Anatomy & Physiology classes conduct a bone lab

Students in Mrs. Lawson’s Anatomy & Physiology classes conducted several activities at human bone lab stations last week. Students learned to contrast the roles of inorganic salts and organic matrix (collagen fibers) in providing flexibility or tensile strength and hardness or compressional strength to bone. They compared the relative contributions of bone salts and collagen fibers in the bone matrix. Students also examined the effects of heat and acid on bones, and they examined and sketched bone tissue from under the microscopes.

On the insights she hoped her students would learn from this lab, SPCHS A&P Teacher Mary Lawson said, “…for the students to realize what makes bone such a unique substance; for them to see how inorganic salts give bone its compressional strength and hardness, but yet the organic collagen fibers give it flexibility and tensile strength.”

She continues, “[Anatomy & Physiology] is so relevant to them because they are interested in their bodies and how they function and what can go wrong, along with all the fun labs and hands-on activities we do that reinforce what we’ve learned about the body and its structures. I love when they come back from the doctor or after having a scan done, and they are so excited that they knew the parts or what the doctor was talking about because they learned it in class — they see how real-life this is.”

Check out photos from the lab below!