Year 6

Topic - Blood Heart (Autumn Term)

In Year 6 we have been learning about the heart. To launch our exciting new topic 'Blood Heart' we dissected a real heart! The challenge was to identify the external features including the major blood vessels such as the aorta and vena cava. We sliced the heart carefully using kitchen scissors, to reveal the internal features including the atria, ventricles, valves and the cord-like chordae tendineae, or heart strings. We worked out how blood flows through the heart by pouring liquid into the vessels one at a time and noting which vessel the liquid appears out of (if the liquid doesn’t flow, then the vessel is an ‘out’ vessel and has valves preventing the water flowing the wrong way). There was discussion on how scientific ideas develop over time, so we researched the English physician, Dr William Harvey that made discoveries about the heart. We used a range of materials to find out how he became the first to person to accurately describe how the heart pumps blood around the body. We now understand how his work has influenced contemporary life including other medical breakthroughs.