i n q u i ry & i n v e s t i g at i o n
Design Projects in K r i s t i n P o l i z zot to
V
ery often, some type of writing assignment
is required in college entry-level Human Anatomy and
Physiology courses. This assignment can be anything from
an essay to a research paper on the literature, focusing on
a faculty-approved topic of interest to the student. As educators who teach Human Anatomy and Physiology at an
urban community college, we believe it is important to provide students with an assignment that challenges not only
their knowledge of the subject, but also their imaginations
(McGraw, 2004b). To achieve this goal, we assign Design
Projects in Human Anatomy and Physiology.
Background
Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn,
New York, is one of six community colleges in The City
University of New York. In the Kingsborough Department
of Biological Sciences, a two-semester sequence of courses
in Human Anatomy and Physiology is required of students
majoring in one of the Allied Health Science fields, such as
Pre-Physician Assistant, Pre-Physical Therapy, Pre-Nursing,
Pre-Occupational Therapy, and so on.
The first semester includes study of anatomical terminology, basic chemistry, the metric system, the cell, tissues,
and the skeletal, muscular, nervous, and endocrine systems.
The second semester focuses on the digestive, cardiovascular, respiratory, immune, excretory, and reproductive systems. In each semester, one writing assignment is required
for successful completion of the course. The assignment can
be a review of the literature or an alternate of the instructor’s
choosing. This is where we opt to assign a Design Project.
The First Semester
It has been our experience that first semester students
of Human Anatomy and Physiology are often overwhelmed
with the volume and complexity of material they are
required to learn. Students sometimes express that the
material is “boring” and dry. To add some spark to the class,
Kristin Polizzotto (Kristin.Polizzotto@kbcc.cuny.edu) is Assistant
Professor, and Mary T. Ortiz (mortiz@kinsborough.edu) is Professor,
both in the Department of Biological Sciences, Kingsborough
Community College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY
11235.
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& Physiology
The American Biology Teacher, Volume 70, No. 4, april 2008
M a r y T. O r t i z
we have assigned one of several design projects to challenge
our students and to help them get a handle on the course
content.
Design Project 1: New Organelle for the Cell
A portion of the course is devoted to the study of the
cell, the basic unit of life. The cell is examined in general,
and the structure and function of each organelle is studied
in some detail. Aside from traditional testing on this topic,
we wanted another way to ascertain whether our students
really understood the workings of the cell. Hence, our first
design assignment was born. The assignment is to design
a new and different organelle for the typical human cell.
The student must name his/her organelle, fully describe
its structure and function, how it interacts with other
organelles of the cell, how it will improve the cell, and what
potential problems this new organelle may impose on the
cell. An accompanying diagram of the new organelle and of
the organelle’s location in the cell is also a requirement, as
well as each student’s opinion of the assignment.
Over the years, we have been taken aback by the creativity of our students. For example, one student designed the
“Michelobia.” The student had a taste for beer, and thought
it would be wonderful if she could enjoy it without getting
drunk. This organelle had detoxifying properties to allow
cells to process beer and prevent the ill effects of alcohol.
Another student felt like he never had time to eat properly.
He thought it would be wonderful if he, like plants, could
make his own food. So, he designed a chloroplast-like organelle to do the job.
Design Project 2: New System of
Measurement
Although this topic is not always included in Anatomy
and Physiology courses, at Kingsborough (where this is an
entry-level course), students must comprehend the international system if they are to understand standard physiological data.
The metric system can be a challenging topic for students who have spent their lives up to this point immersed
in the English system. An innovative approach to understanding the metric system is to assign a design project
where each student must create a completely new system of
measurement, including units for length, mass and volume, and
explain how these units relate to the metric system with relevant
examples. In order for each student to complete this design project, he or she must first understand the metric system. Initially, it
seems a monumental task for the students, but as they work on
their system, they gradually find their understanding of metrics
increases. Allowing the students to name their system (along
with the units involved), to explain how they came up with their
ideas, and to indicate whether their system would be a better
replacement for existing systems, provides them with an opportunity for added creativity and fun. Many students name their
systems after themselves or someone they know. For example,
the hypothetical student John Doe may create the “Doe System
of Measurement.” The basic unit in his system may be the “doe,”
which is equivalent to the length of the student’s index finger. A
certain number of “does” equals a “john,” and a “john” is equivalent to one meter.
