Week 7 — Quiz (auto-graded) · The Skeletal System: Bone Tissue & Structure

Course: Anatomy & Physiology I (BIOL 2301 + BIOL 2101) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Navarro
Objective tested: Objective 4 — functions & classification of bone; gross & microscopic bone anatomy (the osteon); the three bone cells; ossification, growth & remodeling (calcium homeostasis).
Points: 10 (1 each) · Assignment group: Quizzes (10% of grade) · Due: end of Module 7.

This is the human-readable quiz with its vetted answer key and feedback. The import-ready Classic QTI is in F-quiz-week-07-qti.xml (generated by the shared validated script — parses with 10 items, every single-answer item exactly one correct). The reusable item-bank entries and the Canvas placement block are at the bottom of this file.

Blueprint

No trick questions; distractors target the Week 7 misconceptions named in the lecture outline.

Questions, key, and feedback

Q1 (Multiple answer — select all that apply). Which of the following are functions of the skeletal system?
- A. Support and protection of soft organs ✅
- B. Mineral storage (calcium and phosphate) ✅
- C. Blood cell formation (hematopoiesis) in red marrow ✅
- D. Production of insulin to lower blood glucose
- E. Chemical digestion of food
Feedback: Bone's jobs are support, protection, movement, mineral storage, blood cell formation (hematopoiesis), and fat storage. Insulin is made by the pancreas and digestion by the digestive system — those are the distractors. (Movement isn't listed as an option here, but it's the sixth function.)

Q2 (Matching). Match each bone cell to its main role.
| Cell | Correct role |
|---|---|
| Osteoblast | Builds / forms new bone matrix |
| Osteoclast | Resorbs (breaks down) bone, releasing calcium |
| Osteocyte | Mature cell that maintains bone tissue |
| Chondrocyte | Cartilage cell (not a bone cell) |
Feedback: The hooks: osteoBlast Builds, osteoClast Chews (breaks down → releases calcium), osteocyte maintains (a mature cell walled into the matrix). A chondrocyte is a cartilage cell — the deliberate odd-one-out to make sure you're matching, not guessing.

Q3 (MC). The osteon (Haversian system) — concentric rings of bone matrix around a central canal — is the basic structural unit of which tissue?
- A. Spongy (cancellous) bone
- B. Compact (cortical) bone ✅
- C. Hyaline cartilage
- D. Red bone marrow
Feedback: The osteon is the unit of compact bone — picture tree rings around a central canal that carries a blood vessel. Spongy bone has no osteons; it's a lattice of trabeculae (Q7). Cartilage and marrow aren't built from osteons at all.

Q4 (MC). In a long bone such as the femur, the diaphysis is the — and the epiphysis is the —.
- A. rounded end / hollow shaft
- B. hollow shaft / rounded end ✅
- C. growth plate / outer membrane
- D. marrow cavity / articular cartilage
Feedback: Diaphysis = the shaft (dia = "through/along"); epiphysis = each rounded end (epi = "upon"). Option A reverses them — the classic flip. The growth plate, periosteum, marrow cavity, and articular cartilage are other named parts, not these two.

Q5 (MC). Blood calcium has dropped too low. Which cell breaks down bone matrix to release calcium back into the blood?
- A. The osteoblast
- B. The osteocyte
- C. The osteoclast ✅
- D. The red marrow stem cell
Feedback: The osteoClast Chews — it resorbs bone and releases calcium into the blood, restoring the level. The osteoblast builds bone (the opposite job); the osteocyte maintains existing bone. The cell that breaks bone down is the one that frees the calcium.

Q6 (Matching). Match each part of a long bone to its description.
| Part | Correct description |
|---|---|
| Diaphysis | The elongated shaft of the bone |
| Epiphyseal (growth) plate | Cartilage where the bone lengthens during growth |
| Periosteum | Tough membrane covering the outer bone surface |
| Medullary cavity | Hollow center of the shaft that holds marrow |
Feedback: Diaphysis = shaft; the epiphyseal plate is the cartilage growth plate (fuses to an epiphyseal line in adults); the periosteum wraps the outside; the medullary cavity is the hollow center of the shaft (red marrow in children → yellow fat in adults).

