Human reproduction and the menstrual cycle
This is the science of how a human life begins: which organ does which job, and the roughly monthly cycle that prepares the body for a possible pregnancy. Factual, careful language throughout.
Part of your national curriculum
- Biology: structure and function: Understand reproduction in humans, including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems and the menstrual cycle
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand reproduction in humans, including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems and the menstrual cycle
Key learning points
- • The male reproductive system
- • The female reproductive system
- • The menstrual cycle
- • Fertilisation and what follows
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Human reproduction and the menstrual cycle
An English teaching video on this topic from Archie Science Show. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
Do it for real
The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.
In a nutshell
Understand reproduction in humans, including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems and the menstrual cycle
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You should know that living things reproduce, and that a fertilised cell divides to become an embryo.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- Gamete
- A sex cell - a sperm cell or an egg cell.
- Fertilisation
- The joining of a sperm nucleus with an egg nucleus.
- Ovulation
- The release of an egg cell from an ovary.
- Uterus
- The muscular organ where an embryo develops.
- Menstrual cycle
- The roughly monthly cycle that prepares the uterus lining for a possible pregnancy.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
The two reproductive systems
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
The male reproductive system
The testes make sperm cells and are held outside the main body cavity because sperm production works best slightly below body temperature. Sperm cells are small, they carry half the genetic information, and they have a tail so they can swim. Glands add fluid to make semen, which carries and nourishes the sperm; the sperm leave through the urethra.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
The female reproductive system
The two ovaries hold egg cells from before birth. An oviduct carries a released egg towards the uterus, and fertilisation usually happens in the oviduct. The uterus has a thick muscular wall and a lining rich in blood vessels. The cervix is the ring of muscle at the base of the uterus, opening into the vagina.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
Where does fertilisation usually take place?
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
The testes are held outside the main body cavity because...
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
The cycle and early development
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
The menstrual cycle
Take day 1 as the first day of a period. Over the first fortnight the uterus lining rebuilds. Around day 14, ovulation releases an egg. If the egg is not fertilised, the lining breaks down about a fortnight later and a period begins, restarting the cycle. Roughly 28 days is an average, not a rule - cycles vary between people and from month to month.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Fertilisation and what follows
If a sperm cell reaches the egg, the two nuclei join and the cell now has a full set of genetic information. It divides repeatedly on its way to the uterus and implants into the lining as an embryo. The placenta then develops, letting oxygen and food pass from the parent's blood to the growing fetus and carbon dioxide and waste pass back the other way; the two bloodstreams do not mix.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Ovulation happens at roughly which point in an average cycle?
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
A period happens when...
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Cycles are not all 28 days - that figure is an average.
- Fertilisation usually happens in the oviduct, not in the uterus.
- A period is the breakdown of the uterus lining, not the loss of an unused egg.
- The parent's and the fetus's blood do not mix; substances diffuse across the placenta.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Human reproduction and the menstrual cycle
6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which cell carries half the genetic information and can swim?
2. Egg cells are stored in the...
3. Day 1 of the menstrual cycle is counted as...
4. What substance passes from parent to fetus across the placenta?
5. The uterus wall is muscular so that it can...
6. Which statement is scientifically accurate?
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Why the school greenhouse failed
A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.
The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.
The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
- Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
- Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.
Method and results
WritingWrite the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.
1 page + results table
Conclusion
WritingExplain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.
6–8 sentences
Labelled diagram
DiagramDraw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.
1 labelled diagram
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.
Half a page of notes
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand reproduction in humans, including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems and the menstrual cycle