BioEd Online

Lessons

Grades 3-8

• Heart and Lungs (exercise and breathing)
  Dr. Soller believes that noninvasive measurement of metabolic rate will provide instant, useful feedback for astronauts as they strive to maintain metabolic efficiency in space and on the Moon. In this activity, students measure and record their heart and breathing rates before and after physical activity.

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Grades 5-9

• Muscles Fibers
  The sensor developed by Dr. Soller uses near-infrared light to penetrate directly into muscles. Learn about muscle structure with this classroom activity.

Additional Activities/Extensions

• Demonstrate how light can penetrate skin by looking at the back of your hand while pressing a strong flashlight against your palm. Do this in a darkened room. Blood vessels and bones in the fingers will be revealed. Discuss how near-infrared light penetrates skin, fat and muscles. Explain that the reflection of near-infrared light can be interpreted to reveal oxygen content and ph levels in muscles.

• Listen to Dr. Stoller's description of how light is absorbed by the body. Compare this process to the absorption of light in the atmosphere. Consider, for example, how blue light is scattered by the atmosphere (causing the sky to appear blue), while light on the red end of the visible spectrum has greater depth penetration. Normally, white sunlight appears red when the sun is low on the horizon (the blue end of the visible spectrum is filtered out by the greater depth of atmosphere the sunlight has to penetrate).

• In a darkened room, experiment with different colored LEDs (light emitting diodes) to determine which colors better penetrate the skin. Various colors of LED lights are available for key chains and small flashlights. Use only one LED light at a time to compare the level of skin penetration of different colors.

Additional Resources

Needle-free Blood and Tissue Measurements
News release from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute describing Dr. Soller's work on non-invasive blood and tissue chemistry measurements.

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Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Wikipedia entry that discusses near-infrared spectroscopy and potential medical uses.

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NASA Human Research Program Task Book
NASA maintains a searchable archive of annual reports on the progress of its various human research programs.

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Quantitative Measurement of Muscle Oxygen Saturation without Influence from Skin and Fat Using Continuous-wave Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Technical report from the ObticsInfoBase, Optical Society.

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Smart Medical Systems Team
Research summary (and links) of the work of the Smart Medical Systems Team at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

National Science Standards

K-4 Standards

Science as Inquiry – Abilities to do scientific inquiry

• Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment.

Life Science – The characteristics of organisms

• The behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues and by external cues.

Life Science – Organisms and their environments

• An organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment.

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5-8 Standards

Science as Inquiry – Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

• Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.

Life Science – Regulation and behavior

• All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.

• Regulation of an organism's internal environment involves sensing the internal environment and changing physiological activities to keep conditions within the range required to survive.

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9-12 Standards

Science as Inquiry – Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

• Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations.

Physical Science – Interactions of energy and matter

• Waves, including sound and seismic waves, waves on water, and light waves, have energy and can transfer energy when they interact with matter.

Life Science – The cell

• Most cell functions involve chemical reactions.

Science and Technology – Understandings about science and technology

• Science often advances with the introduction of new technologies.