Advanced Math & Science Academy HEALTH CURRICULUM Topic #7. Your Changing Body
DO NOW:
Think about ways in which your body is different
from when you were a baby.
Think about ways in which your body will change in the
next few years.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN GENERAL.
For about the first 20 years of your life, your body grows bigger.
As your body gets bigger, there are other changes.
Many of these changes happen in the early teen years.
Puberty typically begins around age 12 or 13, but it can start
as early as 9 or as late as 15.
VOCABULARY: Pubis: a bone in the front of your pelvis. Pubic region: the part of your body a few inches
below the navel (belly button), covering the pubis. Puberty: the life stage in which hair starts to grow
over your pubic region and many other changes occur. Hormone: a chemical substance made in one part of your
body, having an effect in another part of your body, and carried
to the target organ by the blood stream. Secondary sexual characteristic: something like a beard,
typical of one sex only, but not needed for reproduction. Semen: a fluid, produced by males, containing sperm cells Testis: male organ that makes the sperm cells and testosterone Ovary: female organ that produces egg cells and estrogen Ovum: an egg cell. Ovulation: the release of an ovum. Follicle: tissue in the ovary surrounding the ovum Fertilization: the combination of an egg and a sperm
to make a new individual. Menstruation: a monthly flow of blood and other tissue
from the vagina.
IMPORTANT HORMONES:
FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone), produced by pituitary
Testosterone, produced by testes
Estrogen, produced by ovaries
LH (Luteinizing Hormone), produced by pituitary
Progesterone, produced by ovaries
LTH (LuteoTrophic Hormone), produced by pituitary
PUBERTY IN BOYS (changes caused by FSH & testosterone):
_
Growth of beard & mustache (need to start shaving)
Growth of pubic hair, armpit hair, etc.
Voice gets deeper
Possible facial acne
Growth spurt; growth continuing to age 20 or 21
"Wet dreams" in which semen leaks from penis
PUBERTY IN GIRLS (changes caused by FSH & estrogen):
_
Growth of pubic hair, armpit hair, etc.
Growth spurt; growth continuing to around age 18
Possible facial acne
Growth of breasts (conical at first, then rounded)
