Interactive Digestive System Case Study | Human Body Basics | Google Slides + CER Activity.
How much can doctors learn from stool?
In this interactive digestive system lesson, students analyze stool the way a physician would — using consistency, color, and patient history to make evidence-based health conclusions. Rather than memorizing digestive vocabulary, students apply structure–function reasoning to understand how the large intestine regulates water balance, how bile affects stool color, and how gut bacteria influence digestive health.
This lesson moves from prehistoric coprolites to modern patient diagnosis, guiding students through increasingly sophisticated diagnostic reasoning tasks.
Investigate fossilized stool (coprolites) to infer diet and health
Identify which digestive organ reabsorbs water and explain its role in constipation and diarrhea
Use the Bristol Stool Chart to classify stool consistency
Analyze how stool color forms (bilirubin → bile → gut bacteria → stercobilin)
Distinguish between harmless and medically significant color changes
Complete structured CER-based diagnostic cases as the “doctor”
Students finish the lesson applying their understanding to real-world patient scenarios, making claims and supporting them with evidence.
Fully digital, no-prep Google Slides format
Structured progression from concept introduction to application
Built-in check-ins and interactive drag-and-drop tasks
Mechanism-based explanations (not just vocabulary)
Clear connection between digestive structure and observable outcomes
Includes teacher key and printable literacy-based exit ticket
This lesson fits seamlessly into a Human Body Basics or introductory high school biology unit on digestion and human body systems.
Primary: Grades 6–8
Flexible: 6–9 depending on course structure
Digestive system structure and function
Large intestine water reabsorption
Stool consistency and health indicators
Bile production and color formation
Cause-and-effect reasoning in human physiology
Evidence-based medical reasoning (CER)
Google Slides lesson
Teacher answer key included
Printable literacy-based exit ticket
To see a preview of this lesson, click here.
This lesson naturally supports interdisciplinary thinking across health science, chemistry, and literacy.
Connects digestive physiology to real-world medical diagnostics
Reinforces structure–function relationships within human body systems
Introduces basic clinical reasoning using patient evidence
Connects bile chemistry and gut bacteria to biological color changes
Develops scientific writing through structured CER responses
Encourages evidence-based decision-making rather than assumption
MS-LS1-3
Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
Students analyze how the large intestine, liver, and gut bacteria function together to maintain digestive health.
Science & Engineering Practices (SEPs)
Constructing Explanations
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs)
Structure and Function
Cause and Effect
Systems and System Models
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7
Integrate technical information presented visually (e.g., charts) with text.
Students interpret and apply the Bristol Stool Chart.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Students complete CER-based diagnostic cases.
(If used in high school biology)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Interactive Digestive System Case Study | Human Body Basics | Google Slides + CER Activity.
How much can doctors learn from stool?
In this interactive digestive system lesson, students analyze stool the way a physician would — using consistency, color, and patient history to make evidence-based health conclusions. Rather than memorizing digestive vocabulary, students apply structure–function reasoning to understand how the large intestine regulates water balance, how bile affects stool color, and how gut bacteria influence digestive health.
This lesson moves from prehistoric coprolites to modern patient diagnosis, guiding students through increasingly sophisticated diagnostic reasoning tasks.
Investigate fossilized stool (coprolites) to infer diet and health
Identify which digestive organ reabsorbs water and explain its role in constipation and diarrhea
Use the Bristol Stool Chart to classify stool consistency
Analyze how stool color forms (bilirubin → bile → gut bacteria → stercobilin)
Distinguish between harmless and medically significant color changes
Complete structured CER-based diagnostic cases as the “doctor”
Students finish the lesson applying their understanding to real-world patient scenarios, making claims and supporting them with evidence.
Fully digital, no-prep Google Slides format
Structured progression from concept introduction to application
Built-in check-ins and interactive drag-and-drop tasks
Mechanism-based explanations (not just vocabulary)
Clear connection between digestive structure and observable outcomes
Includes teacher key and printable literacy-based exit ticket
This lesson fits seamlessly into a Human Body Basics or introductory high school biology unit on digestion and human body systems.
Primary: Grades 6–8
Flexible: 6–9 depending on course structure
Digestive system structure and function
Large intestine water reabsorption
Stool consistency and health indicators
Bile production and color formation
Cause-and-effect reasoning in human physiology
Evidence-based medical reasoning (CER)
Google Slides lesson
Teacher answer key included
Printable literacy-based exit ticket
To see a preview of this lesson, click here.
This lesson naturally supports interdisciplinary thinking across health science, chemistry, and literacy.
Connects digestive physiology to real-world medical diagnostics
Reinforces structure–function relationships within human body systems
Introduces basic clinical reasoning using patient evidence
Connects bile chemistry and gut bacteria to biological color changes
Develops scientific writing through structured CER responses
Encourages evidence-based decision-making rather than assumption
MS-LS1-3
Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
Students analyze how the large intestine, liver, and gut bacteria function together to maintain digestive health.
Science & Engineering Practices (SEPs)
Constructing Explanations
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs)
Structure and Function
Cause and Effect
Systems and System Models
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7
Integrate technical information presented visually (e.g., charts) with text.
Students interpret and apply the Bristol Stool Chart.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Students complete CER-based diagnostic cases.
(If used in high school biology)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
