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Theme: Sports Science

Title: Skeletal, Muscular, and Nervous Systems

Overview: The skeletal and muscular system enables the body to move. If you run, jump, or reach, this is a result of a muscle action. The brain controls all the body systems and organs. The brain communicates with the rest of the body through the spinal cord and the nerves. The nervous system gives information to all parts of the body about what to do and when to do it. When participating in sports, these 3 body systems work together in a seemingly effortless manner.

Grade Level: Grades 3-4

Subject Matter: Science

Duration: 4-5 class periods of 40 minutes each

National Standards Addressed:

Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspective

• Personal Health

Objectives:

• Students will name functions of the brain.

• Students will describe and name the functions of the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems.

• Students will describe how the 3 systems work together.

Materials:

• Computers with internet access

• Poster or Halloween movable skeleton

• Index cards, 5x7 (one for each pair of students)

• Popsicle sticks and rubber bands (one of each per child)

• Two table tennis paddles and balls

Procedure:

Day 1:

Teach the skeletal system.

• Hang up a poster of the skeletal system or a Halloween bendable skeleton. Ask children what they know about bones. Discuss any they know the name of. Discuss what they know of the functions of the skeletal system.

• Watch the video to learn more about the skeletal system.

(It is about 2 minutes in length.) There is also a good article here for children to read more about the bones for the research below.

• How the Body Works –



• Have children name any bones they learned from the video and any functions they learned (to protect organs was mentioned).

• Assign pairs of students a bone to learn more about. They can use websites listed. When finished they should write the name of the bone on a 5x7 index card and a fact or two they learned about it (femur, patella, rib cage, skull, clavicle, tibia, fibula, pelvis, vertebra, sternum, humerus, radius, ulna). Display the information card by the bone on the display skeleton or poster.

Skeletal System – Indianapolis Marion County Public Library



Skeletal System – Discovery Kids



Nature’s Best: The Human Body –



Day 2:

Muscular system

• Share bones and information learned on Day 1.

• Begin the muscular system. Ask students what they know about muscles. Do they know the names of any?

• Watch video on the muscular system. It is about 6 minutes in length.

How the Body Works –



• Ask students how many muscles there are in your body (over 600). Ask students the names of any muscles they learned.

• Show the pictures of the muscles and their names from this site. Point out to the class some of the common ones.

• Do an activity using muscles. Give each child a clothespin. See how many times they can squeeze it in 20 seconds with the right hand, then the left. What makes your fingers able to move? Did you squeeze more with the right side than the left? Why do think that is?

• Make a model. Give each child a popsicle stick and rubber band. The stick is to represent the bone. Put the rubber band around the popsicle stick to represent the muscle.

Day 3:

Teach the nervous system.

• The class will form a circle. The students will hold their hands in a cupped manner in front of them. The teacher will drop a message written on a note card into one of the students’ hands. The student passes the note to the student on the right without reading the message. He will pass it to his right, and so on. At some point the teacher will tap a student on the head to stop the message. That represents the brain. The student will read the message which gives a command such as ‘stand on one foot’, ‘clap your hands’, ‘cross your arms in front of you’… This student will pass the message back to the original student to perform the task on the card. Do several examples with different students stopping and starting the activity. Tell students that this is an example of how the nervous system works.

• Watch video on the brain and nervous system (about 4 minutes).

How the Body Works –



• See if the students can compare the nervous system to the note card activity we just did. (The teacher and student that stopped the passing of the message represent the brain. The children passing the message were the nerve cells. The student that started the message and then did what the message said was muscle connected to the nerves.)

• Have students in partners explore the following websites to gain more information on their own about the nervous system. Have them write down any new facts they learned about the brain and nervous system.

o Neuroscience for Kids – University of Washington / Eric. H. Chudler



o Nervous System –



o Nervous System – Discovery Kids



Day 4:

Today’s lesson ties the 3 systems together. It also discusses eye-hand coordination and sports participation.

• Share information the students learned yesterday about the nervous system.

• Ask them to think about the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems working together. Share any thoughts or ideas they have about this.

• Ask students what they know about ‘table tennis’.

• Then listen to POP #2899 Table Tennis Introduction. Listen to learn a new fact or two.

• Ask the class something they learned. Then get out 2 table tennis paddles and a ball. Demonstrate how to hit the ball on a long table with another child. Have the class observe the 3 systems working together. Discuss.

• Use the following website to read about the skeletal and muscular system working together. Then click on the information about the central nervous system.

• Have the children, on the computers, do some hand-eye coordination activities.

Hand-Eye Coordination Games for Kids –



Test Your Reaction Time –

• When not on the computer, each student should write a paragraph about how the body systems interact when you are hitting a baseball with a bat. (Your eyes are watching the ball pitched to you. Then the brain in the nervous system tells your muscles to swing at the ball. The bones are giving your arms and legs their shape and supporting your body as you stand at the plate and run. You swing the bat with your muscles and hit it. The nerve cells send the message to the brain that you hit the ball and your brain tells your muscles to run to first base.)

Additional Resources

Web Image Galleries

Brain Explorer Gallery – Lundbeck Insitute



Web Links

Sport and Children - Better Health Channel (Australia)



Neuroscience for Kids – University of Washington / Eric. H. Chudler



Muscular System – Indianapolis Marion County Public Library



The Secret Life of the Brain – PBS



Welcome to Muscles –



Front View of Muscles – BBC



Nervous System and Senses – University of Cincinnati / Clermont College



Neuromuscular System – Better Health Channel (Australia)



Human Anatomy Online –



Hand-Eye Coordination – Encyclopedia of Children’s Health



Fine Motor Skills – Board of Studies (New South Wales)



Audio

Sport and Children (audio fact sheet – see audio icon on right) - Better Health Channel (Australia)



Video

How the Body Works (various movies) –



The Nervous System: A Closer Look at Neurons (search for more body systems related videos in search field at top of page) –



Animation / Graphics

Human Body Interactives – BBC



The Eskeletons Project (comparative anatomy interactive) – University of Texas



Just For Kids

The Muscle Page for Kids – Education World



Welcome to Muscles –



Your Bones –



Skeletal System –



Other

Skeleton Activity Page – Mrs. Mitchell’s Virtual School



Build a Skeleton – Jeff Rule’s Dynamic HTML Demos



Body Parts Word Search – Education World



Special thanks to the following scientists for their help with this project:

Pulse of the Planet Programs: #2899 “Table Tennis: Intro”

Rufford Harrison

Chairman

International Table Tennis Federation

*Information current at the time of interview

Header Image

Name: Neuromuscular Junction General

Credit: DAKE GNU

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