Design Project 3: New Element
This design project is aimed at increasing knowledge of
basic chemistry, including the structure of atoms, and the role
of electrons in forming bonds. This project involves naming a
“newly-discovered” element, describing its physical properties
(melting and boiling points, state at room temperature, etc.),
and describing its chemical properties (atomic number and
mass, bonding properties, etc.). Part of this assignment involves
explaining how they came up with the idea for this “element” and
providing their opinion of the assignment. Again, many students
tend to name their newly-discovered element after themselves. A
student named Jane Smith might name her element “smithium”
and describe it with a boiling point of 0˚ C and a freezing point
of -100˚ C. She should also include the valence of one atom of
her element, its affinity for bonding with other atoms, and what
kind of bonds it is likely to form (covalent, polar or nonpolar,
ionic, hydrogen). Understanding the behavior of atoms and
molecules is vital to understanding cellular physiology, and this
project can help students to comprehend the necessary chemical
knowledge.
Design Project 4: Cell Survival in Various
Environments
In this design project, each student is given (assigned or
drawn by lottery) a hypothetical environment in which a generic
human cell will be placed, and the student has to decide if the
cell could survive in that environment, why or why not, and
if not, how the cell could be modified so that it might be able
to survive. Sample environments may include: microgravity
(weightlessness), a soap dish, the tundra, in a refrigerator, in a
dry incubator, in a test tube of nutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates), in a greenhouse, on a kitchen stove, on the floor of a
hospital operating room, on a mountain top, on a windowsill,
on asphalt, or in seawater. Each of these environments presents
a unique set of hostile conditions that would make survival for
the cell difficult, if not impossible. Most students realize that the
generic human cell could not survive on its own in their assigned
environment. The task then is to redesign the cell so that it could
survive. For example, in the case of the cell placed in seawater,
one suggestion was made to modify the cell membrane with new
specialized channels to prevent water loss in this hypertonic
environment. In the case of the cell placed in a tundra environment, it was once suggested that the cell membrane consist of
additional lipid layers or material to better insulate the cell from
cold temperatures. In each case, an understanding of general cell
biology is pre-requisite for designing necessary changes to insure
survival.
Design Project 5: More Effective Joints
In the first semester of Human Anatomy and Physiology,
students spend significant time memorizing the names and
positions of bones and muscles. While the information is vital,
this task can be difficult and tedious. One way to motivate the
students is to have them evaluate the design of human joints.
For this project, students choose common joint injuries related
to sports or other human movement, such as a torn knee ligament from skiing or a rotator cuff injury from playing baseball.
Instructors could provide a list or allow students to come up
with their own ideas. After selecting an injury, students must
design a joint that would reduce the frequency of such injuries.
Each project should begin with a description of the type of
movement required for the selected activity (e.g., knee flexion/
extension, leg adduction/abduction). The student then describes
in detail a common injury sustained during this activity, and
proposes design features that may prevent or lessen damage
to the joint. Each project should also include a diagram of the
newly-designed joint, with any novel anatomical features named
appropriately.
This design project may benefit students in several ways.
First, as with any design project, the opportunity to be creative
and to engage with the material improves learning and retention
of the core concepts (Price, 1995; Shakes, 1995). Second, by
designing a new joint, students are encouraged to think about
how muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels, etc. must work
together, rather than to simply memorize each anatomical name
as a separate entity. Finally, the assignment engages students
by giving them the opportunity to integrate their interests (e.g.,
medicine, nursing, physical therapy, sports) with the course content. This opportunity helps to create interest in a subject that
may otherwise seem monotonous.
The Second Semester
Design Project 6: New Organ System
By the time their final semester of Human Anatomy and
Physiology has arrived, students have come a long way in their
understanding of the body. At this point in their academic
careers, they can be challenged with more sophisticated design
projects (Leventon, 2002; Constans, 2003; Langer & Tirrell,
2004). After having studied each of the 11 organ systems in some
detail, now is the time to present this challenge: Design a new
additional organ system for the human body. Each student must
name his/her organ system, briefly describe what it is and does,
fully describe its anatomy and physiology and include a diagram,
explain how it interacts with the other organ systems, indicate
whether it could actually exist and why, and provide his/her
opinion of the assignment.
