HUMAN BODY SYSTEMS UNIT
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Skeletal System Model
In progress: This is our model as of today, March 4th. As you can see it is a work in progress. (It looks a bit more like the Brazilian statue "Christ the Redeemer" than a skeleton model at the time being.) So far we have created the spine which is going to represent the support that the skeletal system gives to the body. We also have arms with hinges to demonstrate the joints that assist in allowing our arms on our body to move, with the help of the muscular system of course. Next week, we will finish constructing the rib cage out of cardboard, add it on, and may possibly create a skull, depending on how efficient we are. (Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. There was a "power outage" from the major storm we were having so it was dark in the room.)
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Final product: We have attached the rib cage, skull, and finished creating the lever to enable the arm to move. Because we had a little extra time, our group decided to put a lid on the skull to expose a brain inside to show the concept of the skeletal system protecting the internal organs even further. The heart that you can now see in the ribcage also has a string on the back of it to enable us to make it "pump" just for fun. (After taking the original pictures which are below on the left and right, we found that our model would rock every time we pulled on the strings. So, the day of the exhibition night, we added weights on either side of the base. To make it blend in more, we hid them behind last minute cut our hips. It can be seen in the image below in the middle.)
Human Body Project Reflection
There were both many challenges and many successes in the process of making your model. Some stuff worked and other stuff didn't on our final model. We were able to get all the functions of our model down plus a few fun additions such as the head lever and heart pump. But I wish we had somehow made it more complex in some way or make it more scientifically accurate. With that said, the assignment was to make a model, which ours was, and we had only limited resources to construct it so I think we did a fair job. My group didn't receive any negative feedback on Exhibition night. Only during one of our four presentations, was there any sort of judge to even have anything scientific input on our model. Even then, they just complimented on how clean it looks and how it demonstrates the skeletal system's functions in a clear and concise way and then proceeded to throw impossible questions and make critical comments at the other two groups in our room. As for the parents and other family members, they simply just smiled and said good job and nothing more. It was a nice no-stress night that went very smoothly for my group mates and I.