Frankie’s Farting Friends- Instructor guide

Lesson Objective

Learners will learn what a fart is, which animals are able to do it, and why.

Intended Grade Level

This lesson is intended for grade levels 3-5. Prior to this lesson, students should be familiar with the basic gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) and what the word microbe means. Students should have basic knowledge of different animal species.

Minnesota State Standards met with this lesson include:

3.1.1 Students will be able to develop, revise, and use models to represent the students’ understanding of phenomena or systems as they develop questions, predictions and/or explanations, and communicate ideas to others.

3.2.1 Students will be able to apply scientific principles and empirical evidence (primary or secondary) to explain the causes of phenomena or identify weaknesses in explanations developed by the students or others.

Learning objectives

• Students will be able to explain what a fart is.
• Students will be able to explain different ways for gas to be introduced to the gut.
• Students will be able to determine which common species are able to fart and which are not.
• Students will be able to understand how and why farting is different in different animals.

Lesson Format

This lesson will take approximately 50 minutes. The lesson involves a mixture of the entire class and small group assessments.

The optional class reading should be done at the beginning of the unit to get the students excited to learn about flatulence (Account for 10 minutes).

Students will break off into small groups to work through Frankie’s Farting Friends interactive storyline. If groups finish early print outs of different animals can be provided for students to draw what they think those animals eat. (10 minutes).

The instructor will bring the students back into a group lesson to discuss the different gastrointestinal tracts of species and answer any questions the students may have after the story. (10 minutes).

The supplemental activity should take an additional 5 minutes.

The assessment portion should take no longer than 10 minutes.

Once all assessments are completed, wrap up as a class to discuss if there are any of Frankie’s farm friends that the students had difficulty placing in the correct category (5 minutes).

Materials needed for the Storybook lesson

• Computer and internet access
• Access to the student page for this lesson

Materials needed for demonstration.

• Latex Balloon
• Vinegar
• Baking soda

Materials needed for the optional class reading.

• Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray
• Or try this youtube video

Materials needed for Guess the Gas

• Paper
• Crayons, colored pencils, or markers.

Lesson Background

This lesson helps learners understand the causes of flatulence, and differences in flatulence between species.

Flatulence (farting) is the escape of air from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract through the rectum. There are several ways that this air can be introduced to the GI tract, and this can vary by species.

One way that air is introduced into the GI tract is through ingestion. Most commonly seen in dogs, this can occur through panting or eating too quickly.

Gas is also produced in the GI tract through digestion and/ or fermentation of ingested foods. All animals have some amount of microbes in their gut that help them digest foods and through this process gas is released into the gut. The main species differences here are where this process mainly occurs in the gut.

In cows, fermentation occurs in the foregut, specifically, the chamber of the stomach known as the rumen. As a result of this, cows are more likely to eructate than flatulate, as the majority of gas produced is closer to the mouth than the rectum.

In horses, fermentation occurs in the hindgut, or colon. Therefore, horses have frequent flatulence as most of the gas produced is near the rectum.

In carnivores, such as dogs and cats, fermentation does not occur, but microbes still aid in the digestion process. As a byproduct of microbe digestion, gas is released. This occurs throughout the intestinal tract but microbe concentration increases as you move toward the colon.

If gas is unable to be released, potentially due to some kind of obstruction, this can result in bloating, pain, and even rupture.

To fix this, surgery may be needed to relieve the obstruction, or they may need to use a needle to poke a hole in the bloated gut and relieve the pressure.

Activities

Storybook Lesson

Students will go through the storybook style lesson titled Frankie’s Farting Friends. This activity is contained within the student page for this lesson and if done individually does not require instructor time or class materials. You can modify this activity to be done with the whole class instead of individually if needed. The information that students need to receive for this lesson is all included in this activity. Other activities may be altered or omitted as necessary, but are helpful for student comprehension.

Reading

We are recommending reading Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray at the beginning of the lesson to get the students excited to learn more about flatulating. This book follows Walter, a large, gray dog who has an uncontrollable issue with gas. Despite his family’s initial attempts to get rid of him due to his constant flatulence, Walter becomes a hero when he inadvertently scares away burglars with his powerful farts, proving his worth and endearing him to his family.

Demonstration

We have prepared a simple demonstration for this lesson that will help learners understand the different ways gas is introduced to the GI tract, how it escapes, and what happens when the gas can’t escape. Reference the lesson format section to see what materials are needed for this demonstration.

• First, blow up the balloon as normal. Explain to the students that this represents air being introduced through breathing, panting, or eating too quickly.
• Let the air out of the balloon making the farting sound to demonstrate release of gas
• The next portion represents creation of gas within the gut.
• Add a small amount of vinegar to the balloon. Explain to students that this represents the digestive fluid found in the gut.
• Now, add baking soda (representing food) to the balloon.
• Pinch off the balloon to let it fill with air from the baking soda and vinegar reaction. This represents the microbes creating gas as they break down the food in the gut.
• This time, instead of releasing the gas, tie off the end of the balloon.
• Discuss with students what they think might happen if an animal is unable to release the gas, and what they think may be a solution.
  • May cause bloating (balloon gets too full) or rupture (balloon pops)
  • Untie the knot (surgery to relieve obstruction)
  • Pop the balloon (letting air out with a needle)

Guess the Gas 

Have students draw their favorite animal. From there, have them write or talk about what this animal eats, and whether they most likely fart, burp, neither, or both. As a helpful tool, have them think about which one of Frankie’s friends their favorite animal may be related to.

Common misconceptions and challenge points

Students may struggle understanding the different types of gastrointestinal tracts. It may be beneficial to print out simple diagrams of the cow GI tract, horse GI tract, and dog GI tract to hold up so students can visualize the difference. When explaining where the microbes create the gas, point out or circle on the picture where it is being produced so they can understand the difference in relation to the mouth and the rectum and ask “which end is closer?”.

Assessment

Students will go through a game-based assessment including matching, drag and drop, and true/false questions related to the content covered in the lesson.

Further exploration

For more information on Flatulence, learners can watch these videos.

Ted Talk about flatulating: Why do we pass gas? – Purna Kashyap

Dr. Binocs video on flatulence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX2NE0haQls 

Image Use Disclaimer: 

All images used in the lesson and activities within this book were created by chapter author and are CC for NC use