Anatomy students perform a skin lab in class this week

Mrs. Lawson’s Human Anatomy classes performed a lab in class this week!

Science labs are a great way to reinforce topics while engaging students in the application of the content being taught.  Students participated in this skin lab to test their stimulus receptors in the epidermis.

The lab was split up into three different parts. The first part involved the investigation of the location and function of cutaneous receptors. Each person got with their partner and completed this lab. One person had to close his or her eyes as the other placed a dot on the surface of their hand. The other person then had to try to put a dot on the same location. This tests the receptors in the skin, and shows the students that it may be harder than it looks. Sophomore Payton Dedeaux says, “I thought that it was going to be easy to find the mark, but I soon learned otherwise. I enjoyed this lab because it was very interesting to see that it was harder than it looked. It was also very helpful!”

The second part of the skin lab was the demonstration of adaptation of touch receptors. The students used coins to complete this section! In the third part, the students plotted the location of their sweat glands. They used graph paper and iodine to compare the sweat glands in the hand and in the arm. The purpose of this lab was to graph the distribution of sweat glands and to describe their function.

All of these labs required the students to recall and apply their knowledge from the chapter and they also gave the students an opportunity to learn and have fun!

Story by Julia Bruffey