Teaching digestion to a ten year old - aka "How Is Poo Made" - experiments and suggestions please

#1

Hello everyone - and especially teachers.
It’s now sunny and I’m teaching my next door neighbour’s ten year old boy digestion.
So we sit in the garden, two metres apart, and we’ve had one ‘lesson’ where we drew the main organs of the digestive system onto a boy sized human outline. He wants to know more and has told me he’ll be coming back today at 1430 (UK time)!

So this is my general plan -
each ‘lesson’ will be 30 minutes -
we’ll start with a quick quiz to recap the last ‘lesson’ -
have one small part of digestion per ‘lesson’ -
and an experiment or exercise for every ‘lesson’.
I want to cover ‘how and why’ digestion happens and not just ‘where and what’ (ie the organs of digestion and food to poo) - so I want to cover the hormones as well as the nervous system. I hope this will give him practical information that will inform his choices…

Please can you all give me ideas about experiments and exercises, lots and lots of them.

This afternoon were going to ‘do’ carbohydrates and the experiment will be to chew a piece of plain bread to experience how the starch is broken down into sugars.

Thank you.

(Polly) #2

Have you got some iodine solution to demonstrate the presence of starch?

#3

One of my favorite childhood Saturday morning snippets…SchoolHouse Rock…They have a bunch of videos on the human body…like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh2-g3ftCaE Not much there other than a funky jingle and cartoons.

But this one from the Khan academy is waaaayyyy more informative… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2V4zMx33Mc You will likely get some great ideas here.

#4

The Cloaca Poo Machine art installation could be fascinating for any 10 year old.

#5

Remember- he is only 10. You dont want to go into a whole biochemistry lecture when he hasn’t even had chemistry yet. I would stick to the organs and what they do. Include the liver and pancreas. I honestly dont think diabetes is a part of that picture yet, although you could mention it on the side. I am not a teacher but I am a medical doctor. I think however you start simple and later you get to the more complicated stuff. Sometimes it is hard to discern what a child is able to grasp, and what is age appropriate. I dont mean that emotionally but intellectually.

(Jane) #6

If you have some digestive enzymes (not probiotics) you can empty a capsule into some oatmeal and watch it “dissolve” (digestion). The better the enzyme, the more complete the dissolving will be.

I did this to test 3 brands a few years ago… one from a local store, a reasonable-priced one and an expensive one from Amazon. The one from the local store did nothing and was worthless. The more expensive one turned the oatmeal into water - the cheaper one turned it into a thicker liquid. We saved the expensive one for vacation and use the cheaper one when we need help at home.

#7

Thank you Polly
I don’t,
But I’ll ask my local chemist.

#8

A very good idea - thank you Janie.

#9

Yes and thank you.

My approach is to investigate, to encourage observation and then to explain those observations with anatomy and basic processes. We chewed plain bread until it became sweet to experience digestion.

The poor boy has a long term ear infection and so has been on antibiotics for a few weeks with subsequent loose stool. He isn’t feeling great. He knew about water absorption in the large intestine and so could work out he maybe could drink more to compensate.

#10

Is he asking you these questions, or are you trying to direct him into the direction of medicine as a profession?

#11

It happened like this - we have had lockdown because of Covid - he didn’t go to school and I’ve been stuck in my house and garden.
He’s been a neighbour for four years and so I’ve seen him as an infant and then as he developed those normal skills for a 9 year old.
We were both in need of a little more than lockdown allowed and so when the R numbers suggested it was safe to meet more people I offered to ‘teach’ him something - he chose ‘How is Poo Made’.
So I discussed the approach with his dad who is an artist and school councillor and we decided to be ‘scientific’ that is not to lean by rote but by observation and even experiment if we could.
Just now we’re at going to the loo and are designing an ‘experiment’ to examine the best position for defecation. So we’ve looked at gathering data, anonymity (after all who wants their pooing to be public knowledge), and recording the data collected. We hope to gather data from about 20 people.
And because he’s a wizz at maths hopefully we can have some sort of conclusion that makes sense of the physiology and will also allow us to critique the ‘scientific method’.
I’m quite pleased with his enthusiasm as he’s telling his mum and has been ‘teaching’ his class about poo via Zoom!
So no, I am not suggesting he be a doctor - far too young for such a decision!
We’re just filling in time until life returns to some normality.

#12

In all honesty- I think this is way too intimate to discuss with the kid. Finding the “best position for defecation” is way too sexual in my book. If it was my kid, I wouldn’t even allow a neighbour to discuss these things with him. Sorry if you feel shocked by my words, but I dont think it is appropriate- and I am a doctor. Even with my medical studies- the “best position for defecation” was never a topic!!! It isnt just in the scientific information being gathered but also in the fantasies which these images illicit. I hope you can understand that. My other area of study is psychoanalysis and that always involves early child development on an emotional level, along with drives. And asking others about how they defecate is definitely beyond my comfort level to answer to others. I would have kept the discussion on the focus with digestion of nutrients and would not get physical with it. You also have to understand that children also have their notion of some kind of nebulous sexuality and are oftentimes very curious about other people’s bodies. Not a good place for you to go with him.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #13

Please explain how normal waste excretion is sexual? If we stigmatize learning about anatomy and physiology from a young age, or give children the impression that it’s shameful to discuss how their “private parts” work, how do we expect them to feel comfortable asking questions later? I personally find it disheartening and sad that an adult would imply that pooping is somehow sexual in regard to a child. It’s natural and everyone does it.

@PatNotFat Thanks for keeping him occupied with something kids love to discuss: poop, especially when he’s feeling bad. It’s nice of you to put so much thought into it and to challenge him at a time when he’s missing school and stimulation. If some of it goes over his head, but you haven’t lost him, then it’s there and he’ll remember later when he’s learning it again.

#14

I stand by what I wrote. It is inappropriate.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #15

Sounds like an excellent way to learn about scientific inquiry! He’ll never forget his poop lesson and will have years of fun grossing out his friends telling them about it.

(Ashley) #16

Learning how people defecate can help us greatly. With colon cancer and all sorts. We don’t defecate properly in the western culture. That’s why we are more prone to cancer. I think scientifically it makes sense to learn more about poop.

#17

I’m curious, how is squatting or sitting on a conventional ceramic loo sexual?
Much of the world squats to poo - how do these folks think?

And I’ve discussed everything I am including with his dad - and he is happy - perhaps because he’s a down-to-earth Yorkshire man.

We wouldn’t be “asking others about how they defecate” but constructing a questionnaire and asking if family and friends would complete it - so this would involve being able to ask simple unambiguous questions, anonymity, autonomy, respect for those completing the questionnaire, bias, subjectivity, etc
Basically, is it quicker and easier to poo in a conventional, western sitting position or sitting with knees raised approximating to a squatting position? And this will help reveal rectal and anal anatomy, social acceptability, personal control…

All of this isn’t rocket science but in a one-to-one setting I’m hoping it also allows the scientific method to be used and investigated.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #18

I live in China, and I prefer the squatters. And often my toilet seat is up, so I think my roommate climbs up on our western style toilet. (I’ve tried doing that, but I’m not talented enough) The funny thing is I have a squatty-potty, but I guess that’s not good enough for her😆

A little additional info for his research :poop: