Exploring the Human Urinary System
One of my favourite courses to teach is our Human Biology course in the Pre-Health program. Students love learning more about topics that apply to their educational goals and career aspirations. One of the topics that the students struggle with the most is the Urinary system. I always try to explore new ways of introducing the organs and functions of this system in the body so thought it would be appropriate to apply some of the Curator model strategies to this topic.
Get Body Smart (by the makers of KenHub)
This site was found through the Merlot platform and provides students with visual diagrams as well as brief explanations about the organs or organ systems they are examining. It also provides students with the opportunity to test their knowledge of the organs by labeling the diagram. This site would be a great introductory site to the human body systems but does not go into further detail surrounding the physiology of the systems and how they function. Get Body Smart would be a great resources to use to have students prepare for class or as a quick introductory exploration activity.
Human Anatomy Laboratory Manual
I came across this OER laboratory manual that includes content descriptions, diagrams, in-class activities, lab activities, homework/practice problems and collaborative study guides. This text would be a great alternative to our current textbook and allow students to use this as a workbook throughout the term. The manual is available as a PDF download so students can load it directly onto their device, print it or complete the activities electronically using a PDF viewer. The layout of the manual is easy to navigate and could perhaps be edited to remove content that is not relevant to the course. This would definitely help bring down the textbook costs for students as our current text can be expensive.
Is it bad to hold your pee? Ted Talk by Heba Shaheed
During each topic in our Human Biology course students all have questions about the norms and abnormalities of the system. They want to be able to relate it to their everyday life in order to get a better understanding of the topic. I find that class discussion surrounding various diseases, normal quirks of the system and just the good old basics help them to feel comfortable with the content. And a good video goes a long way. This video on the impact of holding your pee and the urinary system is a fun way to introduce the quirky questions students have about a human body system. Not only would this spark conversation but it outlines the anatomy of the system as well to ensure they are understanding how the system works.
I found the Merlot repository the easiest to navigate and also the site that produced the best results for my topic. All of my OER’s from above were found by searching the Merlot site using terms such as “urinary system+anatomy”, “urinary system+function” and “urinary system+facts”. It was very helpful to be able to narrow the search using the filters on the left hand side.
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