Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part B: Finding Our Kidneys
15 minutes	Part D: When kidneys get sick.

Introduction

Step 1

Begin the lesson by showing the students a picture of the human body (using these images provided). Ask the students to look and see if they can find the kidneys. Select a student to show the class where the kidneys are located on the image. If the students aren't able to find the kidneys, the second image in the link above is labelled.

Step 2

Clarify with the students that the kidneys are an organ in our bodies. Like our heart, lungs, digestive system and brain, kidneys have a job to do. The kidneys filter and clean blood and make wee. They are part of the human body waste disposal team, removing the liquid waste from our bodies.

Step 3

Explain to students that we have two kidneys, each about the size of your fist. Demonstrate the size of the kidneys by closing your hand to make a fist. Ask the students to close their hand to make a fist to give them a visual representation, and explain that the kidneys are found at the back of your body, under your ribs, in your lower back.

Part A: Body maps

In this part, students will make a body map to show where the kidneys are in the body.

Step 1

Organise the students in pairs. They will work together to create a map of their own upper body and mark where their kidneys are found.

Step 2

Select one of the pairs to demonstrate how to create a body map. Ask the class to gather around and watch. Lie the paper down on the floor, and ask one student to lay down on the paper, with their upper body on the page. Using the marker pens, draw a line around the student to outline their body.

Step 3

Provide each group with two pieces of butcher's paper and coloured marker pens. Direct the students to find a space in the classroom to work. The area needs to be big enough for one student to lie down. One student should lie down on the paper, while the other traces around the top half of their body. Remind students to be careful with the marker pens and only draw on the paper. Ask the students to write their name on the paper once they are finished.

Part B: Finding our kidneys

Step 1

On the body maps, ask the students to put their hands where the kidneys would be found. Check and see where they are putting their hands, and show them on your body where the kidneys would be found (just under your ribcage on your back). It is important to give visual cues to the students so they can connect the placement of the kidneys to our bodies and the space on their body map.

Step 2

Lead the drawing with the students, using a modelled example on the board. Start by adding in the brain, heart, lungs, mouth and digestive system. As you add each part in, continue to talk and show the students what you are doing. This activity is designed to be creative and engage the students and get them thinking about the internal human body and how it is connected. Use generalised drawing to keep it simple.

Step 3

Provide each student with the template to cut out the paper kidneys for their body map.

Students draw or add in paper kidneys to the body.

Part C: Key kidney facts

Step 1

Bring the students back as a group. Watch the following clip from Operation Ouch.

Operation Ouch - What are Kidneys? (https://youtu.be/Bn8czDqPUvY)

As the students watch the clip, ask them to remember one interesting fact.

Step 2

After watching the clip list the interesting facts offered by students on the board.

Step 3

Lead a discussion about the important role kidneys play in your body.

In particular, make sure you highlight these kidney facts:

Each person has two kidneys (but can live with only one)
Kidneys clean all of the blood in your body in 4 minutes (2 litres of blood)
Kidneys remove the extra liquid and wastes from your body.
The liquid comes out as 'wee' and keeps you healthy.

Part D: When kidneys get sick

Step 1

It is now time to dive deeper with your students into how our everyday choices affect our health as we get older. Discuss these important concepts with your students. Use these notes as a guide.

The simple message here for young children is that to keep our kidneys healthy, we need to eat healthy food, drink lots of water, exercise regularly and get adequate sleep. As long as we do these things, our kidneys will keep cleaning the blood and making the 'wee' to get rid of the waste. When we don't look after our kidneys by consuming lots of sugary drinks, processed foods, don't exercise enough and sleep less than we should, our kidneys can get sick as we get older.

If the kidneys stop working, there are only two ways to get your blood cleaned:

have someone give you a spare kidney (Donate Life - www.donatelife.gov.au), or
hook yourself up to a machine to clean your blood.

The machine is called a dialysis machine, and the person with sick kidneys 'hooks up' to the robotic machine three days a week, for 5 hours every week for the rest of their life. It's hard to have fun, visit your friends, work, and go on holidays when you have sick kidneys. The main message to avoid a sick kidney is to drink plenty of water, eat fresh foods, be active and sleep well.

Take time to look at the graphs provided (pie and line) which accompany this section.

Pie chart: The pie graph shows details about the main causes of chronic kidney disease. You can find a downloadable version of the graph here.

Focus the students' attention on the purple section for the teaching and learning sequence.
How much of this pie graph is coloured purple? Discuss this as a fraction using the terms half, or percentages as 50% (for older students).

The purple colour shows sickness that can largely be prevented
That means more than half the people getting sick kidneys in Australia and New Zealand didn't need to get sick!
Can they avoid getting sick kidneys? Lead the discussion by suggesting drinking water, eating healthy fresh foods and getting exercise.

Line graph: Focus the students' attention on the purple line in the chart. You can find a downloadable version of the chart here.

Can you see the purple line on this line graph?

The purple line shows the numbers of people getting sick kidneys because of type 2 diabetes (a lifestyle disease that can be prevented).
Is the line going up or going down?
The line shows the numbers of people in Australia who have sick kidneys and need to go on dialysis to clean the blood (and stay alive).
The figures at the end of each line represent approximately 50 new people requiring dialysis. Which type of diabetes causes more new dialysis patients?
Are the numbers of people getting sick kidneys increasing (getting bigger) or decreasing (getting smaller)?
Is this a problem for people? Why?

It is useful to examine the grey line graph, especially if there are students with type 1 diabetes in the class.

Has this grey line changed over time (since 1983)?
Is the grey line going up or going down, or staying much the same in a straight line?
Why do you think that the grey line is staying the same and hardly anyone with type 1 diabetes gets sick kidneys?

Type 1 diabetes is usually discovered when a person is relatively young. It's not a lifestyle disease; it's an autoimmune disorder with unknown causes. When it is diagnosed early in life, a person with type 1 diabetes knows they need to eat healthy food, exercise regularly, have regular health checks, get plenty of sleep and look after their body to stay healthy. The grey line graph shows the evidence that with a healthy lifestyle, type 1 diabetes results in far fewer people developing sick kidneys compared to those with type 2 diabetes. That's great news!

Reflection

As a reflection activity, the students take part in a gallery walk. A gallery walk is where students view each other's work by moving slowly and silently around the classroom until they return to their own work.

Step 1. Direct the students to return to their body map workspace.
Step 2. Lead the class in a gallery walk. Encourage the students to silently walk as if they were at an art gallery looking at the work of others: voices off and slow walking.
Step 3. Once the students are back to their posters, the gallery walk is complete.

Differentiated Learning

Continue to build on the students' understanding of kidneys and how they function. Differentiated learning opportunities can be found in the following clip by the Learning Junction.

Kidney Functions in human body - Learning Junction (https://youtu.be/rT_vjf5fMw4)

The above clip uses more detailed scientific language and descriptions and provides advanced information on what a kidney is and how it works.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

SugarByHalf - What Do Your Kidneys do?

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