Anatomy Object Lessons

Teaching big concepts through small demonstrations

Alicia McCracken & Marci Johnson

Basic Anatomy

• Directional terms/planes: pickle man, gummy bear

• Cell: Pizza, cookie, cake, jello mold

• Genetics: edible DNA

Digestive System

• Stomach bag• Potato Digestion• Eating a PB sandwich

Nervous• Orange peel

• The layers of the brain

• CSF: Egghead

• Double Stuffed Oreo• Vertebrae and disc

herniation

Circulatory

• Blood: Blood in a Jar• Blood Cells: cookies,

candies

• Hematocrit • Fruit juice and oil

Muscular

• Skeletal Muscles: Spaghetti• Chicken Wing dissection

Urinary System

• Kidney Filtration• Kidney stones science project

Skeletal System

• Chicken wing dissection• Chicken wing vinegar soak• Edible Bone

Respiratory

• Bottle diaphragm• Grape alveoli

Reproduction

• Gingerbread • fruit

Integumentary

• Snicker Skin

IDEAS????

Creating Blood in a Jar• Plasma – Caro syrup• Red blood cells – red hots• White blood cells – marshmallows• Platelets – sprinkles

• Do not make this too far in advanced as the dye fades off the candy into the syrup.

BACK

Egg Head

• Materials:• 1 glass jar with lid• Water• 1 egg• Directions:• Fill the jar ¾ full with water• Gently lower egg into the jar• Fill jar to the rim (surface tension should be the

only thing preventing the water from spilling)• Place lid on the jar (some water may spill)• Tighten lid and ask for a volunteer to shake the jar• The egg should not directly hit the sides of the jar

enough to break • Discuss how CSF protects our brain during impact

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Body System: NervousObjective: Demonstrate how the CSF protects the brain

during impact

What Makes Bones Strong?Dissolve the calcium carbonate to leave the collagenMATERIALS:

• Dried, clean chicken bone (a leg or wing bone)

• A glass• White vinegar

• DIRECTIONS:• Without breaking the bone, hold the bone

and try to bend it - don't force it to bend; or it will break! Notice how stiff the bone is.

• Place the chicken bone in the glass and fill it with vinegar.

• Let the bone soak for 2-3 days, then pour out the vinegar.

• Add fresh vinegar and let it soak for about 2 more days.

• After the 4th or 5th day of soaking, take the bone out and dry it off

Kidney Stones• MATERIALS:

• CALCITE STONES, 5 BABY FOOD JARS, COFFEE, TEA, CHOCOLATE ,COLA, WARMING LIGHTS

• kidney stone develops from crystals that separate in the urinary tract. Determine if caffeine plays a role in forming or preventing kidney stones. Using calcite stones to represent kidney stones break several stones to similar size and place into separate baby food jars. Add a liquid that contains caffeine in different concentrations such as cola, melted chocolate, tea, coffee to each jar and label the jars. Place a light over each jar to warm them to the temperature of your body (37 degrees Celsius). Observe for two months. During this time, add a small amount of hydrochloric acid to each jar to simulate the body's stomach acids. Did the caffeine solutions cause the calcite stones to shrink or have no effect

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Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_7980752_easy-kidney-science-projects.html#ixzz2rK0Szr26• BACK

Kidney Filtration• MATERIALS: SAND, WATER, JAR, FOOD COLORING, CHEESE CLOTH• The kidneys work together as the body's filtration system. An easy science project for any age is to

demonstrate how this works. Mix sand, water, and food coloring in a jar. Half fill another jar with water. Place cheese cloth over the top and slowly pour the sand mixture over it. The filter will allow the colored water through, leaving the sand behind. The water inside the jar changes color because of the food coloring. Dump the water and repeat the experiment adding more water to the sand mixture before pouring on the cheese cloth. The color of the sand and the filtered water will fade as new water is added. This demonstrates how the kidneys clean toxins from the blood.

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Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_7980752_easy-kidney-science-projects.html#ixzz2rK2FNrZS

• BACK

Digestion in a Bag• Students model both mechanical and

chemical digestion with simple materials.

• MATERIALS: a zip-loc bag, one or two crackers (saltines work well) and a small amount of clear soda.

• DIRECTIONS:• The crackers are placed in the bag. • Students smash the crackers to represent

mechanical digestion • A small amount of soda is added to the bag. • After observing for a  few moments, students

and squish the contents of the bag.  The soda contains acid, like your stomach does, which helps break down the food even further.  Once the food has been turned into a slurry, it is ready to be passed on to the intestines.

Why We Need Mechanical Digestion

• Materials: 3 jars, 1 large russet potato, vinegar, knife • Directions:• Cut the potato into three pieces. • Place one third in a chard• Cube one third and place in second jar• Shred the last third and place in third jar. • Pour a small amount of vinegar in each jar• Wait for 20 minutes and then observe results• BACK