Explaining M'Kenna's Symptoms
How can a problem in one part of M'Kenna's body cause symptoms in another part?
M'Kenna likes to sleep, eat, and play sports with her friends. When M'Kenna got sick, she no longer had the energy to play her favorite sport, basketball.
You have investigated a lot of questions about the human body and looked for answers to those questions. Along the way you figured out what happens in a healthy human body and how M'Kenna's body is different. Now it's time to explain M'Kenna's symptoms.
In this activity you will pretend like you are the doctor M'Kenna visited for help. You will try to answer questions from M'Kenna and her parents about what is wrong with her body and the causes of all her symptoms. You will use evidence you collected in the unit to support your claim as you write a scientific explanation.
Notebook Icon
Review the evidence and develop a scientific explanation to answer the question.
On your own
- In your science notebook, title a new page "Explaining M'Kenna's Symptoms."
- Write the question you are trying to answer, How can a problem in one part of M'Kenna's body cause symptoms in another part?
- Draw a table to help you organize your claim and explanation. You will keep adding rows to your table as you add different pieces of evidence you want to use to support your claim. If you don't know how many rows you need for evidence, just start with the table headings and add rows as you go.
- The first step to answer the question is to decide the evidence you want to use in your explanation. To do this you will need your class model for body system interactions, M'Kenna Evidence Cards , and any other evidence you collected in the unit.
- Decide on 5-7 pieces of evidence that would help you develop a convincing explanation about M'Kenna's problem. Remember, you need to include enough evidence to make your explanation strong and convincing to someone else. To do this, decide the most important evidence you need to include in your explanation and set aside less important evidence. You can decide to add in more evidence later if you think it is important.
- Write down the pieces of evidence in your table. For each piece of evidence, write 1-2 sentences in the "Reasoning" column to summarize how the evidence will help you answer the question.
- After you add all the evidence and your reasoning, you are ready to write your claim. Your claim should be 1 or 2 sentences and should answer the question.
- Write a scientific explanation. This is a short paragraph where you use evidence and reasoning to support your claim. You want to convince M'Kenna and her parents that your claim is correct because it's supported by the evidence. Connect your evidence and reasoning using science ideas you have learned. Refer to your class Anchor Chart to help you.
- As you write your explanation, use parts of your model to support your ideas. This means that you can add diagrams to illustrate the points you want to make in your written explanation. Keep the question in mind as you develop your explanation. Your explanation should answer the question, How can a problem in one part of M'Kenna's body cause symptoms in another part?
"How can a problem in one part of M'Kenna's body cause symptoms in another part?"
| EvidenceEvidence | ReasoningReasoning |
|---|---|
| Your claim: | |
| Scientific explanation paragraph: | |