Nephron and filtration
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Explain nephron filtration and digestion 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 notes on nephron structure and filtration steps.
Show all 5 required steps
- Take notes on nephron structure and filtration steps.
- Define urinalysis and explain electrophoresis for PKD genetics.
- Complete the PLTW online filtration-and-digestion activity.
- Diagram enzyme action and the role of the microbiome.
- Write one question about kidney or digestive function.
Lost your place? Reopen today's Nephron and filtration record. Find the last completed evidence ID, check it against the claim ceiling, and continue with the first unfinished step rather than restarting the whole task.
Check your work before submitting
- Nephron filtration steps are correctly ordered.
- PLTW online task is submitted complete.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Ordered nephron filtration diagram with steps labeled, plus definitions of urinalysis, gel electrophoresis, and a diagram of enzyme action in digestion.
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.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Choose your Schoology section. Open only one assignment.
Check the section number beside Human Anatomy and Physiology in Schoology.
Assignment: Wk17 Lab notebook: Nephron and filtration
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your section, and find the assignment title above.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: A plaque assay estimates infectious virus from plaques formed under defined culture and dilution conditions, so antiviral comparisons require controls, countable dilutions, and a stated calculation rule. Today: Organ-replacement decisions integrate organ function, compatibility, urgency, expected benefit, risks, and organ-specific allocation rules rather than relying on one laboratory value or matching feature.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: Organ-replacement decisions integrate organ function, compatibility, urgency, expected benefit, risks, and organ-specific allocation rules rather than relying on one laboratory value or matching feature.
- 0-10Warm-up: what does the kidney filter, and how do you know if it is working?
- 10-28Guided notes: structure, sequence, indicators, overview
- 28-45PLTW online -and-digestion activity
- 45-58Diagram action in digestion and label the role of the
- 58-70Write one question about kidney or digestive function; pair-answer
- 70-80Submit diagram and PLTW completion confirmation
- • Tomorrow you will run three labs in one period: , digestion, and .
- • Today you build the conceptual map that makes those results interpretable.
- • The is one of the most tested structures in the Evaluate Body Systems WebXam domain.
- • Leave with a correctly ordered diagram and clear definitions of and .
- • proceeds: glomerular filtration, tubular of useful molecules, tubular secretion of wastes, and urine concentration.
- • detects abnormal substances (glucose, , blood) that indicate breakdown.
- • separates DNA fragments by size to identify genetic variants such as PKD mutations.
PLTW connection and today's work
Complete the nephron-filtration task in Activity 4.1.1 Hello Kidney and Activity 4.1.2 The Ultimate Collector in myPLTW (Unit 4 Patient Perspectives); work through all filtration, reabsorption, and enzymatic-digestion screens.
Today's stopping point: Monday's task is done; today the nephron and digestion task should show complete.
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 4.1.1 Hello Kidney
- Activity 4.1.2 The Ultimate Collector
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
Need help? Choose a starting point
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.
A estimates infectious virus from plaques formed under defined and dilution conditions, so comparisons require controls, countable dilutions, and a stated calculation rule.
Organ-replacement decisions integrate organ function, compatibility, urgency, expected benefit, risks, and organ-specific allocation rules rather than relying on one laboratory value or matching feature.
A review board sorts scientific evidence, stakeholder needs, possible benefits, possible burdens, and uncertainty before choosing a policy.
- Which statements are scientific evidence?
- Which statements express a value or priority?
- Who receives the benefit and who carries the burden?
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
- • Evidence cards map to source-backed findings.
- • Stakeholder cards map to affected people and priorities.
- • The recommendation maps to an explicit tradeoff with a named uncertainty.
Driving question: Explain and digestion using teacher notes and the PLTW online task.
What you already know: A estimates infectious virus from plaques formed under defined and dilution conditions, so comparisons require controls, countable dilutions, and a stated calculation rule.
