Activity
Blood Flow Through the Heart
This hands-on activity helps students who are visually impaired to understand blood flow in the heart.
Purpose:
To illustrate the flow of blood in the heart and the function of the heart valves to students who are blind or visually impaired
Background Information:
Biology textbooks usually feature a complicated diagram illustrating the flow of blood in the heart as well as the names of the 4 chambers and the major arteries and veins.
This hands on activity offers an interactive method to study the chambers, valves and blood flow of the heart.
Materials
- White board or tray
- Small beads
- String
- Wikki Stix™
Preparation
On a white board or tray, use Wikki Stix™ to create an outline of the heart and the major arteries and veins. Use short pieces of Wikki Stix™ to indicate the valves. The blood is represented by red beads in strings as well as a few beads separated.
Procedure
- After reading about the chambers of the heart, the function of the valves, and the pattern of the blood flow, examine the tactile drawing of the heart.
- Practice opening the closing the “valves”.
- Insert the beads representing the blood into the tactile drawing following the instructions of your teacher.
- Allow the “blood” to flow through the valves into the chambers of the heart by opening and closing each valve as needed.
Variations
- Examine a 3D model of the heart that opens for the chambers to be examined. These models can be purchased from science teaching catalogs or borrowed from a cardiologist’s office.
- Use a stethoscope to listen to the heart beats that correspond to the opening and closing of heart valves.
NGSS Standards:
LS1.A: Structure and Function
Author
Sarah Hughes, Head of Science, New College Worcester, United Kingdom The original activity appears here.
Resources:
Hughes, Sarah, Making Models. New College Worcester, England, United Kingdom, 2009.
Miller, Kenneth R. Ph.D. and Joseph s. Levine, Ph.D. Biology: Foundation Edition, Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010, page 787.
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