Why can I only see one system at a time?

Because a skeleton drawn behind a digestive system is two diagrams fighting, and a class naming the stomach does not need the ribs in the way. Switching between them is one tap, which is quicker than turning three layers off.

Why are the drawings not more realistic?

Because a primary science diagram is not trying to be a photograph. It is read from the back of a room and then copied into a book, and clean shapes with the right parts in the right places do both better. A realistic torso would also put a dozen things on screen that nobody in the room is being asked about.

Are all the parts there?

Only the ones a primary scheme names, which is the point. A digestive system with a duodenum on it has a label nobody is being asked about, and every extra one is something between a class and the five they need.

Can I add the muscles, or the nervous system?

Not yet. Muscles are the obvious next one, since Year 3 pairs them with the skeleton. The diagrams are held as data rather than as drawings in code, so adding one is a list of shapes and names, and the same engine will do a plant or a flower.

Human Body Diagram

Science · Year 3–Year 6

Skeleton, organs, digestive and circulatory. Tap a part to name it.

Loading…

About the human body

Four diagrams, one at a time: the skeleton for Year 3, the main organs, the digestive system for Year 4 and the circulatory system for Year 6. Tap a part and its label appears, with what it does written underneath.

Every part has a dot on it, hollow until it is named and filled after. Without one there is nothing on an unlabelled diagram to say where to press, and "tap a part" becomes an instruction to guess.

It opens with nothing labelled, because that is the activity. A class names the parts one at a time and the board keeps count. Show All puts every label up at once for the version of the lesson that is not a quiz, and Clear starts again.

The part being read about is at full strength and the rest sit back, so a class looking for the stomach can find it. Nothing is hidden: it is the same diagram either way.

The labels stack down the sides with a leader line each, rather than sitting on the parts. That is what keeps the small intestine and the large intestine apart, which is the pair a class most needs to tell apart, and it means no label ever lands on another one.

The diagrams are schematic, and that is on purpose. A primary science diagram is a set of clean shapes with the parts a class has to name and nothing else, because it gets read from the back of a room and then copied into a book. A photograph would be worse at both.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1System switches between the skeleton, the organs, the digestive system and the circulatory system.
2Tap a part to name it. Tap it again to take the label off.
3Show all puts every label up at once, and Hide takes them down.
4Clear starts the naming again. All names everything in one press.
5Hide takes the body outline away, leaving the system on its own.
6Tap Fullscreen to fill the board.

Questions

Why can I only see one system at a time?: Because a skeleton drawn behind a digestive system is two diagrams fighting, and a class naming the stomach does not need the ribs in the way. Switching between them is one tap, which is quicker than turning three layers off.
Why are the drawings not more realistic?: Because a primary science diagram is not trying to be a photograph. It is read from the back of a room and then copied into a book, and clean shapes with the right parts in the right places do both better. A realistic torso would also put a dozen things on screen that nobody in the room is being asked about.
Are all the parts there?: Only the ones a primary scheme names, which is the point. A digestive system with a duodenum on it has a label nobody is being asked about, and every extra one is something between a class and the five they need.
Can I add the muscles, or the nervous system?: Not yet. Muscles are the obvious next one, since Year 3 pairs them with the skeleton. The diagrams are held as data rather than as drawings in code, so adding one is a list of shapes and names, and the same engine will do a plant or a flower.