New idea: Organ-replacement decisions integrate organ function, compatibility, urgency, expected benefit, risks, and organ-specific allocation rules rather than relying on one laboratory value or matching feature.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Nephron and filtration. 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: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: Today the human body systems team uses and to make a bounded evidence decision. A classroom simulation omits many clinical and allocation variables and cannot rank or recommend care for real patients.
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.
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.
Health Resources and Services Administration is the source this lesson's claim is checked against: How Organ Allocation Works
Limit: A classroom simulation omits many clinical and allocation variables and cannot rank or recommend care for real patients.
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
Limit: A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
steps are correctly ordered.
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-2027-05-11 · 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 notebook record named on today's page.
- • Gather each patient's expected years of kidney function with a transplant versus continued , since your ranking assumes that comparison.
- • Back one allocation criterion by separating the medical evidence from your values, and name who gets burdened.
- • Adopt the group's smoothest presented rule, because a confident, well-organized case means the criterion is well supported.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the notebook record.
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 notebook record named on today's page.
Context: Today the human body systems team uses and to make a bounded evidence decision. A classroom simulation omits many clinical and allocation variables and cannot rank or recommend care for real patients.
- • T1: Take notes on structure and steps.
- • T2: Define and explain for PKD genetics.
- • T3: Complete the PLTW online -and-digestion activity.
- • T4: Diagram action and the role of the .
- • T5: Write one question about kidney or digestive function.
- • E1: Health Resources and Services Administration is the source this lesson's claim is checked against: How Organ Allocation Works
- • E2: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- • E3: steps are correctly ordered.
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for and . 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.
= final volume / sample volume. New concentration = starting concentration / dilution factor.
Mix 1 mL of sample to a final volume of 10 mL. The is 10. A 100 mg/mL starting sample becomes 10 mg/mL.
Use the same volume units before dividing. Concentration keeps its original concentration unit.
Apply the same setup to one supplied dilution or dose. Show the factor, new value, units, and a reasonableness check.
Students often think A polished answer about and is trustworthy even when its evidence source, comparison, or limitation is missing.. The trap: Presentation quality cannot raise the evidence level. A classroom simulation omits many clinical and allocation variables and cannot rank or recommend care for real patients.
Filtration path through the nephron (in order):
- Blood enters the glomerulus, where high pressure pushes water and small solutes into the tubule (filtration).
- Filtrate moves into the proximal tubule, where glucose, most water, and salts are reabsorbed into the blood.
- The loop of Henle concentrates the filtrate by pulling out water and salt.
- The distal tubule fine-tunes salt and water balance.
- The collecting duct sends the finished urine toward the bladder.
Key terms in my own words:
- Urinalysis: a test that reads what is in the urine (protein, glucose, blood, pH) to check how the kidney is filtering.
- Gel electrophoresis: a method that sorts DNA fragments by size in a gel so PKD genetic markers show up as bands.
Enzyme action in digestion:
- The enzyme amylase acts on starch and breaks it into smaller sugars; the enzyme is reused, the starch is the substrate.
My question: if the glomerulus is damaged, why does protein start showing up in the urine when it normally stays in the blood?
(Tip: filtration is passive and driven by pressure at the glomerulus, while reabsorption is selective and happens down the tubule; keep those two steps separate.)
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Orders the nephron filtration steps in a labeled diagram, defines urinalysis and gel electrophoresis, and shows enzyme action in digestion.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
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 notes and 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.
Play the cold open at the start of the unit to set the scene. Each recording is AI-generated and simulated (fictional callers, no real people or student data).
A fillable, Cornell-style notebook for Unit 4: Patient Perspectives. 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 4 notebook: Patient Perspectives 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.
A student makes a certain conclusion about Nephron and filtration from one classroom result. What must the student add before the conclusion is defensible?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
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. This lesson has more than one, and they cover different skills.
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.
The bench work needs equipment you do not have at home. Do the thinking half now: read the procedure, write your prediction, and set up your data table so it is ready.
Back in class. Ask Mr. Mendoza for the class data set, or for a bench slot to run it yourself. Do not submit a Notebook check with invented numbers.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
MedlinePlus: UrinalysisYou'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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