How to Apply Criteria
for Equitable Life Science Activities
EXAMPLE: Laboratory exercises on muscle, bone, and
cartilage.
Typically, laboratory activities on muscle, bone, and cartilage
consist of:
 |
observing microscope pictures
in science books or prepared microscope slides of bone, cartilage, and skeletal (striated),
smooth, and cardiac muscle; |
|
drawing pictures of what is seen
in books or through the microscope; and |
|
answering some questions about
the differences in structure among the three kinds of muscle
and between bone and cartilage. |
The following suggestions apply the criteria listed in the
"Activity Examples" section below, to a typical muscle,
bone, and cartilage lab activity to make it a little more exciting
and more relevant to all students.
1. Teacher Is Enthusiastic and Has
Equal Expectations for All Students.
Always do your own "attitude check" to assure that
you don't bring any preconceived notions about who will and will
not be interested in a particular subject or activity. Be prepared
to put in extra effort to get uninterested students involved.
2. Written Materials and Verbal Instructions
Use Gender-free and Race-free Language.
Most recently published texts are careful not refer to students
as "he" or to humans as "man," but it's always
wise to check. Be sure in your instructions and discussions to
use both male and female examples when talking about students,
scientists, etc.
3. Relevance of Activity to Students'
Lives Is Stressed.
Muscle, bone, and cartilage labs usually focus heavily on structure
and function and how these relate to the organism as a whole.
The activities in the "Activity Examples" section below
can help make connections between the standard lab activity and
real life experiences.
4. Hands-on Experience Is Required
for All Students.
See the activities in the "Activity Examples" section"
below. It is critical that all students get their hands on the
materials. Passive observation is no substitution for active
involvement! Be sure that female students are not assigned the
role of "recorder" or note-taker and, consequently,
miss the hands-on experience.
5. Small-group Work Is Used.
Each activity suggested in the "Activity Examples"
section" below is suitable for small group work. Also, try
using small groups to work on some of the projects typically
suggested at the end of lab activities. Examples include: reasons
for and treatment of athletic knee injuries; uses of cartilage
and bone transplants or implants in craniofacial surgery; how
the body repairs broken limbs; and why newborn babies have "soft
spots" on their skulls. Each of these topics could form
the basis of small group projects.
6. Activities Develop Science Process
Skills and
7. Activities Do Not Demand One Right Answer.
Most labs on muscle, cartilage, and bone rely on observation,
description, and rote memorization. Some of the activities in
the "Activities Examples" section below (such as Activity
#4) can take students one step further to include active experimentation.
8. Do Not Assume That All Students
Are Familiar with the Materials To Be Used.
Since most students are familiar with these animal structures,
this usually is not a problem with this laboratory. However,
when introducing different equipment (such as a ratchet and pulley),
be sure that female students in the class get a chance to use
it and are encouraged to do so. Also, be careful when using an
analogy to describe how a muscle or tendon works; if students
aren't familiar with the analogy you're using, they will not
get the point! If students are assigned to further research activities,
don't assume, for example, that students have access to and/or
contact with: a family doctor to learn about the treatment of
broken bones (some students may receive medical treatment through
community clinics); or community libraries (students may have
to take care of younger siblings and may not be able to do after-school
research at a library). You may need to assist students in locating
and contacting resource personnel or materials.
9. Career Information Relevant to
the Activity Is Presented and
10. Examples of Female and Minority Role Models Are Included
in the Follow-up.
There are many careers related to bone, muscle, and cartilage
because of their connection to medicine, athletics, and physical
therapy. Relevant careers include: M.D.'s in sports medicine,
orthopedic medicine, plastic surgery, pathology, radiology, and
obstetrics; athletic trainers or physical therapists; biomedical
engineers who conduct computer analyses of movement and stress
or design prosthetic devices for bone repair; and scientists
who do research on a wide variety of subjects including exercise,
the normal development of bones and muscles, muscular dystrophy,
cancer, osteoporosis, and "brittle bones."
It would be interesting to follow-up by bringing trainers
of gymnasts, ice skaters and basketball, volleyball, or soccer
players into the classroom to discuss how modern sports training
works to protect muscle, bone, and cartilage from injury. Or
invite a horse trainer or veterinarian to describe how horses
are trained and treated to protect them from injuries. Invite
a local orthopedic surgeon, radiologist, and physical therapist
to discuss the identification and treatment of injuries to bone
and cartilage in children and adults. A pathologist, anatomist,
physiologist, or veterinarian could bring sample tissues or X-rays
to class. Of course, you will want to include role models for
all of the students in your class over a period of time.
11. Assessment Techniques Are Varied
to Account for Different Learning Styles.
Limit your focus on rote memorization of facts and try to assess
concept understanding. Over the course of a grading period, a
student portfolio might include, for example, not only grades
on quizzes, exams, and homework, but also group projects, student
reflections on what he/she has learned, assessments of gains
in laboratory skills, and student hypotheses for future scientific
studies.
Activity Examples
- Bring in some examples of skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle
that students see at the grocery store. For example, students
can easily pull skeletal muscle fibers from a cooked chicken
breast or small piece of boiled beef while cardiac muscle from
a beef heart does not pull apart into discrete fibers. Similarly,
pieces of gut tissue (available from a local butcher or meat
packing house) help students put the slides of smooth muscle
tissue into perspective. The grocery is also a good source of
bone and cartilage...in particular, the joints in chicken pieces
provide excellent (and relatively cheap) sources of connected
cartilage and ligaments, so students can see the importance of
having both hard and soft "bones." When handling raw
tissue, students should use examination gloves, especially if
they have cuts on their fingers. Also, students should wash hands
carefully with warm water and soap after handling cooked or raw
tissues.
- Set up a ratchet and pulley and let students try it to see
how striated muscle works. Even a tire jack could be used to
demonstrate the ratchet mechanism of skeletal muscle. This is
also a good opportunity for students to use a tool that they
seldom encounter.
- Use a cake-decorating tube (or other long, soft plastic tube)
filled with modeling clay or gelatin to show how contractile
muscles push digesting food through the gut. If students are
familiar with farm animals, a good analogy is squeezing milk
from a cow's teat.
- Students may construct a model of the human knee joint using
cardboard tubes, plastic straws, rubber bands, tape, and other
common materials. They can then hypothesize and test how the
arrangement of different muscles and tendons will allow movement
of the knee and leg via contraction and expansion of the muscle
tissue. They can also see where cartilage cushions the impact
points within the knee joint.
This resource guide was developed by Marsha Lakes Matyas,
Ph.D., for initial publication by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington,
DC and adapted for publication by the American Physiological
Society. It is based upon a workshop developed by Matyas, A.
L. Gardener, and C. L. Mason, presented at the 1987 annual meeting
of the National Association of Biology Teachers in Cincinnati,
OH and on the following paper: Matyas, M.A., Mason, C.B., Gardener, A.A. (1989). Equity, excellence, and 'just plain good teaching.'
Am. Biol. Teach. 51(2), pages 72-77. |
