Name_______________________________________________________________________Period________________
Lab Activity: Building Skeletal Muscle
Objective: the purpose of this lab activity is to identify the different structures within a skeletal muscle by building
a model.
Materials:
-
Colored pencils, pipe cleaners, or string (only pick one) you will need 27 of each color (2 colors total)
Rubber Bands
Colored paper
Part 1- Building the Model
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Take 1 of each color of pencils (pipe cleaners or string) and fasten them together using a rubber band.
Repeat step 1 twenty-six more times.
Take 3 of each pair and fasten them together with a rubber band. Do this until you have created 9 bundles.
Take an orange piece of construction paper and wrap it around each of the 9 bundles.
Put all 9 of the orange bundles together by wrapping a piece of purple construction paper around them.
Finally, take a piece of yellow construction paper and wrap it around 3 the purple bundles.
When you are done, wrap the finished yellow bundle in saran wrap.
Part 2- Diagram
Fill out the diagram below using your textbook. As you are filling it out, think back to the model you just built to help you
complete the next part of the activity.
Name_______________________________________________________________________Period________________
Part 3- Model Analysis
1. In step 1, you put two colored pencils together. What do each of these colored pencils represent separately?
_______________________ and _______________________ which are 2 types of _______________________.
2. When you fastened the two pencils together, they became a ________________________.
3. In step 4, you wrapped an orange piece of paper around each of the 9 bundles you made in step 3. This paper
represents the _______________________________.
4. In making these 9 bundles surrounded by orange paper, you have created ____________________
____________________.
5. You took 3 of these bundles and wrapped a piece of purple construction paper around them. This purple
construction paper represents the _________________________________. Each bundle surround by the paper
creates a __________________________.
6. You then had 3 purple bundles. You took those bundles and wrapped them in yellow paper. The yellow paper
represented the __________________________. Collectively, you have just created a
_______________________ ________________________!
7. What does the saran wrap represent? __________________________________
8. What do you think the purpose of this tissue is?
9. What would appear at the end of this muscle that would allow it to attach to bone? _______________________
Reflection:
1. What did you think about this activity?
2. Do you understand the structure of the muscle?
3. Do you prefer activities like this one and the one we did yesterday where you are actively thinking in groups or do you
learn better doing something else? If so, what is it?