Biology, Module 13, Phylum Chordata

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M13 
Videos, etc, for M13 

Bones!  The members of phylum Chordata have some kind of backbone.
Mostly, we think of a backbone as being made up of hard bones, but there is also a kind of backbone in some animals called a notochord, that is like a very tough, flexible cartilage. 
There are also some members of this phylum that only have a notochord for the first part of their lives.  Some of these notochords disappear, and some harden into a true backbone.
So phylum Chordata is divided into three subphyla:

• Subphylum Cephalochordata - has a notochord their entire life
• Subphylum Urochordata - only has a notochord through the larva stage, then disappears
• Subphylum Vertebrata - has a notochord during early development, then hardens into a true backbone

Which one are you?  hee hee!  (I'm guessing you didn't have a larva stage.)

In subphyla Urochordata and Cehpalocordata, we learned a little about one organism each. 
Because humans fall into the subphylum Vertebrata, our studies were concentrated there.
We have an endoskeleton, (in) rather than an exoskeleton (out).  Wouldn't that look funny!

Since the majority of my class may not take the advanced biology course, The Human Body, I decided to go a little further than what the text introduced, and at least have them learn the names of the bones.
My birthday was the week before, so I decided to make it a party.  I had all the siblings and Moms to come, too.  They talked and/or played while we had class, (It was a very easy day) then we had cake, chips, and pop.  Not soda, or coke.  Pop.  We had Mt. Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Coke.  It's all pop.
Every party needs a game, so we had a game.  Pin the Tail Bone on the Skeleton, or um... Stick the Post-It Note on the Bone.  Yeah, that works!
I bought this skeleton at Dollar Tree this past October.  Wasn't that brilliant strategy?  =D
This is what we did:

 

Came in close second.

 

Winner!

Since this Contest is Every Man for Himself, they each had to label Oscar individually.  No teams.  Yes, he has a name!  =)
The names of the bones were written on sticky notes (that's what we call Post-It Notes).  I got super sticky ones so they'd last a few times.  We had 2 rounds (one at 3 min; one at 2 min.) multiplied by 4 kids, and time to check answers before pulling the sticky notes off between turns, then tally scores, and a few giggles here and there, all took about 30-35 minutes.  I should have bought two skeletons.  They could have raced.  =)
Whichever ones were labeled wrong or were just not labeled when time was up, counted off their points.
It was a good thing to do before the quiz.  Some got radius and ulna mixed up (the two bones in the lower arm), and one student put patella (kneecap) in the middle of the sternum (chestbone).  Um... that would be difficult if your sternum bent when you started to kick a ball!  hahaha! 


Labeling Oscar helped them review for the quiz.  =)
Something must have been funny. ↓ Something is always funny with these girls!  I know they weren't overjoyed at a quiz, haha!

Even the little boys got to play w/ Oscar.  =)

spiny puffer

We went on to learn about the circulatory system, the nervous system, and reproduction.
We learned several classes in this phylum, staying a little longer with class Osteichthyes (ost ee ICK thees), which have bony fish.
There are some vastly different fish!  Some do not look like regular fish, like the spiny puffer and, at certain angles, the lionfish.

lionfish

We learned about the major internal structures and the circulatory system in fish.  Can you tell there was another dissection coming?  Yep, perch.
Class Amphibia called for yet another dissection.  Frog.
We didn't do either of these. 
Some girls students were glad.  =)

sMiLeS,