Homeostasis regulates physiological systems and maintains life. Given its critical role in physiology, educators have identified homeostasis as one of the most important core concepts for students to understand (
Michael and McFarland, 2011). Comprehending how and when homeostasis occurs is essential to learning and teaching integrative physiology.
At the completion of this interactive learning module, participants should be able to:
- define the term homeostasis as it applies to organismal physiology,
- use the criteria for homeostasis to determine if a physiological variable is homeostatically regulated,
- list the components of the control system for homeostatically regulated variables,
- differentiate between physiological variables that are regulated and variables that are manipulated or altered, and
- recognize common misconceptions about homeostasis.