoted to that region. A homunculus is shown below.
These diagrams are meant to show that a large area of your brain's cerebral cortex is devoted to your hands (particularly your fingertips), mouth, nose, etc, due to our senses.
Question 1.1
2. Create Your Glucunulus
With your partner, create a glucunulus on the human body outline your teacher gives you. You should include the following components: heart, liver, brain, kidneys, fat, and muscle. You can represent those organs/tissues in any way that you want, but it should be clear which organs you think are using more glucose (or are not using more glucose).
3. Analyzing the Data: Energy Consumption per Organ
Now that you have predicted what parts of your body might use more/less glucose, let's look at some data to determine how much energy each of your organs/tissues actually use.
Step 1: Calculate energy consumption per organ/tissue.
| Organ or Tissue |
Energy Consumption (kCal) |
% Energy Consumption |
|---|---|---|
| Adipose (fat) | 67.5 | |
| Muscle | 366.6 | |
| Liver | 360 | |
| Brain | 336 | |
| Heart | 120 | |
| Kidney | 120 | |
| Other | 278.4 | |
| TOTAL | 1648.5 | ------------------- |
Question 3.1
Use the data table above to calculate the percent of energy consumption by different body tissues. Make sure that you record these answers in your notebook as you will need them for a further calculation.
4. Analyzing the Data: Organ/Tissue by Weight
To understand how much energy each of your organs/tissues actually uses, we need to determine how large each organ actually is (what % of your total body weight). With this information, we can then calculate the ratio of % energy consumption to % of total body weight.
| Organ or Tissue | Weight (lbs) |
|---|---|
| Adipose (fat) | 33 |
| Muscle | 62.17 |
| Liver | 3.96 |
| Brain | 3.08 |
| Heart | 0.66 |
| Kidney | 0.66 |
| Other | 51.5 |
| TOTAL | 155.03 |
Question 4.1
Why is it helpful to know what percent of total body weight each organ comprises? Why is this important to compare to % energy consumption?
Question 4.2
Use the data table above to calculate how much each organ/tissue represents as part of our total body weight (i.e. what proportion is each organ of our total). Again, record this information in your notebook for your final calculation and revision of your glucunculus.
5. Revising Your Glucunculus Using Data
Now that you have a better understanding of how much some of your organs and tissues use glucose (and their proportionate sizes), it's time to revise the glucunculus you created at the beginning of this lesson. To do this, you first need to understand the ratio of % energy consumption to % of body weight by organ.
Use the data you answered in the previous calculations to complete a simple calculation: % energy consumption/ % body weight. You can fill out your calculations in the table below.
After you have completed your calculations, go back to original glucunculus you created and in a NEW COLOR (or some other clearly identifiable representation), show the size of each organ based on its glucose utilization. DON'T WORRY! YOUR DIAGRAM SHOULD LOOK DISTORTED!
Question 5.1
For each ratio, divide the % energy consumption by the % body weight from the previous calculations. You can round your answers to the nearest 10th.
6. Complete Your Understanding: Metabolic Pathways by Cell Type
In order for you to fully understand how the tissues of your body utilize molecules to gain energy, you need to complete the following assignment for homework. You will need to visit: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/metabolism/pathways/. Feel free to click around the website if you want to find out more about how your body breaks down food to gain energy!
