Resources: The handout, chicken wing, scissors, board/plate for a work space, gloves, lab coats and disinfectant.
Core Handout: ‘Chicken wing’ dissection sheet.
The students should have a basic understanding of human anatomy and the structure of muscles. They may know the names and locations of major muscles in the human body, such as the biceps and triceps in the arms, the quadriceps in the thighs and the hamstrings in the back of the legs.
Ask the students how many muscles they can name. You could make a list on the board once the students have had some time to think.
Go through the presentation to discuss antagonistic muscles and their role in movement. The students will then take part in the main activity of dissecting a chicken wing and observing the antagonistic muscles in action.
Career Film: Laura Foster works as a Clinical Specialist Nurse and an RAF Reserves Flight Nurse.
Expert Film: Owen Davies works as a Veterinary Surgeon for Rackheath Vets. Owen explains how muscles work in pairs.
Ensure safe working practices when students dissect their chicken wing; afterwards. make sure the wing has not contaminated anything in the lab. Before the students start their dissection, they will firstly answer the few predictive questions on the handout.
They will then watch the Mission Assignment film to see how to perform the dissection. You may want the students to follow along with the video, pausing it at appropriate times; alternatively, you may wish them to watch the whole video and then carry out the dissection. After the dissection, make sure that the students clear and clean their workstations properly. They will then use their observations from the dissection to answer the remaining questions on the handout.
Support: The students could draw a picture of the human body and add on key antagonistic muscles. Ask them to colour in these muscles different colours and show how they are located either side of a bone near a joint.
Challenge: Ask the students to compare the chicken wing muscles to those in the human arm. Have the students research the muscles in the human arm and compare them to the muscles in the chicken wing. They could create a diagram or model of the muscles in both the chicken wing and the human arm and then compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the two.
Divide the students into pairs. Ask each pair to choose a muscle movement (eg. flexing the bicep, extending the leg, etc.). One person from each pair will act out the muscle movement, while the other person in the pair will try to guess which muscle movement is being acted out. After a minute or two, have the pairs switch roles, so that the person who was guessing before is now acting out the muscle movement. After a few rounds of this, bring the class back together and ask them to share which muscle groups are used for the movements that were acted out. Reinforce the idea that muscles work in pairs, with one muscle contracting while the other relaxes.
Types of muscles: There are three types of muscles in the body: skeletal, smooth and cardiac. Skeletal muscles are the muscles that attach to bones and are responsible for voluntary movements. Smooth muscles are found in organs and blood vessels and are responsible for involuntary movements. Cardiac muscles are found in the heart and are responsible for the heart's contractions.
Muscle contraction: Muscle contraction occurs when muscle fibers shorten in response to a nerve impulse. The nerve impulse causes calcium ions to be released into the muscle fiber, which allows the muscle fibers to slide past each other and shorten.
Antagonistic muscles: Antagonistic muscles are pairs of muscles that work together to create opposite movements. For example, the biceps and triceps are antagonistic muscles. When the biceps contract, the arm flexes, and when the triceps contract, the arm extends.
Synergistic muscles: Synergistic muscles are muscles that work together to produce the same movement. For example, the quadriceps and gluteus maximus work together to extend the leg.
Range of motion: Range of motion refers to the amount of movement that is possible at a joint. Range of motion is affected by factors such as muscle strength, flexibility and joint structure.