As part of the seventh grade investigation of pressure and its application in physics, earth, and life science we studied its role in the functioning of the heart and lungs. 

The seventh graders were divided into partnerships and asked to animate both the heart and the lungs using the software program, Macromedia Flash. Each team animated the heart, blood vessels, and structures of the upper and lower respiratory system.

The lung animations show the pathway air molecules travel as they make their way through the bronchiole and into the alveoli where oxygen is diffused into the blood stream. The heart and circulatory animations show the path the blood travels as it makes its way through the heart and into the lungs to pick up oxygen and drop off carbon dioxide.

The heart animations also show the path the blood takes as it makes its way through the body and into the capillaries to drop off oxygen and pick up the waste gas, carbon dioxide.

Finally, each partnership wrote a report describing the major structures of the cardiopulmonary system. The animations the seventh grade students produced are amazing, and the reports clearly demonstrate their detailed knowledge of pressure and the role it plays allowing us to maintain our cardiopulmonary health.