Mrs. Lawson’s A&P classes participate in a nerve lab

On Monday, January 14, students in Mrs. Lawson’s Human Anatomy and Physiology classes participated in a nerve lab. For each chapter covered, Mrs. Lawson’s students complete at least one lab. This chapter, the students are studying the nervous system. The purpose of this lab was to test reaction time and reflexes.

The Anatomy and Physiology students tested reaction time using playing cards. The students were split up into groups and given directions for the lab. Each group had a dealer, a timer, and a shuffler. One person in each group tested their reaction time. The first test was just dealing the cards into a pile. This test was very easy, because it did not take a lot of thinking. The second test was to separate the cards into a black and red pile. The shuffler shuffled the cards to make sure the red and black cards were not together. The final test was separating the cards into the four different suits. This test was the most challenging because it took more thinking to separate the cards into four different categories.

The reaction times were recorded and analyzed by the students. The results proved that the more information that had to be taken in, the slower the reaction times would be. This lab was exciting for the students because they were eager to beat their old reaction times. The second part of the lab was to test the patellar reflexes. The students and their partners got together and tried to find each others’ reflexes. These labs successfully taught the students more about the human body.

Photos can be viewed below.

Story by Sarah Alexander