Abstract for: Teaching Homeostasis to Secondary School Anatomy and Physiology Students

In the academic year 2017 - 2018 an experiment was conducted with high school students from three Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) classes at Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon. In November of 2017 all 56 students received 90 minutes of instruction from (author 1) on the value of System Dynamics (SD). In December all students built linear, exponential, and simple drug models. Then a subgroup of 13 students met on campus, but outside of class, for one period (60 minutes) per month to study homeostasis topics including body temperature, calcium-calcitonin, glucose-insulin, and oxygen-red blood cell production feedback systems. The entire 56 students were given an assessment in May to determine how well the students understood feedback processes and homeostasis. The SD students performed better on the more difficult questions.