When you think of the Human Body Expo…do thoughts of cadavers coming to mind? Well, that is not exactly what the Yavneh Human Body Expo is like, but close! The seventh graders culminated their study of the human body by creating their own Human Body Expo. The bodies presented at Yavneh’s Expo were made from recyclable garbage.

The goal was to create a body showcasing two of the body systems learned in class. Each group of students created a blueprint with drawings, measurements and a list of materials to help guide them through the building process. The project included an interactive component featuring the function of the body systems. Milk jugs became heads, egg cartons became intestines, newspapers became rib cages and boxes housed the various parts of the body. The blood started to flow as water bottles became hearts and paper towel rolls came together as joints. The students brought to life the lessons of the body systems as they engineered their models to ensure accuracy of the systems represented.

In addition the students researched a disease that affects the systems they were recreating. They then used 3Doodler pens to create models of one organ as it appears healthy and one organ affected by a disease. On display were hearts and blood vessels with hypercholesterolemia, bronchi with asthma, kidneys with kidney stones, stomachs with ulcers and intestines affected with Crohn’s disease.

The projects were presented to the early childhood department at Yavneh Academy’s Human Body Expo on June 8. The seventh graders served as tour guides as they escorted the early childhood students around the gym to observe and explore the interactive projects. The gym became alive as the seventh graders explained their work and knowledge to the early childhood students.