Some of the many interesting ideas students have come up
with over the years include the following:
1. A Gill System
This system provides gills for allowing breathing under
water to prevent drowning.
2. Weight Control Glands
As an addition to the gastrointestinal system, these
glands react when they sense the body is overweight.
They increase metabolism and work in conjunction with
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the thyroid and adrenal glands to release enzymes and
hormones to reduce the superfluous adipose tissue.
3. The Pharmogenetic System
The organs of this system produce medications via
a process called “pharmogenesis.” An organ, the MM (Medicine Maker), recognizes specific diseases and
the drugs to treat them, then produces these drugs to
combat the disease via specialized cells called “pharmocytes.”
4. Oven Man
The student who created this system did not like to cook.
She felt that if you could place food in your mouth, have
the necessary organs to cook it there and swallow it, her
life would be much easier!
5. Verde Integumentary System
This project was similar to the chloroplast-like organelle
designed by a student in the first semester (see Design
Project 1). One student designed a second skin system, complete with cells containing chloroplasts. One
problem suggested with this new system was that other
people may have difficulty accepting a green human.
Design Project 7: Performing Effective CPR in
Microgravity
One of the authors has always had a fascination with
manned space flight. Microgravity, more commonly known as
weightlessness, presents a plethora of physiological obstacles
that humans must tackle to survive in space. In the absence
of gravity, blood distribution changes, equilibrium is affected,
vision may be altered, visceral organs shift. These are just a few
of the many changes that occur.
Dealing with medical emergencies in space will be difficult,
to say the least. One cannot simply call for an ambulance to go
to the hospital. The emergency must be dealt with on the spot
in an alien environment. The prospects can be ominous indeed.
What if an astronaut goes into respiratory or cardiac arrest while
on a space mission? Keeping all of this in mind, we came up with
a design project to have the students find an effective way to perform CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) in microgravity.
As many students are not familiar with space flight or microgravity, or may not yet be trained in CPR, it is necessary to present the conditions of the problem in some detail. To accomplish
this, a mannequin is brought into class and a CPR demonstration is provided, along with an explanation of how and why CPR
works on Earth. It is stressed that gravity helps to play an important role in the success of this life-saving technique. Design plans
and specifications for the U.S. Space Shuttle are also presented
to the class so that students may study the physical environment
and constraints. Printed reference materials are provided to each
student (Joels & Kennedy, 1988; Hazinski et al., 2006).
Once students realize the difficulty in dealing with the problems of microgravity, they begin to integrate human anatomy
and physiology principles with their new knowledge of CPR
and weightlessness in order to solve the problem. It presents a
real challenge, one that has a practical application and engages
problem-solving skills (Ottino, 2004).
Student Reactions & Feedback
When the design assignments are first presented to the
class, there is often an unusual silence. At first the students think
you’re kidding, or that you’re totally crazy. Invariably, one brave
soul will speak up and ask, “What do you mean by this? I don’t
understand the assignment. Can you explain this to us? Can you
give us an example?” Many are overwhelmed and have no idea
where to start. However, encouraging them to have fun and to
be creative, along with some open discussion, will eventually get
them thinking. Once discussion begins and the instructor provides an example, such as designing the anatomical structures
to allow a human to fly, students begin to realize that they can
use their own creativity to come up with an appropriate idea
(McGraw, 2004b). It is useful to require the instructor’s approval
of students’ ideas so that they each come up with something
unique to work on.
This type of project requires some time for thought. Usually,
a month is sufficient for students to imagine and create a design.
One of the most difficult issues is that they won’t find their ideas
in a book, a journal, or on the Internet. This may be very alien for
them, although in terms of assessing students’ understanding of
a topic, it is useful to assign something that cannot be “found,”
but must come entirely from the students’ own thinking and
analysis.
The benefits of this type of assignment have been described
through informal feedback from the students themselves during both laboratory and lecture sessions. Most students express
positive attitudes toward the design project. They often say they
were initially put off by it, but that as they thought about it over
time, they actually enjoyed the experience, and gained a better
understanding of the relevant anatomy and physiology of the
real systems. Often students have commented that although at
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The American Biology Teacher, Volume 70, No. 4, april 2008
first they thought the assignments were bizarre, they found the
experience really helped them. For example, the students had
to understand the role of each organelle in the cell to be able
to describe how their new organelle would interact with them.
