Digestive Overview
Digestive Overview Objectives
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List and describe the basic digestive functions, including the role and locations of both mechanical and chemical digestion.
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Identify the locations of organs within the thoracic (chest), abdominal, and pelvic cavities.
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Summarize the path food takes from ingestion through processing to egestion as fecal material.
This is a big organ system with many different organs and functions. We are starting with an overview that provides perspective of what the system has to accomplish.
Before we delve into the various digestive organs, it is important to have a clear idea of where organs are actually located in the body.
Mark leads a tour through the thoracic (chest), abdominal, and pelvic cavities using a torso model.
Now a closer look at the primary digestive organs that will be encountered throughout this guide.
Mark takes us on the path that food takes as it is digested into chyme, nutrients are absorbed, and feces is egested.
Digestion is both mechanical and chemical. Mark demonstrates real-world examples of each.
This week you are fine-tuning your body data collection plan, identifying ways to generate variables (qualitative research) and test variables (quantitative research).
Research can generate or test variables
Qualitative
Qualitative research broadly studies a phenomenon, generating variables for further research. For example, if you are not sleeping well, you could observe your setting and behaviors, and generate a list of possible variables impacting sleep: time you had your last cup of coffee, the comfort of the mattress, the temperature, etc. Qualitative data is often verbal, listing the qualities of something.
Quantitative
Once you have possible variables, you can alter them to find out how significant they are. For example, you could alter the latest you drink a cup of coffee, change a mattress, or lower the temperature and see how it impacts sleeping. Quantitative is more experimental, looking for cause and effect by controlling and manipulating variables. Quantitative data is often numerical, measuring a variable.
Start Your 4A Media Assignment here
In this media piece you are going back to the three body data parameters you have chosen to study over this course and selecting one that can be qualitatively studied, and one that can be quantitatively studied.
You can study the same body parameter both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, you could monitor sleep patterns to develop a list of variables that are impacting your sleep (qualitative) and test one of those variables by altering it and measuring whether or not you get more sleep (quantitative).
Qualitative examples: identifying the things that make your heart rate increase (or decrease), identifying factors that make it easier to concentrate while studying, or listing things that cause undesired stress (stress can be positive too, more on that in Module/week 7).
Quantitative examples: keeping track of how many times you touch your face, counting how many steps you take on different surfaces, or measuring how much you can safely lift after working out over time.
You are turning in:
- An example of a qualitative approach you can take to studying one of your body data parameters, including how you will generate variables.
- An example of a quantitative approach you can take to studying one of your body data parameters, including how you will test one of your variables.
You do not need to carry out both of these forms of data collection for the final analysis, this assignment is to think about different ways data can be collected.
As always, use caution when trying out a new behavior or workout routine.
The next section introduces the upper gastrointestinal tract (G.I.T.), including the mouth, esophagus, and stomach.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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list and describe the basic digestive functions, including the role and locations of both mechanical and chemical digestion?
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identify the locations of organs within the thoracic (chest), abdominal, and pelvic cavities?
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summarize the path food takes from ingestion through processing to egestion as fecal material?
Go back to the Digestive System Guide Overview
Go forward to the Upper G.I.T. Page
Digestive System Guide Contents
Complete all four of these sections before taking the quiz and making your media piece.
Back to Module 4
This week’s overview
This Guide
4A: Digestive System
Products Information
4A: Quiz & Media
