Take the approach of telling a story about the journey of the FIBER molecule through the human body. be sure to dig deep and include how bacteria play a role in our digestion of fiber Think through each of the digestive organs and what happens to that molecule in those digestive organs. What mechanical digestion happens? What enzymes (if any) are breaking the molecule apart into smaller pieces? Where do the enzymes come from? What does the enzyme do? Keep in mind that the most details of the story will be happening in the small intestine.
Mouth
Stomach
Small Intestine (is the pancreas or gall bladder/liver involved in digestion?)
Large Intestine
HOW does the molecule get absorbed into the body? Which type of membrane transport happens so that the molecule can move from the digestive system into the blood? For those of you with fiber, don’t assume that nothing enters the blood as bacteria are doing a lot of digesting in the large intestine.
Where does the molecule go once it is in the body? Is it used right away? Stored for later?
How does the molecule (or the pieces of the molecule that are left after your body uses it) leave the body? This connects back to some of the topics we learned about related to the carbon cycle.