YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART! 

By Maria C. Levine

Did you ever wonder what  your heart is made of?  What does it do? How does the blood flow in and out?  Where does the blood go? 

These are some of the questions we will answer in this introduction to your heart.  The heart is an incredible organ.  The heart begins to beat during the 4th week of gestation and will continue until death, never taking a break.  In 1 year, an average person's heart will pump enough blood to fill an Olympic pool (approx. 2,649,024 liters). That's a lot of blood!

The first step in understanding your heart is to learn the parts and what they do.  There is a Web Site you will go to.  You will see how a heart beats, where the blood comes from and where it goes to.  You will also learn  the names of the different parts of your heart and how they are involved in moving all that blood around.  By the end of this journey, you will be able to label you own heart, show where the blood comes into the heart and how it leaves.  You will know where blood goes to be oxygenated and where deoxygenated blood comes from.

The first step in your journey is to see a heart beat.  After you have read these  instructions, click on the link. 

• Start  by choosing whether you want to tour in English or Spanish. 

• Then click on "Human Heart" and then "Narrated Tour" 

• Start your tour by clicking on the ►.  Click on either ◄ or ► to move backward or forward during the presentation. 

• You may view the presentation as many times as you want by clicking on "restart". 

• When you are finished, click on "Heart" at the bottom of the screen to take you back to the Virtual Heart. 

• Next, click on "Heart Parts" to see the names of all the different parts of the heart. Moving your mouse over the different parts of the heart will identify the parts and a description appears on the right side of the page.  Note that the red parts of the heart have oxygenated blood and the blue parts have deoxygenated blood. 

• When you are finished, please exit the Web Site.

• Now go to the Virtual Heart. 

Now that you are an expert on all the parts of your heart, let's see what you've learned.  Print and label the following diagram.  Oxygenated parts should be shaded red and deoxygenated parts blue.  Credit will be given as follows:

• Shading = 10 points,

• Label = 5 points each. 

• At the bottom of your diagram, describe what causes the "dub-dub" sound the heart makes.  This is worth 15 points. 

• The unit is due 02/14/04.                              

REMEMBER:  Your heart never gets a rest, so be heart smart.  In our next adventure, we will explore diseases of the heart.