Week 7 — Count It, Name It, Order It: A Bone Key Report

Assignment 7 of the term — count the bone key's lists, name every member, put a long bone's regions in order, and explain to someone new why bone keeps rebuilding.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based report. You stay the author: the coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it writes its report. Week 1 gave you the feedback loop's three parts, and Week 5 put bone and cartilage in the supportive connective tissue family; this week you open bone itself. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and A&P Lab & Inquiry work the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

This week's shared dataset is the bone key: canonical counts and orders, with no measured data. The skeletal system has 6 jobs; bones sort into 5 shape classes; bone has 4 cell types; bone forms by 2 ossification routes; and the calcium loop runs on 3 parts. A long bone reads epiphysis → metaphysis → diaphysis → metaphysis → epiphysis, and a cut across its shaft reads periosteum → compact bone → endosteum → medullary cavity.

Work these four problems, showing your arithmetic:

1. The skeletal system's jobs split into 3 you can feel in an ordinary day (support, movement, protection) and 3 quieter ones. How many jobs does the skeletal system have in all?
2. Reading a long bone end to end, you pass 2 epiphyses, 2 metaphyses, and 1 diaphysis. How many regions do you name in all?
3. The bone key lists 4 bone cells, and 1 of them resorbs bone. How many of the bone cells do not resorb bone?
4. The bone key counts 6 functions, 5 shape classes, 4 bone cells, 2 ossification routes, and 3 loop parts. How many items does the key hold in all?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: name the three quieter jobs, and say which marrow does each marrow job.
• Problem 2: list the regions in order from one end to the other, and say what each metaphysis holds in a child and in an adult.
• Problem 3: name the cell that resorbs bone, and give the job of each of the other three.
• Problem 4: name the hormone that raises blood calcium and the one that lowers it, say what each does to osteoclasts, and explain why the calcium loop is negative feedback.

Explain it to a non-expert

A relative who follows space news asks, "Why do astronauts have to rebuild bone after a long mission? Aren't bones fixed once you're grown?" Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains, in everyday words, that bone is a living tissue, what remodeling is and which two cells do it, and how less load in space leads to bone loss. Name one limit, for example that the rate of loss is an estimate taught in words, or that this message is about how bone works and not about anyone's health. Put any technical term in everyday words. More than one good message is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a friend who asks why a long bone has a hollow middle. Model answer: "Picture a bone's shaft as a strong tube rather than a solid rod. The wall of the tube is dense bone, and the hollow center, called the medullary cavity, holds yellow marrow, a fatty tissue the body uses to store energy. So the hollow is not wasted space; it is a storage room inside the frame. This is a simplified classroom picture, and it does not cover the spongy bone at the bone's two ends."

Use that pattern for the message to your relative, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief interpretations, and your message to your relative before you open a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach asks for your draft and then works one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show calculations when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one calculation or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Keep going until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It draws out your reasoning; it does not write the report for you.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for a first-semester anatomy and physiology course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about bone tissue and structure. Do not write my assignment for me and do not invent work I never did. Never invent a measurement, a study, a bone-loss rate, or a blood calcium value, and never offer medical advice or comment on anyone's health.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: the bone key (6 skeletal functions; 5 shape classes; 4 bone cells; 2 ossification routes; 3 loop parts). A long bone reads epiphysis -> metaphysis -> diaphysis -> metaphysis -> epiphysis; a cut across the shaft reads periosteum -> compact bone -> endosteum -> medullary cavity. Osteoblasts build, osteoclasts resorb, osteocytes maintain, and osteogenic cells become osteoblasts. Parathyroid hormone stimulates osteoclasts and raises blood calcium; calcitonin inhibits osteoclasts and lowers it.
PROBLEM P1: The skeletal system's jobs split into 3 you can feel in an ordinary day (support, movement, protection) and 3 quieter ones. How many jobs does the skeletal system have in all?
PROBLEM P2: Reading a long bone end to end, you pass 2 epiphyses, 2 metaphyses, and 1 diaphysis. How many regions do you name in all?
PROBLEM P3: The bone key lists 4 bone cells, and 1 of them resorbs bone. How many of the bone cells do not resorb bone?
PROBLEM P4: The bone key counts 6 functions, 5 shape classes, 4 bone cells, 2 ossification routes, and 3 loop parts. How many items does the key hold in all?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, name the three quieter jobs and say which marrow does each marrow job; for P2, list the regions in order and say what each metaphysis holds in a child and in an adult; for P3, name the cell that resorbs bone and give the job of each of the other three; for P4, name the hormone that raises blood calcium and the one that lowers it, say what each does to osteoclasts, and explain why the loop is negative feedback. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a relative explaining that bone is a living tissue, what remodeling is and which two cells do it, how less load in space leads to bone loss, and one limit. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: correct computations (40 points), bone-biology reasoning (32 points), clarity for a non-expert reader (16 points), and showing work so it can be checked (12 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 computation points, 4 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 1.5 showing-work points. Sum the four problems within each criterion. Count my relative message only with P4, for reasoning and for clarity.
COMPUTATION UNITS: A correct count in any equivalent notation = 2; the right numbers and operation with one arithmetic slip = 1; a missing count or a wrong operation = 0.
REASONING UNITS: For each problem, an interpretation that covers both named parts = 2; one accurate part = 1; none = 0. Swapping osteoblast and osteoclast, calling the shaft the epiphysis, giving spongy bone osteons, or giving calcitonin the job of raising blood calcium is not accurate. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence a newcomer can follow, with terms in everyday words = 2; evidence that needs a reread because of an unclear label or unexplained term = 1; no readable evidence = 0. Include my relative message with P4. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear work.
SHOWING-WORK UNITS: For each problem, numbers and steps that let a reader rebuild the count = 2; one relevant but incomplete number or step = 1; a bare result or no method = 0. A visible method stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me what supports it. Keep the conversation on questions, not on finished work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, a copied prompt, a yes/no reply, or a one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or treat agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Never score evidence I did not supply, and do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief interpretations AND written my message to my relative AND revised at least one calculation or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my counts and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised Week 7 bone report, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised Week 7 bone report with all four answers, their brief interpretations, and your message to your relative — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labeled sketch of a long bone end to end and in cross-section with a short note; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 7 skills — counting and naming the bone key's lists, reading a long bone in order, matching each bone cell to its job, tracing the calcium loop, and explaining remodeling in plain words — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief interpretations, and the message to your relative. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, one criterion at a time, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one count or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised report, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The counts, reasoning, revision, and final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment or to add evidence you did not produce. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and needs no AI account.

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