Introduction:
What does our skeleton do for us? How about our muscles? Every movement and gesture we take with our body - even the look you cut someone in the hall is the product of the fine tuned work of the skeletal and muscular systems. How do our muscles and bones work together so well?? During this activity you will find out what the parts of these systems help us to move every day, and what makes these systems so important to our human bodies. 

Essential Question:
What are the parts and functions of the skeletal and muscular systems? What types of diseases and disorders cause a break down of these systems?

Task:
Read the directions for each section carefully! Complete each of the sections in this activity that your teacher has instructed you to work on in this class period. Use your worksheet to record the information that you find and the answers to the questions that you are asked. 

Part One: Introduction to the Skeletal System
     Click on the links provided and use the information on the webpage you visit to answer the 
     questions that follow each link to find out more about the skeletal system. 

An introduction to the skeleton:
1. What are the main functions of the skeleton?
2. What is cartilage? What does it do?
3. What are the three layers of living bone?

The Skeletal System at Yucky!:

4. What is bone marrow? What does it do?
5. Why do you have more bones when you are born than when you are an adult?
6. What percentage of creatures on the Earth do NOT have a backbone?

More neat facts about the Skeletal System:

7. Where is the smallest bone in the human body?
8. What are the three types of joints in the human body? Give examples of each.

Look at this Muscular System site from Yucky!

9.  Approximately how many muscles do humans have?
10.What are the two types of muscles. Give examples of each.
11.What is the busiest muscle in the body? How many times a day does it move?

Look at this site on smooth or involuntary muscles and answer these questions.
12. List at least three places where humans have smooth muscles in their body.
13. Smooth muscles are count as what "type" of muscle? (Look at the types talked about in Question 10)

Look at this site on cardiac muscles and answer these questions.
14. What type of muscle is cardiac muscle? (Look at the types talked about in Question 10)
15. What is the muscle that makes up the heart called?

Look at this site on skeletal muscles and answer these questions.
16.Skeletal muscles are also sometimes called ________ muscles because the muscle tissue looks striped.
17. At the bottom of the page, click on the link to go to the next page. Where are most of the biggest and most powerful muscles in your body?

There are lots of diseases and conditions that affect our bones and muscles. Some of them are extrinsic - meaning that something external acts on the system to cause a disease, disorder or condition. Examples of extrinsic disorders might include fractures or tendonitis. Others are intrinsic - meaning that these disorders come from an internal failure in the system rather than an outside source. Below you will see a list of diseases that are caused by intrinsic diseases or disorders that affect the muscular and skeletal systems of the human body. Choose one disorder from the list below. Collect the following information on your disorder:

    *What causes the disorder/disease?
    *When do people generally start showing symptoms of the disease/disorder?
    *What are some symptoms?
    *What parts of the body does the disease/disorder affect?
    *What are some treatments/cures for the disease/disorder?
    *At least three interesting facts that you found while browsing

      Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD)
      Friedreich's Ataxia (FA)
      Gout
      Lou Gehrig's Disease
      McArdle's Disease
      Myasthenia Gravis (MG)
      Neurofibromatosis
      Osteoarthritis
      Rheumatoid Arthritis
      Scoliosis
      Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Infantile/Juvenile and Adult) 

Now that you have taken a look at the skeletal and muscular systems of the human body and how they interact - let's take a look at the skeletal system of other aniamls and compare the two. Go to e-skeletons. Click on comparitive anatomy. Here you can chose two different species to compare and select the bones that you want to see compared. Try a few out! Choose one comparison and write 3-5 sentences about why you think the difference in the bone structure makes a big difference in how that part of the body is used or how it looks in the different species. 

Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD)
    http://www.mdausa.org/disease/cmd.html
    http://www.mdausa.org/publications/fa-md.html

Friedreich's Ataxia (FA)
    http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/friedreichs_ataxia.htm
    http://www.mdausa.org/publications/fa-fried.html
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disease/Frda.html
    http://www.faa.org.au/whatis.htm

Gout
    http://www.rheumatology.org.nz/nz08003.htm
    http://www.orthop.washington.edu/Bone%20and%20Joint%20Sources/gzzzzzzz1_1.html
    http://www.rheumatology.org/patients/factsheet/gout.html
    http://www.faa.org.au/whatis.htm

Lou Gehrig's Disease
    http://www.lougehrigsdisease.net/
    http://march-of-faces.org/whatis/whatis.html
    http://neurologychannel.com/als/

McArdle's Disease
    http://www.mdausa.org/disease/mpd.html
    http://home.att.net/~sam-dave/mcardles/mcframe.html

Myasthenia Gravis (MG)
    http://www.mdausa.org/publications/fa-mg.html
    http://www.myasthenia.org/
    http://www.mgauk.org/

Neurofibromatosis
    http://www.nf.org/
    http://www.modimes.org/HealthLibrary2/factsheets/The_Neurofibromatoses.htm
    http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/neurofibro.htm

Osteoarthritis
    http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/hlthconn/items/osteoart.htm
    http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/osteoarthritis.html

Rheumatoid Arthritis
    http://www.duq.edu/PT/RA/BackgroundOfTheDisease.html
    http://www.duq.edu/PT/RA/EffectsOnJoints.html

Scoliosis
    http://familydoctor.org/handouts/107.html
    http://www.medhelp.org/lib/scoilio.htm

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Infantile/Juvenile and Adult)
    http://www.mdausa.org/disease/sma.html
    http://www.mdausa.org/disease/sma3.html

This Internet Activity is connected to Section II: Life Sciences, Unite of Study: Muscular and Skeletal Systems of the 6th grade science standards of South Carolina. 

The complete 6th grade science standards can be viewed by following this link:
http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso/Science/Sciencest.htm