Build-A-Bone Workshop

In Lab #4, students began a study of Human Biology with an emphasis on the skeletal system.  Our Bible infusion for this week comes from I Corinthians 13:16 -- Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  With an emphasis on taking care of our bodies, students learned the importance of calcium and exercise for their bones.

Students learned some interesting bone facts, too!  Did you know an adult has 206 bones and over 80% of those bones are located in our feet and hands??  Calcium can be found in many delicious foods, including almonds!  If a bone breaks and pops through the skin, it is called an open fracture!  Our largest bone is our femur, located in our thigh, and it is as strong as concrete!  Wow!

In our chicken bone experiment, we examined a freshly cleaned chicken bone.  We placed the hard bone into a solution of vinegar.  We formed a hypothesis that the acid in the vinegar will remove the calcium from the bone, leaving only collagen behind.  We expect to find these bones greatly changed at our next lab.

Students enjoyed the "Build-A-Bone Workshop".  They used paper rolls, yarn, netting, burlap, straws and dough to create a model bone.  Bone components such as blood vessels, bone marrow, spongy bone, compact bone and periosteum were represented in the models.  Dough will harden by next lab, and students will be able to take the models back to the classroom. 

It was hard to tell if we were having a lot of fun and learning a little, or if we were learning a lot, while having a little fun!  Either way, the Bone Lab was a hit!

Lab teams compete to pound the periosteum flat!

It took some engineering to get the blood vessels into the red bone marrow

This group of 4th graders confer to come up with a plan to thread the blood vessels into the marrow.

In the "What Happened to Bob?" game, students learned the importance of a calcium rich diet.

Evie checks to see if the blood vessels are coming through!

Houston uses a lot of effort to pound the periosteum! 

Middle school students learned the scientific names of the bones.

A model from the Build-A-Bone Workshop!

Pounding the periosteum flat!

Cooper tries to put Bob back together!

Abbie carefully folds the spongy bone for the model.

These 6th grade girls work together on the blood vessels.

This class is looking sharp!  STEM Lab fell on picture day!

These girls are working hard to knead the dough for the model!

Sasha and Michal carefully layer the compact bone for the model.

Bailey rolls the dough carefully! 

Sadie trying to help Bob find his shape again!

These girls stir salt, flour and water to make a pasty dough for the workshop.

Our chicken bone experiment will show students the importance of calcium in our bones!

Making dough is hard work!