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My project is on digestion. I used the most basic food I had available in the house ( a saltine cracker) As you can see, I crumbled parts of a saltine and scattered it throughout the digestive system to show the process. The digestive system itself is made out of modeling clay and painted with whatever I could find in the house. My paper goes a little more in depth about the digestion of carbs. Yes, the feces is completely edible and no I did not taste it =)
What’s something you didn’t know before about this system?
This STEAM project is focusing on the digestion of a saltine. As we recently learned in Unit 13 Digestive system, there are multiple ways of digestion and it depends on the foods we eat.
Here we are taught that the saltine is a carbohydrate, and will be digested as such. The art project encapsulates the journey this carbohydrate takes. Beginning at the mouth, moving to the pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Also showing the accessory organs that the food doesn’t go through but does aid in digestion, and they are the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder.
What I enjoyed about this STEAM project is how the art project demonstrates clearly, and simply how the carbohydrate digests and didn’t overcomplicate the process. Then in the essay, took this clear and simple demonstration, and step by step went into depth how each organ breaks down carbohydrates.
Beginning at the mouth, mastication begins, and salivary amylase is released and mixed with the carbohydrate. As stated in the essay, “Amylases digest starch into smaller molecules, ultimately yielding maltose, which in turn is cleaved into two glucose molecules by maltase.â€
Taking the straightforward act of chewing a saltine and explaining the actual complexity of what is going on at a digestive level is how the rest of the paper goes on. Except as digestion continues from the mouth, we are taught that there are much more intricate actions going on, and therefor more time is spent explaining how each organ does their job in the digestive system.