The Skeletal and Muscle Systems of the Human Body

NC Standard:  4.03, 4.04

Activity:  Joints

Question: What are the different types of joints?

Vocabulary: gliding, ball and socket, hinge, pivot


Procedure: 

Ask students to put their elbow on their desk then drop their hand to the desk, and then bring their hand back up. Their elbow is a joint or place where two or more bones meet. Ask students the following questions:
Do you have any other joints that work like your elbow?
Can you think of some mechanicla device that works like this joint? (hinge)
Ask students to put their hands up, then down, and then out to the side, then make big arm circles.
Explain that their shoulder is another kind of joint. Ask students the following questions:
Do you have any other joints that work like your shoulder?
Can you think of some mechanical device that works like this joint? (joy stick)
Can you find another type of joint?
Discuss your wrist and ankle gliding joints and compare them to a mechanical device and your head and neck or pivot joint.

Conclusions: There are four different types of joints, gliding, hinge, ball and socket, and pivot.
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Line of Learning:  This line is drawn to provide students with a space to share their experimental learning in words or pictures.
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