Introduction

The human body consists of eleven organ systems, integumentary, skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive. All of these systems work together like an interconnecting highway to provide and sustain life for each individual. Incorrect functioning of any system can cause the overall health of an individual to decline. The system that we are going to learn about now is the skeletal system.

The Task

Children of all ages are learning about various human anatomy systems, beginning in elementary school. Through a partnership with one of the local elementary schools, your class has been given the opportunity to teach the fourth grade classes about the skeletal system. As there are six fourth grade classes, you will be split into groups of five. Each group will create a children’s book to teach your assigned class about the skeletal system and a fun vocabulary worksheet to complete afterwards. Following the presentation each of you will write a two-page reaction paper. The paper must include your experience researching the topic, your feelings of the presentation, and if you enjoyed this method of learning over more book-centered approaches. Individual groups are responsible for:

1. Researching information on the skeletal system, including its functions, components, types, and interesting facts, via the WWW

2. Create a children’s book containing the information that you learned about the skeletal system

3. Vocabulary worksheet

4. Group presentations

5. Reaction paper

Process

In your assigned groups, you will research information on the skeletal system, using the Internet, and take notes in your learning logs. You might want to write down descriptions of the different types of bones, definitions to unfamiliar terms, and URL addresses for other websites if you need further clarification on any skeletal system subtopic. Searching other sites for more information is not a requirement, but groups may choose to do so on their own. Further research, however, is not required and will not count against you if it is not pursued. After you have thoroughly read about the skeletal system and understand the material, your group will begin to make your book. I will provide your group with the materials necessary for making your book. However, as it is a children’s book take into consideration the following:

1. What material is suitable for fourth graders

2. The style of writing, both grammar, in particularly sentence formation, and vocabulary

3. Amount and relevance of pictures

Your book must contain the following items:

1. A colorful front cover with title

2. Title page with title, group members names, Anatomy and Physiology, and our school name

3. Information on the functions of the skeletal system, types of bones, bone composition, and any interesting facts you may want to include

4. Relevant hand drawn and colored pictures, no less than one and no more than two per two pages

After your group has completed your book you will create a vocabulary worksheet to reinforce some of the new vocabulary in your book. You may wish to do a crossword puzzle, a word search, fill in the blank, or any type of worksheet you wish to use. The worksheets must:

1. Require the students to use the information they learned from listening to your book

2. Contain ten vocabulary words

When your group has decided on which worksheet to use see me to check that it will fit the criteria above. If you do not inform me on which kind of worksheet your group is using and it does not fit the criteria above your group will lose points.

We will be visiting the fourth grade class next Tuesday during class time to present our books, which gives you four days to create and prepare your presentation. Participation on this trip is included in your grade and the group grade; so try not to miss class on that day. I will be monitoring all of the group presentations, slipping from room to room. I will also be getting feedback from the classroom teachers on your presentations. For homework next Tuesday will be writing your reaction papers. This will be an individual assignment and will be due the following day, Wednesday, in class.

Your paper must include:

1. Your experience researching the topic

2. Your feelings on your group presentation

3. Whether or not you enjoyed this way of learning and why

4. In your opinion, should I use this activity again with other classes

Resources

The Skeletal System – This website contains information on all the aspects of the skeletal system needed to create your children’s book. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/humananatomy/skeletal/skeletalsystem.html

Body Quest – This site is a mini webquest which contains information on the skeletal system for children ages 11 to 16. http://library.thinkquest.org/10348/

The Big Story on Bones – Your group may want to search this site, which is geared towards children, to help you with writing your book. http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/body/bones_SW.html

Yahoo – This is a site that your groups can use if you wish to find further information on the skeletal system for use in your presentation. http://www.yahoo.com

Metacrawler – This is a meta search site that can also be used to find more information on the skeletal system. It searches general sites such as Yahoo, Google, Teoma, Ask Jeeves, among many. http://www.metacrawler.com

Evaluation

Each individual will receive two grades for this activity that will be averaged to determine your overall score. The first score will be the children’s book process and presentation and the second will be the individual reaction papers. The book process and presentation will be graded as a group assessment, so every group member should play an active role. The reaction papers will be graded individually.

Presentation Rubric (Group assessment)

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Exemplary 3	Score
Presentation of Book	The book is missing several of the requirements as described in the process section	The book is missing a few pictures or are irrelevant, title page does not contain the specified information, or the title is missing from the cover	Book contains a colorful cover with title, a title page, suitable material, and hand drawn and colored pictures are described in the process section
Style of writing	Vocabulary, grammar, and material are below or above the intended grade level	There are some deviations from the grade level for vocabulary, grammar, and material	Vocabulary, grammar, and material are at the appropriate grade level
Grammar	The book contains many grammatical errors	The book contains less than four grammatical errors	There are no grammatical errors in the book
Worksheet	Contains more than three vocabulary words that are irrelevant to your book	Contains less than three vocabulary words irrelevant to your book	Contains ten vocabulary words relevant to your book
Presentation	Was disorganized and group was not prepared	Somewhat disorganized, some group members were not well prepared	Was well organized and group members were prepared
Participation	Not all members participated in the research process and presentation	Half of the group members did not participate in the research process and/or presentation	All members showed an active role in the research process and presentation

Reaction Paper Rubric (individual assessment)

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Exemplary 3	Score
Relevant content	Content is irrelevant to the topics proposed in the process section or very little content is provided	Content is missing or irrelevant to the topics listed in the process section	Content is provided and relevant for all paper requirements listed in the process section
Structure	Paper contains no transition between two unrelated concepts	Paper is missing several transitions between unrelated concepts	The organization of the paper flows smoothly
Spelling	Paper has more than four spelling errors	There are less than four spelling errors	The paper is free of all spelling errors
Grammar	Paper contains more than four grammatical errors	Paper contains less than four grammatical errors	Paper contains no grammatical errors
Length	Paper is considerably under or over the page limit.	Paper is over or under page length by 1/3 of a page	Paper is of appropriate length