Gingerbread Anatomy - New and Improved!

While I have made Anatomy gingerbread men before - see HERE, today was a totally upgraded experience.  I found an amazing activity online by Mr. Stephens where students create a clay gingerbread man, and perform surgery on him.  

I used this as a review of anatomical terminology before their midterm.  We all know reviewing can be very dry and difficult to get students interested in, and this hooked even my most reluctant students.


Here's an example of the instructions from his lab - "The patient's spleen was ruptured during the accident and needs to be removed.  Make a sagittal incision in the lateral portion of the left hypochondriac region.  Which organ must you move out of the way in order to locate and remove the spleen?  Suture the incision by drawing a short line with cross marks on it."


With something as simple as toothpicks, a plastic knife, and play-doh, my students were reminded of planes/sections, directional terms, and abdominopelvic regions.

There is a surgery documentation form where students record all their procedures, and at the end they must determine priority order if they were doing triage on the patient in the ER - bringing in those real life career connections.

They had a great time and were reminded of their terminology in a way that paper and pencil just can't compete with.

Diagnosis Success: Making Anatomy and Physiology Come Alive

Last spring I purchased a few new books from NSTA, one of which is titled "Diagnosis Success: Making Anatomy and Physiology Come Alive" by NH Maller.  I've implemented most of the book now, so i feel good about speaking to its success in my classroom.

The students pretend to be doctors, including starting with "Medical School" where they research four medical conditions (later seen in their patients), and reading and signing the Hippocratic Oath.

The book has four anonymous celebrity patients, and encourages you to choose popular faces from the entertainment industry to connect students to their work.  Each patient has a chart and over the course of six lab tests, students identify which condition the patient has and creates a final diagnosis.

Teachers are encouraged to support each lab test with information about a different body system, and covers the Urinary, Digestive, Blood, Lymphatic, Respiratory, and Endocrine Systems through the labs.  This has taken more time than I anticipated, but the students have stayed engaged each time I bring back their "Celebrity" patients and updating their medical charts.  I've kept manila folders in the class for each group to keep their lab results and patient charts in, so they're always accessible.

Some of the labs are a bit gross (digestive by-products), or socially edgy (HIV test), but the students have really enjoyed the work and I think they see a more powerful connection to WHY we might want to know how the body systems work.

One of the best things is, when I had a question I was able to email the author from her website, and she responded to me the next day (question about materials needed for a lab).  She was very friendly and helpful, and was interested to hear how the implementation worked out in the classroom.

Overall, I think this term was very successful, and the increased student engagement was compliments of Maller and her new book.

Anatomy Gingerbread Men

When looking for a post-midterm activity for my students, I stumbled across an amazing blog with posts entitled Science Cookie Roundup.  She has collected many beautiful cookies with science themes, and I thought I would try my hand at this with my students.  We have one day between completing our exams and a two week holiday break, so this really fit the bill.

My cookies: skeletal, circulatory, and digestive systems

I purchased frozen gingerbread cookies from GFS, along with a tub of white icing, piping bags, and Wilton food colors I had from home baking projects.  I showed students a few example pictures I found online, and they had a blast.



My favorite part of this activity is that it's holiday related without being religious.  At school I need to be sensitive to the fact that  many of my students do not celebrate Christmas, but everyone can have fun decorating a cookie.


The students really enjoyed making their cookies, and were so excited to have me take pictures of their work.  Here are a few of their creations.

ok, so they're not all science...

beautiful detail on her holly and string of lights

little pink heart to accent her skeleton

This one broke his arm, so it's bleeding.

this skeleton is wearing a Santa suit.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Tarzan and Jane.  My student says this counts as science because Jane went to study the gorillas...

Two skeletons made by friends sitting next to one another, so they placed them holding hands.

nice contrast with the green and white