Essential Idea:
The structure of the wall of the small intestine
allows it to move, digest and absorb food
Understandings:
- The contraction of circular and longitudinal muscle of the small intestine mixes the food with enzymes and moves it along the gut
- Enzymes digest most macromolecules in food into monomers in the small intestine
- The pancreas secretes enzymes into the lumen of the small intestine
- Villi increase the surface area of epithelium over which absorption is carried out
- Villi absorb monomers formed by digestion as well as mineral ions and vitamins
- Different methods of membrane transport are required to absorb different nutrients
Applications:
- Processes occurring in the small intestine that result in the digestion of starch and transport of the products of digestion to the liver
- Use of dialysis tubing to model absorption of digested food in the intestine
Skills:
- Production of an annotated diagram of the digestive system
- Identification of tissue layers in transverse sections of the small intestine viewed with a microscope or in a micrograph