Healthy Body

Unit Overview

This Unit aims to introduce to students various aspects of nutrition and health, such as different types of food substances, how food can be digested and absorbed by our bodies, and the concepts of a balanced diet. Students will realise the importance of maintaining healthy lifestyles, and recognise that personal hygiene, vaccination and herd immunity are crucial in reducing the risk of infecting non-infectious (non-communicable) diseases and infectious (communicable) diseases. Students will learn about the harmful effects of smoking on our health and the associated risks, and the effects of alcohols, solvents and drugs on our judgements and responses. This can enable them to make informed decisions and refuse to take these substances. Any changes that disturb the internal balance of our body may result in health problems or diseases, and students may then realise the overarching concept “change and constancy”. In addition, students will also realise the overarching concept “systems and organisation” from the study of the digestive system. Through different learning activities, such as investigating the effects of physical exercise on breathing rate and heart rate, students can practice scientific observations and measurements, and develop their ability to propose scientific explanations. In addition, examining food labels to determine the nutritional value and energy content of food can help students develop their data processing skills. Besides, teachers can design other appropriate learning and teaching activities to facilitate students’ development and mastery of the following skills: a) making inferences to the best possible explanation to the observed phenomenon b) making informed decisions based on the probability of phenomenon occurring c) setting up a controlled experiment to minimise confounding factors to identify causation d) conducting a fair test e) constructing and using scientific models to explain phenomena f) using scientific notation, significant figures and ratio for presenting scientific data g) using tables and graphs for data analysis h) referencing reliable sources of information i) evaluating the effects of different dietary habits and lifestyles on health