K-12 Lesson Plans - Super Human Body Film

You’ll find 12 lesson plans with hands-on activities for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Each includes background and prep instructions for educators and templates for materials.

Lessons for K-2

45 minutes

Bird Biomimicry

Students play a matching game to discover how some technologies are inspired by animals. A second activity invites the class to create a paper airplane modeled after a peregrine falcon.

Lessons for K-2

45 minutes

Rhythm of the Heart

Using music and science, students explore their heartbeat and the heart rates of different animals.

Lessons for K-2

45 minutes

AI Emotions

In this social emotional learning activity, students identify emotions and how they’re expressed, and then take it further to discover how robots can be programmed to read human emotion.

Lessons for 3-5

45 minutes

T-Cell Receptor Puzzle

Students explore how to stay healthy and how immune cells work. They’ll play a fun Germ Invaders Game and create a puzzle that shows how T-Cells lock on to infections.

Lessons for 3-5

45 minutes

Heart Stations

Using English Language Arts, math and physical education, students rotate through stations to learn about the human heart.

Lessons for 3-5

45+ minutes

Prosthetic Possibilities

Using the Engineering Design Process, students explore how engineers design technology to meet specific accessibility needs.

Lessons for 6-8

45 minutes

Building Immunity

Students explore how the body responds to infected cells, invading bacteria and cancer cells. Using communication, teamwork and engineering design principles they’ll craft a killer immune cell that fits to a specific antigen on an invader cell.

Lessons for 6-8

45 minutes

Pump It Up

Using a simple model of the heart that they create, students experiment with the function of the heart chambers and valves to circulate blood.

Lessons for 6-8

45+ minutes

Universal Design Challenge

Students design assistive technology or new products to help a chef with a limb difference. Encourage your students to see their community with new eyes focused on accessibility designs.

Lessons for 9-12

45 minutes

Optimal Optics

Using a pinhole camera they construct, students learn about focal length, its impact on the image created, and the brain’s role in vision.

Lessons for 9-12

45 minutes

Clear It Out: Stent Design

Using design and engineering principles, students build a stent prototype to clear plaque from clogged arteries.

Lessons for 9-12

45+ minutes

Accessible Engineering

Students re-design a product or design an assistive device to help an athlete with a limb difference.

The Superhuman Body activities and lesson plans were developed by the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center (formerly Carnegie Science Center).

These educational materials were made possible with the generous support from:
Kenneth C. Griffin and Griffin Catalyst, Edwards Lifesciences, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Merkin Family Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, The Citadel Foundation, IF/THEN, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Silicon Valley Bank, a Division of First Citizens Bank, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, The Murcko Family Foundation, Andy Palmer, McGuire Family Foundation, Robert Tepper, The Barry E. and Natalie T. Greene Family Foundation, Paul Schimmel, Mark and Becky Levin, Robert Paull, Biogen, Alfred W. Sandrock, Jr., Brian and Steph Spector, John Maraganore, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Mass General Brigham, Michelle Detwiler, Adam Koppel and Brenda Haynes, The Milford Street Fund and Olin College of Engineering.