Similarly, in order to integrate the function of a new organ system, students would need to understand the function of existing
systems. In addition to encouraging study of each organelle or
each organ system as an independent entity, the design projects
encourage students to consider emergent properties of interacting structures and systems. This higher-order level of thinking
underscores the value of a design project.
Project Evaluation
Typically, one design project is assigned in a semester and
is worth 10% of the course grade. The assignment is scored out
of 100 points, with the following grading rubric:
Title page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5%
Abstract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Diagram to accompany the text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15%
Main body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40%
(including the anatomy and physiology of the organelle
or organ system, complete properties of the element,
details of the measurement system, etc.)
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
(including how the student arrived at the idea for the
design, problems that may have incurred with the
design, their opinion of the assignment)
English composition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
We have also found it helpful to require a first draft two
weeks after the initial assignment, which is then returned to the
students with feedback for improving the final draft.
Some Final Thoughts
Writing assignments are incorporated into all of the biology courses at Kingsborough Community College, in conjunction with the Writing Across the Curriculum program. The goal
of incorporating writing in content courses is to promote organization, synthesis, and retention of the knowledge presented
in the course. Studies of coherent organization of knowledge,
content retention, and course grades have shown that writing
increases all of these measures of academic success (Rivard
et al., 2000; Mlynarczyk & Babbitt, 2002; Smith et al., 2007).
Design projects in particular have been shown to improve
learning achievements in courses such as calculus (Verner &
Maor, 2001).
An innovative approach to writing, such as a design project, also offers students with different learning strategies an
opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge. For example,
students who struggle with multiple-choice exams but excel at
visual or tactile conceptualization may benefit from a creative
writing assignment of the type described here. A combination
of assessment methods that takes into account many different
learning styles is most likely to help students be successful
in science (or any other) courses (Felder & Silverman, 1988;
Felder, 1993).
Creativity is a skill rarely developed in biology courses,
but one that has value (Price, 1995; Shakes, 1995; Kessels
et al., 2006). Creative thinking involves “extreme freedom of
thought [and] an emphasis on independent thinking” (Thomas
Friedman, as quoted in McGraw, 2004b). We may not typically associate those ideals with Introductory Human Anatomy
and Physiology, but creativity is vital in many emerging fields
in biology. For example, the skills learned in design projects
are directly applicable at the frontiers of biomedical research.
A few areas in which creative designing is essential are tissue
and organ engineering (Leventon, 2002; Constans, 2004), the
design of microelectric devices that restore vision, hearing, and
movement (McGraw, 2004a), biomaterials research (e.g., drug
delivery systems, medical devices; Langer & Tirrell, 2004), and
technology to assist the elderly in everyday tasks (Dishman,
2004).
In addition to capturing students’ interest and helping
them learn the material better, design projects enhance creative thinking skills. Creative ability may be inborn to a certain
extent, but all students can enlarge upon their natural talents
by exercising their imaginations. One may ask whether developing creativity is really critical in a course in human anatomy
and physiology. While the course content is paramount, the
value of fostering creative thinking skills should not be underestimated. Creative thinking and the application of memorized
facts to real situations enhance problem solving, and it is
difficult to think of a single career in the health sciences that
does not require strong problem-solving skills. Students who
continue on to graduate studies may gain a competitive edge
by sharpening their creative thinking skills. In order to produce
graduates who are innovative problem-solvers, students must
be given multiple opportunities to develop these skills. Design
projects offer such an opportunity.
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References
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Illinois Association of Biology Teachers
Illinois Association of Community College
Biologists
Indiana Association of Biology Teachers
Kansas Association of Biology Teachers
Louisiana Association of Biology Educators
Maryland Association of Biology Teachers
Massachusetts Association of Biology
Teachers
Michigan Association of Biology Teachers
Mississippi Association of Biology Educators
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South Carolina Association of Biology
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Teachers thanks its affiliate organizations
for their support & for their efforts to
further biology & life science education.
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The American Biology Teacher, Volume 70, No. 4, april 2008
Photos courtesy of Memphis Zoo