Blood Pressure Basics
Checking blood pressure is essential in knowing the flow of blood through the heartCopyright U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/august2009/08032009bloodpressure.htm
Students study how heart valves work and investigate how valves that become faulty over time can be replaced with advancements in engineering and technology. Learning about the flow of blood through the heart, students are able to fully understand how and why the heart is such a powerful organ in our bodies. Students then use their understanding to design and create a model heart valve using the associated activity.
In order 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. Once they have a thorough understanding of the unit challenge (as presented in Lesson 1) on which they are working, design solutions and choose the best one that fits their specifications. Then they test and revise their designs as needed in order to generate the best possible solution. Engineers use problem-solving skills every step of the way in designing things to improve our society.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Describe what blood pressure is and how high blood pressure can impact the cardiovascular system.
- Explain how heart valves work, as well as how they are related to blood pressure.
- Explain how the engineering design process is used to design, build, test, redesign and retest in order to develop a solution to a problem.