Aging Heart Valves
Understanding the heart, and knowing what to listen for in diagnosing heart conditions, is critical for providing life-saving patient care.Copyright Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/other_conditions.htm
Challenge Question
Your grandmother, who has been a non-smoker and relatively healthy throughout her life, has recently noticed that she is becoming increasingly short of breath as she does simple things, such as climbing the steps in her house. She has also noticed that her heart rate increases when she does mild exercise, such as walking to the mailbox or going upstairs. What could be causing this? Is it just due to her getting older? Is there reason to be concerned? What can be done to help her?
When engineers design solutions to problems, they first gather information—background information about the system they are working with, testing and analysis data that they collect from various materials, and information from experts more familiar with the subject. To design medical devices, technologies and procedures, biomedical engineers must understand how the human body functions, as well as how disease and disorders affect the body. In addition to knowledge gained through education and experience, engineers use problem-solving skills every step of the way in designing devices, tools, products, structures and processes that improve our society.
- Technological innovation often results when ideas, knowledge, or skills are shared within a technology, among technologies, or across other fields.
Grades 9-12
Do you agree with this alignment? - The design process includes defining a problem, brainstorming, researching and generating ideas, identifying criteria and specifying constraints, exploring possibilities, selecting an approach, developing a design proposal, making a model or prototype, testing and evaluating the design using specifications, refining the design, creating or making it, and communicating processes and results.
Grades 9-12
Do you agree with this alignment?
- HS-ETS1-2 Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
Grades 9-12
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices- Design a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized criteria, and tradeoff considerations.Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas- Criteria may need to be broken down into simpler ones that can be approached systematically, and decisions about the priority of certain criteria over others (trade-offs) may be needed.Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment? - Design a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized criteria, and tradeoff considerations.
- CLE 3251.4.2 Explore the anatomy of the heart and describe the pathway of blood through this organ.
Grades 9-12
Do you agree with this alignment? - CLE 3251.4.3 Describe the biochemical and physiological nature of heart function.
Grades 9-12
Do you agree with this alignment? - CLE 3295.T/E.4 Describe the dynamic interplay among science, technology, and engineering within living, earth-space, and physical systems.
Grades 9-12
Do you agree with this alignment?
- Day 1: Heart to Heart lesson (Part I: Legacy Cycle)
- Day 2-4: Heart to Heart lesson (Part II: Heart Anatomy and Blood Flow)
- Day 5: What's with All the Pressure? activity
- Day 6: Blood Pressure Basics lesson
- Day 7: The Mighty Heart activity
- Day 8: Model Heart Valves activity
Contributors
Michael Duplessis; Janet Yowell; Carleigh Samson; Victoria Lanaghan
Supporting Program
VU Bioengineering RET Program, School of Engineering, Vanderbilt University
Acknowledgements
The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under National Science Foundation RET grant nos. 0338092 and 0742871. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the NSF, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Copyright
2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2011 Vanderbilt University