Endocrine glands and signaling
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Map the major endocrine glands and the hormones they secrete using teacher notes and the PLTW online task.
1. Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2. Start the work
Take guided notes on the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands.
Show all 5 required steps
- Take guided notes on the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands.
- Define hormone, target cell, and receptor in your own words.
- Complete the assigned PLTW online gland-and-hormone matching activity.
- Annotate a body diagram with each gland and its primary hormone.
- Write one question about a gland you still find confusing.
Lost your place? Interrupted? Check that your notes cover the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands, that you have defined hormone, target cell, and receptor in your own words, then finish annotating each gland on the body diagram.
Check your work before submitting
- Body diagram labels at least four glands with correct hormones.
- PLTW online task is submitted with all matches attempted.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Annotated body diagram labeling at least four endocrine glands with their primary hormones, plus definitions of hormone, target cell, and receptor.
How to submit and name your file
Use the submission route shown on today's today's page.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
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Check the section number beside Human Anatomy and Physiology in Schoology.
Assignment: Wk10 Vocabulary: Endocrine glands and signaling
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How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: Medical decisions require weighing benefit, risk, and rights together, because a treatment that helps one goal can harm another, and no single stakeholder's wishes settle the question on their own. Today: The endocrine system can coordinate distant organs because hormones travel through shared blood, so that any cell can be reached, while receptors decide which cells actually respond.
Unit 2 guide: what to keep and use nextOptional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: The endocrine system can coordinate distant organs because hormones travel through shared blood, so that any cell can be reached, while receptors decide which cells actually respond.
- 0-10Warm-up: name one gland and guess what it does
- 10-30Guided notes: pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, adrenal glands and their primary hormones
- 30-45Vocabulary pair-work: , target cell, in own words
- 45-60PLTW online gland-and- matching activity
- 60-72Annotate body diagram with glands and hormones
- 72-80Write one confusing question; share and submit diagram
- • Your endocrine system is sending chemical messages through your blood right now.
- • Today you will build a map of which glands send which messages and why.
- • Knowing gland- pairs is foundational for the WebXam Human Body Form, Function, and Pathophysiology domain.
- • By the end you will have an annotated body diagram and a completed PLTW online activity.
- • Major endocrine glands include the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands, each secreting distinct hormones.
- • A only affects a target cell that carries the matching .
- • Medical terminology for endocrine pathophysiology links organ names to dysfunction (e.g., hypo/hyperthyroidism).
PLTW connection and today's work
Complete the gland-and-hormone matching activity in Activity 2.2.1 The Endocrine System (Lesson 2.2 Everything Endocrine) on myPLTW; work through all matching items during the 45-60 minute window.
Today's stopping point: Introductory task is done; today the gland-and-hormone task should show complete in your progress bar.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Activity 2.2.1 The Endocrine System
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
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Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
Medical decisions require weighing benefit, risk, and rights together, because a treatment that helps one goal can harm another, and no single stakeholder's wishes settle the question on their own.
The endocrine system can coordinate distant organs because hormones travel through shared blood, so that any cell can be reached, while receptors decide which cells actually respond.
A mechanic studies a tool whose shape allows one job but limits another.
- Which feature makes the tool work?
- What changes if that feature bends or breaks?
- Which observation shows function rather than appearance?
Structure creates possibilities and limits for function.
Living tissues adapt and interact with other systems; a metal tool does not.
- • Tool shape maps to .
- • The job maps to physiological function.
- • Damage maps to a predicted functional change.
Driving question: The thyroid sits in your neck but sets the metabolic pace of your whole body; how does a signal made in the neck reach and change a cell in your foot?
What you already know: Medical decisions require weighing benefit, risk, and rights together, because a treatment that helps one goal can harm another, and no single stakeholder's wishes settle the question on their own.
New idea: The endocrine system can coordinate distant organs because hormones travel through shared blood, so that any cell can be reached, while receptors decide which cells actually respond.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Endocrine glands and signaling. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled structure, movement, or system relationship that connects form to function.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in today's lesson.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Structure creates possibilities and limits for function.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: The thyroid sits in your neck but sets the metabolic pace of your whole body; how does a signal made in the neck reach and change a cell in your foot?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : A chemical messenger made by glands and carried in the blood to distant organs, where it controls processes like growth, , and mood.
- • : An organ that releases hormones directly into the bloodstream to control distant body processes such as growth and .
- • : A control cycle in which the output of a process feeds back to adjust that same process, helping the body keep conditions stable.
- • : A made by the pancreas that lowers blood sugar by signaling cells to take in glucose from the blood.
- • : A made by the pancreas that raises blood sugar by signaling the liver to release stored glucose when levels drop.
