The highly interactive program is designed to teach the basic physiology of the heart and is designed to complement and accompany a similar program (The Circulation.) covering the physiology of the circulatory vessels. It is divided into several sections accessed from a menu:

Introduction: structure and function of the cardiovascular system;

The Heart:

• gross structure - chambers and major blood vessels, the wall of the heart and the pericardium;
• heart valves - structure and function of atrioventricular and semi-lunar valves;
• histology - cardiac muscle and pacemaker cells;
• excitation - spread of depolarization and the ECG;
• heart sounds
• the cardiac cycle - pressure and volume changes;
• cardiac output - control by autonomic nerves, hormones and autoregulation.

High quality colour graphics are used extensively throughout the program and features such as animation and a Hypertext facility are used to enhance student learning. The program is highly interactive and uses several features to promote this. For example students are required to:

a) label diagrams by "dragging" labels from a list and "dropping" them into the box corresponding to the correct position on the diagram;

b) interpret recordings of pacemaker cell action potentials to better understand the effect of autonomic nerves on heart rate.

In addition they must answer a variety of questions included in each section. These may be multiple choice, selecting correct phrases from a list to complete a statement, and true/false questions with feedback.

System Requirements: Windows: Intel Pentium II 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent), 128MB of RAM; Microsoft Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Macintosh: PowerPC G3 500MHz or faster processor, 128MB of RAM; Mac OS X v.10.1.x, 10.2.x, 10.3.x, or 10.4.x

Recommended browser software: Windows:  Internet Explorer; Macintosh:  Safari or Firefox; Both: Adobe Flash Player plug-in, version 8 or higher.

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