Q7 (MC). How do compact bone and spongy (cancellous) bone differ in microscopic structure?
- A. Compact bone is built from osteons; spongy bone is built from a lattice of trabeculae ✅
- B. Spongy bone is built from osteons; compact bone is built from trabeculae
- C. Both are built only from osteons, with no other arrangement
- D. Neither contains living cells; both are made entirely of mineral
- E. Compact bone is found only in children; spongy bone only in adults
Feedback: Compact = osteons; spongy = trabeculae (struts that align along lines of stress). Option B reverses them. Both do contain living cells (D is false), and both are present at every age (E is false). Structure→function: dense osteons take big loads outside; a strut-work reinforces inside while staying light.

Q8 (True / False). "Osteoblasts break down bone tissue to release stored minerals."
- True
- False ✅
Feedback: False — that's the osteoclast's job. osteoBlasts BUILD new bone; osteoClasts CHEW (break it down, releasing calcium). This is the single most-flipped pair in the unit — anchor it to the first letters (B = Build, C = Chew).

Q9 (MC). The formation of new red and white blood cells (hematopoiesis) takes place mainly in —
- A. the compact bone of the diaphysis
- B. yellow marrow, which stores fat
- C. red bone marrow ✅
- D. the articular cartilage at the joint
Feedback: Red bone marrow makes blood cells (hematopoiesis) — found in spongy bone. Yellow marrow stores fat (it fills the adult shaft's medullary cavity). Compact bone and articular cartilage don't make blood cells.

Q10 (MC). Which statement about adult bone is correct?
- A. Bone is inert (non-living) and never changes once you stop growing
- B. Bone is living, dynamic tissue that is continually remodeled throughout life ✅
- C. Bone contains no blood vessels or living cells
- D. Bone tissue can only be broken down, never rebuilt, in adults
Feedback: Adult bone is living, dynamic tissue, continually remodeled — osteoclasts remove, osteoblasts build — which is exactly why weight-bearing exercise strengthens it, fractures heal, and bone can buffer blood calcium. A, C, and D all wrongly treat bone as dead or one-directional.

Answer key (quick reference)

Quality gate (self-checked): each single-answer item has exactly one correct option; the multiple-answer item (Q1) lists the three true functions (A, B, C) and requires the insulin (D) and digestion (E) distractors to be left unselected; both matching items pair four prompts to four distinct descriptions (each includes a deliberate odd-one-out — the chondrocyte in Q2 — so it can't be solved by elimination alone); every bone fact is verified against standard anatomy (OpenStax A&P Ch. 6; InnerBody Skeletal System) — osteoBlast builds, osteoClast resorbs/releases Ca²⁺, osteocyte maintains; diaphysis = shaft, epiphysis = end; compact = osteons, spongy = trabeculae; red marrow = hematopoiesis. Anatomy-accuracy gate: PASS. No computation in this quiz, so no arithmetic to mis-key — the quantitative gate does not apply this week (Ca²⁺ regulation is taught at the overview/qualitative level).

Item-bank entries (for variants + the midterm/final)

All ten items are tagged course=BIOL2301 · week=7 · objective=4 · topic=bone-tissue-structure and deposited in Item Bank: Week 7 — Skeletal System: Bone Tissue & Structure. The midterm (Week 8) and the per-term variant updates draw fresh items from this bank. (Tags: q1 bone-functions, q2 bone-cells-match, q3 osteon, q4 diaphysis-epiphysis, q5 osteoclast-resorption, q6 long-bone-parts-match, q7 compact-vs-spongy, q8 osteoblast-misconception, q9 red-marrow-hematopoiesis, q10 bone-is-living.)

Canvas placement block

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title           = "Week 7 Quiz — The Skeletal System: Bone Tissue & Structure"
assignment_group = "Quizzes"
points_possible = 10
grading_type    = points
due_offset_days = 6        # 6 days after module start
published       = true
shuffle_answers = true
provenance      = "~ Prof. Navarro's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"