- • : The body's ongoing process of keeping internal conditions like temperature, blood sugar, and pH steady despite changes in the outside environment.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
is dynamic regulation: sensors, control processes, and effectors use feedback to keep selected physiological variables within ranges that support cell and organ function.
Limit: A single feedback diagram simplifies interacting set ranges, delays, feedforward signals, local controls, and differences among individuals.
Structure creates possibilities and limits for function.
Limit: Living tissues adapt and interact with other systems; a metal tool does not.
Body diagram labels at least four glands with correct hormones.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-HAP-2027-03-23 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: anatomy and physiology consultant
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the vocabulary application named on today's page.
- • Label the thyroid and its , and explain that receptors on a foot cell decide the response.
- • Show the gland aiming its at the target organ, because otherwise the signal would hit everything in the body.
- • Find a foot cell that the same blood reaches yet ignores the , since a labeled diagram cannot show that.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the vocabulary application.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the vocabulary application named on today's page.
Context: The endocrine system coordinates organs that never touch by releasing hormones into the blood, and each only moves the cells built to receive it.
- • T1: Take guided notes on the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands.
- • T2: Define , target cell, and in your own words.
- • T3: Complete the assigned PLTW online gland-and- matching activity.
- • T4: Annotate a body diagram with each gland and its primary .
- • T5: Write one question about a gland you still find confusing.
- • E1: is dynamic regulation: sensors, control processes, and effectors use feedback to keep selected physiological variables within ranges that support cell and organ function.
- • E2: Structure creates possibilities and limits for function.
- • E3: Body diagram labels at least four glands with correct hormones.
Measurements: No patient measurement is supplied unless it appears explicitly in E1-E3 or F1. Do not invent a value.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Endocrine glands and signaling. Trace the labeled structure, movement, or system relationship that connects form to function. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Students often think Students think a released into the blood acts on whatever organ it reaches, so the gland must aim it at a target.. The trap: The blood carries a everywhere, but only cells with the matching respond, so targeting is done by the lock-and-key receptor on the cell, not by the gland aiming the signal. Miss this and endocrine signaling looks like guesswork instead of a specific match.
Annotated glands and primary hormones:
- Pituitary: growth hormone (also signals other glands).
- Thyroid: thyroid hormone (sets metabolic rate).
- Pancreas: insulin (and glucagon) for blood sugar.
- Adrenal glands: adrenaline (the stress response).
Vocabulary in my own words:
- Hormone: a chemical messenger that travels in the blood to change how a distant organ works.
- Target cell: the specific cell a hormone is meant to affect.
- Receptor: the matching dock on a target cell that the hormone binds to; without the right receptor, the hormone has no effect on that cell.
My lingering question: how does one gland (the pituitary) control several others at once?
| Gland | Primary hormone | Main job |
|---|---|---|
| Pituitary | Growth hormone | Growth, signals other glands |
| Thyroid | Thyroid hormone | Sets metabolic rate |
| Pancreas | Insulin | Lowers blood glucose |
| Adrenal | Adrenaline | Stress response |
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: An annotated body diagram labeling at least four endocrine glands with their primary hormones, plus student-worded definitions of hormone, target cell, and receptor.
- Define the term in plain scientific language.
- Connect it to the current investigation.
- Use it accurately in a new example or contrast.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit your annotated diagram on Schoology.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Endocrine glands and signaling. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Hand-picked readings, videos, and interactives for this lesson, all free and from authoritative open organizations (NIH, CDC, OpenStax, Khan Academy, PhET, HHMI, and more).
A fillable, Cornell-style notebook for Unit 2: Research Ready. Type your notes, cues, and summaries right in the PDF, or print it and write by hand. Each lesson page has a cue column, a notes column, and a summary box, plus dated lab-record pages you can turn in.
HBS Unit 2 notebook: Research Ready Fillable PDFCornell notes + lab recordsOpenVetted readings and references for this unit. Use them to prepare, to catch up if you were absent, or to go deeper on today's target.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Insulin travels in the blood past your muscle cells, liver cells, and skin cells. Why does it change how muscle and liver cells handle glucose but not, say, a hair follicle in the same way?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
Run this before you touch the bench. It is built from the real lab procedure, so the decisions you make here are the ones you will make with the equipment in your hands.
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Today is individual work you can do from home: complete the same target above, then submit your Vocabulary task.
Go to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
MedlinePlus: Endocrine DiseasesYou've passed Unit 2, so the optional extra-credit track is open. Complete reserved-unit work from home, including virtual labs, for extra credit. Each item shows its correct submission route.
Open the extra-credit track- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
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