Body systems and Bots
Students will investigate and model how biological systems in the human body process and respond to stimuli, and will draw connections to how robots and AI tools simulate these systems through sensors, processors, and outputs. Through hands-on stations, AI interaction, 3D design, and coding activities, students will analyze, compare, and communicate how input → processing → output works in both living organisms and intelligent machines.
Overview
Students compare how living organisms and intelligent machines process stimuli through input, processing, and output. Early stations cover living versus nonliving things, cells, and AI tools on writing, trivia, and drawing tasks. Students study the human brain, build a bead-and-string neural network model, and try Quick, Draw! or Teachable Machine. They then compare nervous-system and robot pathways in flowcharts or comics, work with a Mars rover story, design a TinkerCAD keychain with Gemini's help, and learn coding vocabulary for Bee-Bot programs. They build a low-tech responsive rover and present models, journal reflections, and coding diagrams.
Lesson Objectives
- Investigate and model how biological systems in the human body process and respond to stimuli, and will draw connections to how robots and AI tools simulate these systems through sensors, processors, and outputs. Through hands-on stations, AI interaction, 3D design, and coding activities, students will analyze, compare, and communicate how input → processing → output works in both living organisms and intelligent machines.
Standards
NGSS · 1
- MS-ETS1-1Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
CCSS Math · 2
- 7.G.A.1Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale.
- HSG-MG.A.2Apply geometric methods to solve real world problems.
CCSS ELA · 2
- RST.6-8.7Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
- RST.6-8.8Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.