We have been learning about the human body in science. We started by studying the cell to discover how it works. Then we went on to explore the skeletal system and the muscles to see how they operate. Dissecting a chicken leg allowed us to actually look at real bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage.
Once we saw how these vital parts operated together to allow movement for an animal, it was our turn to try to imitate nature. We were given an assortment of materials and were challenged to make a working model of a human arm. We checked the rubrics to see what was expected, and then started by constructing a prototype out of cardboard. We quickly found that this was more difficult than it looked! We solved problems as they came up and then had an Engineers' Meeting to share our models, our problems, and our solutions with our fellow engineers.
Creating the prototypes first helped us as we worked on our final models. These were made out of foam board. Though we all were given similar materials, we found that we came up with a variety of designs. We had fun with the project and gained a renewed respect for how well our bodies operate!
