Thermoregulation and the Anatomy of a Negative Feedback Loop

Abstract

The Thermoregulation and Anatomy of a Negative Feedback Loop Activity builds upon students’ understanding of homeostasis in a high school, community college, or undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course. Students engage with the learning cycle using a model to explain how the body maintains core body temperature through the use of a negative feedback loop. They identify the three components of a negative feedback loop: sensors, control center, and effector. Students apply this understanding to how the body regulates core body temperature within a range of values represented by the set point. They further apply their learning as they consider if heart rate is a regulated variable. This activity extends learning by asking students to consider the connection between temperature sensors in the skin with the location of the thermoregulation control center in the brain as well as predicting how positive feedback loops function in healthy human physiology. 

• Level: high school, community college, or undergraduate
• Setting: Classroom
• Activity Type: Learning Cycle
• Discipline: Biology
• Course: Human Anatomy and Physiology
• Keywords: homeostasis, thermoregulation