3.34 The Skeletal System Lesson
The skeletal system gives structure to the body and allows movement. Learn facts about bones and discover the role of the skeletal system in the body’s support, movement, and protection.
Some Facts About Bones
Did you know that your bones make most of your blood cells? Did you know that you wouldn’t be able to hear if you didn’t have bones? These facts might seem weird, but they’re true!
Underneath the hard surface of your bones is a soft substance called bone marrow. Bone marrow is the place that most of your blood cells are made.
Meanwhile, your ears contain the three smallest bones of your body. They transfer sounds from your eardrum to your inner ear so that you can hear. These are just a couple of the facts you’ll learn as we explore the functions of the skeletal system.
1. Main points:
The text reveals fascinating facts about the skeletal system, highlighting the role of bones in blood cell production and hearing, and mentions bone marrow as a key component in blood cell formation.
2. Questions:
- Content Analysis: How do bones contribute to blood cell production?
- Linguistic Analysis: Why does the text begin with intriguing questions about bones and hearing?
- Thematic Analysis: What is the function of the smallest bones in our body?
3. Further Discussion:
- If bones have such important functions, how do you think taking care of them might affect our overall health?
4. Answers:
- Content Analysis: "Underneath the hard surface of your bones is a soft substance called bone marrow. Bone marrow is the place that most of your blood cells are made."
- Linguistic Analysis: The text uses intriguing questions like "Did you know that your bones make most of your blood cells?" to capture interest and introduce the topic in an engaging way.
- Thematic Analysis: "Your ears contain the three smallest bones of your body. They transfer sounds from your eardrum to your inner ear so that you can hear."
The Skeletal System
Your skeletal system is all about bones. When you’re born, you have over 300 bones. By the time you become an adult, the number of bones in your body drops to 206.
But you don’t lose bones as you get older. Babies just have more bones because their bones haven’t fused yet. At birth, your bones have soft patches of cartilage. This cartilage allows your bones to grow. When you’re an adult you are done growing, so the bones fuse together.
1. Main points:
The text describes the skeletal system, noting that humans are born with over 300 bones which reduce to 206 in adulthood due to the fusion of bones as a person grows, facilitated by cartilage.
2. Questions:
- Content Analysis: Why does the number of bones in the human body decrease from birth to adulthood?
- Thematic Analysis: What role does cartilage play in the growth and development of bones?
- Socio-cultural Analysis: How does understanding bone growth and development help us in health and science education?
3. Further Discussion:
- Considering the process of bones fusing over time, what do you think this tells us about how our bodies change as we grow?
4. Answers:
- Content Analysis: "Babies just have more bones because their bones haven’t fused yet… When you’re an adult you are done growing, so the bones fuse together."
- Thematic Analysis: "At birth, your bones have soft patches of cartilage. This cartilage allows your bones to grow."
- Socio-cultural Analysis: Understanding bone growth and development is essential for health and science education as it explains a fundamental aspect of human biology and physiology, which is crucial for both medical professionals and individuals to make informed decisions about health and wellness.
Support & Movement
Your bones support your body, kind of like the framework of a house. Did you ever see a house being built? One of the first things they do is build the frame by putting up the beams for the walls and the roof. This framework gives the house its basic shape, just like your bones give your body its basic shape.
Joints connect the bones together to help them move. Every bone in your body is connected to another bone, except one: the hyoid bone sits by itself just below your chin. It acts as an anchor for your tongue. Can you touch your tongue to your nose? That wide amount of movement is thanks, in part, to your hyoid bone!
The bones and joints of your skeletal system allow your body to bend and move, but you don’t tell your bones to move. Muscles attach to your bones. When you tell a muscle to contract, it gets shorter and pulls on the bone.
But your muscles don’t attach directly to your bones. Muscles attach to bones by strong cords called tendons. To test your reflexes, your doctor taps the tendon below your knee. If your reflexes are working, your leg kicks.
1. Main points:
The text illustrates how the skeletal system, comprising bones and joints, supports and shapes the body. It explains the unique role of the hyoid bone and how muscles, connected to bones via tendons, facilitate movement.
2. Questions:
- Content Analysis: What function do tendons serve in the skeletal system?
- Thematic Analysis: How does the hyoid bone contribute to the movement of the tongue?
- Linguistic Analysis: Why does the text use the analogy of a house’s framework to describe the function of bones?
3. Further Discussion:
- Considering the interconnected roles of bones, muscles, and tendons, what might happen if one of these components is injured or weakened?
4. Answers:
- Content Analysis: "Muscles attach to bones by strong cords called tendons."
- Thematic Analysis: "The hyoid bone… acts as an anchor for your tongue… That wide amount of movement is thanks, in part, to your hyoid bone!"
- Linguistic Analysis: The text uses the house framework analogy ("Your bones support your body, kind of like the framework of a house") to help visualize how bones provide structural support and shape to the body, making the concept more relatable and understandable.
Protection
One more important function of your skeletal system is protection. Some of your bones form around delicate organs to keep them safe. Your rib cage protects your heart and lungs. Your spine protects your spinal cord. Your skull protects your brain, kind of like a built-in helmet.
Your skeletal system is an important system of your body. You can keep it healthy by exercising. Exercise increases the number of bone cells, which makes your bones stronger.
1. Main points:
The text highlights the protective role of the skeletal system, mentioning how the rib cage, spine, and skull safeguard vital organs. It also emphasizes the importance of exercise in strengthening bones by increasing bone cells.
2. Questions:
- Content Analysis: What organs are protected by the rib cage, spine, and skull?
- Thematic Analysis: How does exercise benefit the skeletal system?
- Linguistic Analysis: Why does the text compare the skull to a "built-in helmet"?
3. Further Discussion:
- Given that exercise strengthens bones, what other activities or habits might contribute to a healthy skeletal system?
4. Answers:
- Content Analysis: "Your rib cage protects your heart and lungs. Your spine protects your spinal cord. Your skull protects your brain."
- Thematic Analysis: "Exercise increases the number of bone cells, which makes your bones stronger."
- Linguistic Analysis: The text compares the skull to a "built-in helmet" to illustrate its protective function in a relatable and understandable way, emphasizing the skull’s role in safeguarding the brain.
Lesson Summary
Okay, let’s review what we’ve learned. Your skeletal system makes blood cells, supports your body, allows movement and protects delicate organs. Bone marrow is the place that most of your blood cells are made. Finally, muscles attach to bones by strong cords called tendons.
The skeletal system is certainly complex, but those are the three main important things you should have taken away from this lesson.