A Mad Scientist's Experiment

Designing a Monster

While working late in your mad scientist laboratory one night, you receive a phone call from your good friend Dr. Frank N. Stein. Frank entices you with a new project: building him a monster.

Frank has everything he needs to begin, except for one small thing: He needs a plan! Your job in this webquest is to design his monster.

What do I have to do? 

How do I design a monster?

The task is simple. First, you need to download a worksheet that matches the questions below. Each question is a link to a page that has the answers. If you download the Word document, you can click on the links while working on the document, the same as on this website. If you download the PDF document, you will need to come back to this website to click on the links.

You do not need to search any pages other than the ones this webquest sends you to.

Here's an example.

1. List the 11 major organ systems in the human body. 

Make sure you wrote down the answer from the above question in the correct space on your worksheet. 

One more thing. During this webquest, you may find some links within the text that are not part of the question. These links will bring you to an overview of that system, in case you would like more information about it.

Click on the "Process" link to get to the next question.

It's now time to design the perfect monster. Let's start with the cardiovascular system, also called the circulatory system. Our monster is going to need blood.

Question #2: What is the main function of blood?

But, how does blood work? Knowing what it's made of should get us one step closer.

Question #3: Identify the four major components of blood and name at least one function of each.

Now that we know why it's important, we're going to need to know how much of it we will need.

Question #4: How many liters of blood is in the average human body?

Fantastic! Now we can't just through the blood into the body, can we? It will be sloshing all about. We need to enclose it in some sort of vessel.

Question #5: What are the three types of blood vessels?

Question #6: What does each blood vessel do?
                      Site #1
                      Site #2
                      Site #3

The blood cannot simply sit in the body. It will need to move around. Question #7:What kind of pump will move the blood around the body?

Let's take a minute to learn a little more about this pump. 
Question #8: Use the following websites to label the diagram below. Then, use a blue colored pencil to color the parts that carry blood without oxygen (deoxygenated) and a red colored pencil to color the parts that carry blood with oxygen (oxygenated).
                              Website #1
                              Website #2

Wonderful. You have finished designing one system for your monster.

Let's build another system!

Since we just finished talking about blood, lets talk about something else that is found in the blood. If our monster gets sick, we want it to be able to defend itself, so we are going to study the immune system next. We have already discussed white blood cells.

Question #9: What are the two types of white blood cells?

This immune system thing sounds like it will help our monster tremendously. 
Question #10: What does the immune system protect against?(Please note: The answer is written as a paragraph, but you can write each item on its own line.)

Our monster now has a cardiovascular system and a lymphatic system. There is another factor that is always in blood: oxygen. Let's examine the system that controls the exchange of gases in the blood.

Question #11: What organ is responsible for contracting the lung cavity so you can breathe in oxygen?

Question #12: In your own words, describe the path of oxygen from the mouth/nose to the alveoli. Be sure to include the following terms: larynx, trachea, bronchi. (You will not receive credit for this question if you simply copy what is written on the website.)

Our monster is beginning to take shape. Let's give it a skeleton and start putting it together.
Question #13: How many bones do we need to make an adult monster?

Question #14: What are bones made of?

Question #15: What is the role of osteoclasts and osteoblasts? (You may need to continue to the next page for the answer.)

In addition to providing structure for the body, the bones are also going to help the monster protect his organs, once we begin adding them. However, the bones are going to need help moving, so we should add some muscles.

Question #16: How many muscles will we need?

Question #17: 
           a) What are the three types of muscles?
           b) Where can each be found? 
           c)  Which can you control (voluntary) and which can you not control (involuntary)?

Our monster is going to need some energy, which usually comes from food. We need to make sure our monster has the right materials to change the energy into food. That's the job of the digestive system!

Question #18: Use this image to complete the diagram.

Question #19: What are the three processes that food undergoes in the body?

What is our monster going to do with all that nutrition that he can't absorb? What about all the waste products his cells are going to produce as he converts food into energy? We're going to need to design some sort of transport system to eliminate that waste. In fact, we should probably build two systems!

First, let's focus on the liquid waste. That can be eliminated by the excretory system.

Question #20: What are the four organs in the urinary system and what does each one do?

Well, what about the solid waste? That needs to be eliminated by the digestive system.

Go to this website and click in "What is poop made of" and "Why does poop smell?" to answer the following two questions.

Question #21: How does solid waste get a brownish color?

Question #22: What organism causes solid waste to smell?

Our monster has a digestive system to get rid of the solid waste, an excretory system to get rid of the liquid waste, and a respiratory system to get rid of the gas waste. He's almost ready.

We want our monster to be able to make his own decisions, so we should give him the ability to think. Let's give him a brain!!

Question #23: What are the five major parts of the brain and what do they do?

The brain is part of the nervous system. But, the nervous system is actually divided into two parts. 

Question #24: Use this website to complete the diagram below.

Our monster is nearly complete. With the nervous system, he can get messages from his brain to his muscles. But, some messages are sent another way.

Question #25: What do we call the chemical messengers that help send signals to organs in the body?

These messengers are part of the endocrine system, and there are a lot of them!

Question #26: What are the three major glands of the endocrine system, and what types of messages do they send ?

 Our monster is almost done! There's only one system left. This is the most important system, because it is holding him all together. Your monster needs an outer shell to make sure all of these organ systems do not fall out.

Question #27: What is the largest organ in the human body?

This project is for a homeschool cooperative course that is not graded.

Educators are encouraged to review the requirements of the project to create their own rubric for their class. Some points to consider:

• Are all questions answered fully?
• Are questions answered in student's own words?

Congratulations!!

You have completed your monster!!! 

This project was designed for a homeschool cooperative class. It was designed to be completed at home, in between weekly session. If using this in a traditional classroom, you may need to adapt your timetable, depending on individual internet access.