Human Body Unit Introduction

This week we launched our Human Body Unit which was inspired by the students' interest in this subject. Our unit takes the perspective that we can think about our bodies as being like a machine. We have parts for moving around, sensors, and a built-in computer. Students will explore their senses and consider how the information we process helps us understand and react to our environment. Many people know on some vague level that muscles are responsible for the body’s movement… but what *exactly* do the muscles do? Students discovered this week: the muscles work by pulling on bones at the joints. The muscles do this via strings called tendons. Students created a paper model of a finger based on their understanding of this process. Students also considered what would happen if their body didn't have bones. In the activity, Skeleton Hand, students combined science with art: they traced their hands, then added see-through bones to their picture, making their own skeleton hand. We extended our learning by adding a writing component in which students compared their hand bones to the bones of a bat.