Today’s homework. A bigger story.
Pick a topic, meet the people behind the ideas, and try something together.
20 pioneers with prepared, book-cited stories. Explore all 315 profiles
How can a diagram make a journey that we cannot see easier to understand?
Explore heart & lungs with Ibn al-Nafis, then try the activity below.
The legacy behind the lesson
Ibn al-Nafis trained at the Nuri Hospital in Damascus.
He later worked at the Nasiri Hospital in Cairo and wrote about medicine.
Ibn al-Nafis described the pulmonary circulation: blood traveling from the heart through the lungs and back to the heart.
“How can a diagram make a journey that we cannot see easier to understand?”
Draw a journey with arrows
Gather: Paper and two colored pencils.
- 1
Draw a simple heart shape and two lung shapes as a diagram.
- 2
Use arrows to make a route from the heart to the lungs.
- 3
Use another color to show the route back to the heart.
- 4
Explain what your diagram shows, and what a simple drawing leaves out.