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The Cardiovascular System Physiology Module
This interactive, online physiology tutorial from Stanford University is designed to help college students understand the three major components of the cardiovascular system—the heart, vessels, and blood. Students investigate the anatomy of the heart and its complex electrical, mechanical, and hormonal functions by using a variety of Shockwave simulations and activities. They see how valves open and close, and how blood flows through the different chambers of the heart. Students also learn how cardiac cells propagate electrical impulses at different rates—information they need to make sense of the electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) and to recognize normal and abnormal ECG waves. To understand the heart’s mechanical activity, they see how, during a single heartbeat, changes in ventricular pressure can cause blood to move in and out of a ventricle. Using Fick’s Principle, they calculate cardiac output and observe the factors (such as a sudden drop of blood pressure or volume) that affect the amount of blood pumped out by each ventricle every minute. They explore the vascular system by investigating the various medications that control blood pressure. Finally, students use a virtual lab to compare a sample of heart muscle with samples from a rat thigh and intestinal muscle to understand comparative anatomy. Several quizzes throughout the tutorial allow students to test their understanding of the material. The copyrighted materials on the website, which also contains many other physiology modules, are free for educators to use.
Anatomy and Blood Flow of the Heart
This activity engages students in exploring how blood flows through the chambers of the heart.
Media: Shockwave
The ECG
Students learn to read an electrocardiogram (ECG) to understand the electrical activity of the heart over time.
Media: ShockwaveProgram Director: H. Craig Heller, Ph.D.
Award Years: 1989, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006
Summary: Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. Its HHMI-funded initiatives include:
- The Center for Clinical Immunology, an internship program that exposes high-achieving students to immunology research and clinical medicine by having them design and carry out hypothesis-driven research under the direct supervision of mentors. The program has been successful in attracting a majority of students from the first year back to the same labs to continue their studies during the school year and the following summer;
- The Stanford Medical Youth Science Program (SMYSP), a summer residential enrichment program for low-income and underrepresented minority high school students, which gives students the opportunity for a closely mentored introduction to biomedical research. SMYSP was featured in The Ultimate Guide to Summer Opportunities for Teens: 200 Programs That Prepare You for College Success, a book published by Prufrock Press and available nationwide;
- The Summer Research Program for Science Teachers, which offers eight weeks of research experience each year for local middle and high school biology, chemistry, and physics teachers and gives Stanford a way to help improve the quality of science teaching in California's public schools; and
- The Virtual Labs Project at SUMMIT (Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technologies) in the Stanford University School of Medicine, an initiative to augment the Department of Biological Sciences and the Program in Human Biology by developing interactive multimedia to teach the fundamental concepts of biology, and to share those resources via the Internet.