Meeting Abstract
One of the core principles of physiology is that organismal performance depends on the fluxes of many types of matter and energy. For most animal systems the dynamics of these flux rates depends on the structure and function of circulatory systems, making an understanding of these systems and their associated pumping mechanics of paramount importance in physiology education. As a way to learn first-hand about the design and performance of pumps in physiology, and in tribute to the memory and legacy of the Professor Steven Vogel (1940-2015), we spent a semester designing, building, and testing the performance of various physical models of animal circulatory systems. This semester-long effort was a minimally guided, open-inquiry, laboratory exercise involving four groups of students concurrently taking human physiology and also engaged in additional, more typical, laboratory exercises. Student groups built models of branching circulatory systems, multi-chambered hearts, and both valved and valveless displacement pumps. While the open-inquiry structure of the labs offered students a wide degree of independence and lead to many serendipitous discoveries, it was proposed that additional structure and guidance would help future student groups more efficiently accomplish their goals.
