Week 7 A&P Lab & Inquiry: Build a Bone

Part 1 — The Big Picture

This week you learned that bone is a living tissue and that a long bone has a shaft, two wider ends, a hollow center, and a fibrous covering, each built for its job. You also learned that bones sort into five shape classes. In this lab you use that knowledge the way an anatomist does. You open a free virtual skeleton, find the parts of one long bone and one bone of each shape class, and record what each part is, where it sits, and how its shape fits its job. Then you check a chatbot's account of the same bone and catch where it mislabels a part, swaps the bone cells, scrambles an order, miscounts, confuses a tissue, or invents a number.

Time budget: Plan for about 120 minutes.

Part 2 — The Task

Guiding question: Can you find and name the parts of a long bone and one bone of each shape class on a virtual skeleton, and say for each part how its structure fits its function?

Before you begin — hypothesis: Before you identify anything, write your hypothesis in the if… then… because… form: if you read a long bone from end to end and across its shaft, then you will or will not find a part whose shape explains each job, because of a reason you can state.

Workshop data: Your own identifications of five long-bone parts and five bones on a free virtual atlas, or the printed fallback descriptions

Source: Ten identifications you make yourself on a free virtual anatomy atlas with the procedure in Part 3; if you cannot open an atlas, use the ten printed descriptions in the fallback, which were written for this lab as a stand-in for an atlas view.

• Rows: 10 identifications in all: 5 long-bone parts in the identification table and 5 bones, one per shape class, in the shape-class table, which adds one counting row; the planning table has 3 rows that set up the hypothesis rather than data
• Columns: structure, what it is and where it sits, and structure to function for the long-bone parts; bone, where it sits, and the shape feature for the shape classes

Part 3 — Materials & Procedure

Tools and materials

• A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet)

Ways of working

• structure-identification-on-a-virtual-atlas
• histology-on-a-virtual-microscope
• at-home-physiology-measurement-and-data-table

Procedure

1. Open a free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer that needs no login, in any web browser, and choose the skeletal system view of the whole body in the anatomical position. If your instructor names a particular atlas, use that one. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The whole skeleton fills the screen, seen from the front.
2. Before you identify anything, write your guiding question, your hypothesis, and the long bone you plan to study in the first table in Part 4. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The first table has its three cells filled.
3. Select one long bone of a limb, such as the femur or the humerus. Find its diaphysis and both epiphyses, and decide which epiphysis is proximal and which is distal. Record each in the identification table with what it is, where it sits, and one structure-to-function sentence. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Three rows of the identification table are filled.
4. Open a cross-section or cutaway view of the same bone's shaft, if the atlas offers one. Find the periosteum on the outside and the medullary cavity in the center, and record each with what it is, where it sits, and one structure-to-function sentence. If the atlas has no cutaway, use the matching rows of the fallback descriptions. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: All five long-bone rows of the identification table are filled.
5. Find one bone of each shape class: a long bone, a short bone, a flat bone, an irregular bone, and a sesamoid bone. Record each in the shape-class table with where it sits and the shape feature that puts it in its class. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Five rows of the shape-class table are filled, one per class.
6. Count your rows: the long-bone parts in the identification table and the bones in the shape-class table. Write the addition in the last row of the shape-class table, or type it into a spreadsheet cell to check it. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: The total number of rows you completed is written as an addition.
7. Answer the analysis questions in Part 5, then complete the critique in Part 6. Tool: A free virtual anatomy atlas or 3D anatomy viewer (Innerbody, GetBodySmart), a virtual microscope for histology (Histology Guide), free physiology simulations (PhET pH Scale, Membrane Channels, Neuron, Gene Expression Essentials), and a spreadsheet (Google Sheets or any free spreadsheet). Check: Every analysis question has a written answer.

Fallback route

When to use it: Use this route if you cannot open a free virtual anatomy atlas, if the atlas will not load on your device, or if it has no cutaway view of a bone's shaft.

Use the ten printed descriptions below, written for this lab as a stand-in for an atlas view, to fill every cell of both tables, then complete every analysis question and the critique from them and submit the same items for equal credit.

This route earns the same credit as the primary route.

Ten printed descriptions of a long bone's parts and of five bones, written for this lab as a stand-in for an atlas.

Fallback model data

Structure or bone	Where it appears and what it looks like
Diaphysis	The long middle tube of a thigh bone, with a thick, dense wall
Proximal epiphysis	The wide, rounded end of the same bone nearer the hip, porous inside
Distal epiphysis	The wide end of the same bone nearer the knee, porous inside
Medullary cavity	The hollow center of the tube, filled with soft, fatty tissue
Periosteum	A thin, tough sheet wrapped around the outside of the bone
A bone of the upper arm	A shaft with two wider ends, running from shoulder to elbow
A bone of the wrist	A small, roughly cube-like bone, one of a cluster near the hand
The breastbone	A thin, flat plate down the front of the chest
A bone of the backbone	A bone with a rounded body and several projecting knobs
The kneecap	A small, rounded bone set in front of the knee

Part 4 — The Scaffold

State your question and hypothesis before you look, so the identifications test an idea instead of confirming a guess.

