Chapter Summary: The Cardiovascular System
The Cardiovascular System
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The importance of the cardiovascular system cannot be overstated. This is one system that students frequently know something about, at least from a plumbing viewpoint, but they often don’t completely understand the complexity of the system and the magnitude of its tasks. An essential component of presentation of the material is then to outline in detail the role of the cardiovascular system and its significance to all other body systems.
This chapter begins with the fundamental information about the heart by first discussing anatomy and then moving on to the more complex physiology. The section on anatomy covers the layers of the heart as well as its chambers, valves, and the vessels through which …show more content…
Stress that the only function of the valves of the heart is to ensure the one-way flow of blood. Explore with the students the consequences of incompetent or stenotic valves. Key point: This provides an opportunity to differentiate between the various types of murmurs and their etiology. 6. Discuss the chordae tendineae, or “heart strings.” Explain their function as similar to the stays of an umbrella, designed to keep the heart valves from turning inside out under extreme pressure. Key point: The reference to something “tugging at their heart strings” gives students a concrete example of the way in which anatomy, particularly of the heart, has an established place in our language and literature. 7. Outline the remarkable engineering involved in the design of the blood vessels, which allows them to absorb the pressure emitted from the heart with each beat and to return blood back to the heart, usually on an uphill course against the constant pull of gravity. Key point: In differentiating between arteries, veins, and capillaries, emphasize that the structure of each type of vessel is related to the differing amounts of pressure they must each absorb from the heart, as well as their respective roles in blood …show more content…
CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATIONS AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Classroom Demonstrations: 1. Film(s) or other media of choice. 2. Show a video of a beating heart, ideally with heart sounds. Stress that while the right side of the heart is a pulmonary pump and the left side a systemic pump, both atria contract at the same time and both ventricles contract at the same time. 3. Use a dissectible heart model to show heart structure. 4. Use a dissectible human torso model to point out the major arteries and veins of the body. 5. Show the chordae tendineae, the “heart strings,” on a dissected heart. 6. Show a chart of various types and grades of heart murmurs, explaining that some of them are considered nonpathological and are merely “functional” (related to low fluid volume, etc.). 7. Play a recording of normal and abnormal heart sounds to accompany your presentation of valve function and malfunction. (Interpreting Heart Sounds is available for loan from local chapters of the American Heart Association.) 8. Demonstrate the recording of an
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The importance of the cardiovascular system cannot be overstated. This is one system that students frequently know something about, at least from a plumbing viewpoint, but they often don’t completely understand the complexity of the system and the magnitude of its tasks. An essential component of presentation of the material is then to outline in detail the role of the cardiovascular system and its significance to all other body systems.
This chapter begins with the fundamental information about the heart by first discussing anatomy and then moving on to the more complex physiology. The section on anatomy covers the layers of the heart as well as its chambers, valves, and the vessels through which …show more content…
Stress that the only function of the valves of the heart is to ensure the one-way flow of blood. Explore with the students the consequences of incompetent or stenotic valves. Key point: This provides an opportunity to differentiate between the various types of murmurs and their etiology. 6. Discuss the chordae tendineae, or “heart strings.” Explain their function as similar to the stays of an umbrella, designed to keep the heart valves from turning inside out under extreme pressure. Key point: The reference to something “tugging at their heart strings” gives students a concrete example of the way in which anatomy, particularly of the heart, has an established place in our language and literature. 7. Outline the remarkable engineering involved in the design of the blood vessels, which allows them to absorb the pressure emitted from the heart with each beat and to return blood back to the heart, usually on an uphill course against the constant pull of gravity. Key point: In differentiating between arteries, veins, and capillaries, emphasize that the structure of each type of vessel is related to the differing amounts of pressure they must each absorb from the heart, as well as their respective roles in blood …show more content…
CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATIONS AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Classroom Demonstrations: 1. Film(s) or other media of choice. 2. Show a video of a beating heart, ideally with heart sounds. Stress that while the right side of the heart is a pulmonary pump and the left side a systemic pump, both atria contract at the same time and both ventricles contract at the same time. 3. Use a dissectible heart model to show heart structure. 4. Use a dissectible human torso model to point out the major arteries and veins of the body. 5. Show the chordae tendineae, the “heart strings,” on a dissected heart. 6. Show a chart of various types and grades of heart murmurs, explaining that some of them are considered nonpathological and are merely “functional” (related to low fluid volume, etc.). 7. Play a recording of normal and abnormal heart sounds to accompany your presentation of valve function and malfunction. (Interpreting Heart Sounds is available for loan from local chapters of the American Heart Association.) 8. Demonstrate the recording of an