Integumentary System Skin, Hair, & Nails
Integumentary System Objectives
- Describe the functions of the major structures of the integumentary system including cells and their products.
- Explain how the integumentary system relates to thermoregulation.
- Discuss aspects of skin health including the normal process of wound healing as well as various skin disorders.
Warm up:
An observation is what you detect with your senses, and an inference is a conclusion you draw based on that observation. See how quickly you draw inferences while observing these images.
This video introduces the integumentary system.
Now that you have background on basic integumentary structures in the skin, this video introduces their functions.
From your notes, name the tissues that make up the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis of the skin.
The suffix –cyte means _________.
Keratinocytes in the epidermis produce __________.
Melanocytes in the epidermis produce __________.
Fibroblasts in the dermis build (make) ___________.
Epithelial tissues typically ____ organs.
List the three basic shapes of cells within epithelial tissues.
Connective tissue are typically the _____ of an organ.
List five different types of connective tissues.
What happens to the connective tissue of the dermis if fibroblasts do not produce sufficient collagen? Wound healing can be quite slow.
Your second journal assignment in this guide (described at the end of this page) will be related to learning about first aid to deal with injuries like skin wounds.
The skin plays a significant role in thermoregulation.
Heating the Body
Cooling the Body
Amazingly, some of the things we commonly experience with our skin have only recently been explained, like skin wrinkling in water.
Next up, and related to safety, is an examination of skin health.
Acne
Acne is a common skin condition in humans.
Since the skin is exposed to the elements and covers an enormous surface area, there are many disorders that can develop.
Burns
Burns are a significant disorder causing different degrees of damage to skin layers.
The suffix -itis, like in dermatitis, pancreatitis, and appendicitis means ____________.
First Aid
Since skin is so exposed, it is vulnerable to injury. Knowing what to do in case of a serious wound or other organ injury before it happens can be critical. First aid is stabilizing yourself or assisting someone else until medical help arrives. We encourage first aid training from health professionals.
Start your second journal assignment here
(keep taking notes on your first journal assignment on the next page)
Journal Page #2: First Aid Training
First aid is assistance you give to an injured or sick person until full medical treatment is available. For this journal page you are selecting first aid training (new or a refresher course) that you plan on getting at some point in the future.
This could be first aid related to the integumentary or any other organ system. For example, you may be interested in first aid for children if you babysit or CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) if you know someone with heart disease.
Your first aid training selection could be a course offered in your community, a web-based online course, a book/model series to purchase, or other form designed by medical professionals.
You do not have to complete the training for this assignment, but we hope you do at some point soon, as a form of continuing education.
You are turning in:
A. what the training is that you selected,
B. where you can get this training. Be specific. Is it a community-based course, offered at a particular website, a set of books, etc.?
C. why you chose this particular form of first aid training.
Choose a professional first aid training, for example a course offered by a local medical center. Here are a few online options:
Red Cross First Aid Training. https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/first-aid/first-aid-training
Ideas from CDC (Centers for Disease Control). https://emergency.cdc.gov/training/index.asp
The next section provides a closer look at skin cancer.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
- describe the functions of the major structures of the integumentary system including cells and their products?
- explain how the integumentary system relates to thermoregulation?
- discuss aspects of skin health including the normal process of wound healing as well as various skin disorders?
Go back to the Cells Page
Go forward to the Skin Cancer Page
Organization Guide Contents
Complete all four of these sections before taking the quiz and submitting your two journal pages.
Back to Module Index
Links to all eight Guides
This Week’s Guide
1: Organization
This Week’s Assignments
1: Organization Products