Student scaffold table 1

Part of the plan	Your answer
The guiding question in your own words
Hypothesis (if… then… because…)
The long bone you chose and the limb it belongs to

Record each part of your long bone as you find it, saying what it is, where it sits, and how its shape fits its job.

Student scaffold table 2

Structure	What it is and where it sits	Structure to function
Diaphysis
Proximal epiphysis
Distal epiphysis
Medullary cavity
Periosteum

Find one bone of each shape class and name the shape feature that sorts it, then count every row you completed in both tables.

Student scaffold table 3

Shape class	Bone you found	Where it sits	Shape feature that puts it in this class
Long
Short
Flat
Irregular
Sesamoid
Rows completed in both tables (write the addition)

Part 5 — Analysis Questions

1. Which parts of your long bone are filled with spongy bone, and which part has walls of compact bone around a hollow center? Name the marrow you would expect in each place.
2. A classmate says a bone of the fingers cannot be a long bone because it is tiny. Using the bone you found for the long class and one finger bone, explain why the shape classes name a shape, not a size.
3. An atlas shows a thin line of bone across each end of an adult femur instead of a band of cartilage. Explain what that line tells you about growth in length, and name the two cells that keep reshaping the bone even so.
4. Name one way an on-screen skeleton, or the printed descriptions, differs from living bone, and explain how that difference could lead someone to call bone dead mineral or to miss a structure.
5. Choose one reflection and answer it in three to five sentences: (a) which of your ten identifications would be easiest for a classmate to get wrong, and how would you explain it to them? (b) which structure-to-function pairing in your tables surprised you most, and why?

Part 6 — AI-Critique Moment

Choose one equal-credit critique route. Route A: ask an approved AI tool to critique your completed work, then check its response against your own evidence. Route B is the no-AI equivalent printed below.

Approved tools: Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok, Microsoft Copilot.

Prompt to paste:

I've pasted my completed Week 7 bone tables above. For each long-bone part I found, tell me what it is, where it sits, and what job its shape makes possible. Then read the shaft in cross-section from the outside in, say which bone cell builds new bone and which one resorbs it, say whether spongy bone is built from osteons or trabeculae, and add up how many rows my two tables contain. If you use any measurement or study, give its source.

Test the response for these likely failures:

• Chatbots sometimes say the periosteum lines the medullary cavity, or call the medullary cavity part of the epiphysis.
• Chatbots often swap the two bone cells, saying osteoblasts break bone down and osteoclasts build it.
• Chatbots sometimes add the two tables' rows carelessly, reporting 5 + 5 = 11.
• Chatbots sometimes read the shaft from the outside in as periosteum, medullary cavity, compact bone, endosteum.
• Chatbots often call the shaft the epiphysis, or say spongy bone is built from osteons.
• Asked about bone, chatbots often add a bone's length, its weight, or a blood calcium value that this lab never gave.

In three to five sentences, quote at least two statements from the chatbot that you corrected, give the correction with evidence from your tables or Chapter 7, and name one thing the chatbot got right.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

No AI account is required for this lab. Instead of the chatbot, critique this flawed analysis, printed here in full: "In my bone tables, the periosteum lines the medullary cavity, and the medullary cavity sits inside the proximal epiphysis. Osteoblasts break bone down and release calcium, while osteoclasts lay down new bone. Read from the outside in, the shaft goes periosteum, medullary cavity, compact bone, endosteum. The shaft of the femur is its epiphysis, and the spongy bone at each end is packed with osteons. My two tables hold 5 + 5 = 11 rows. A study I read says the average adult femur is 48 centimeters long." Mark it up: quote each flawed sentence, name what is wrong (a mislabeled structure, a wrong structure-to-function pairing, steps out of order, a miscomputed value, a confused directional term or tissue type, or an invented figure), cite the evidence from your tables or Chapter 7, and write a corrected sentence beneath it. This route assesses the same objective (Objective 4 — describe bone as a living tissue — its functions, the gross and microscopic anatomy of a long bone, the four bone cells, ossification, growth, remodeling, and the calcium-homeostasis loop — and sort the skeleton into its axial and appendicular divisions by region while classifying joints by structure, function, and movement) as the chatbot critique, takes comparable effort (about 30 minutes and 200–300 words), is scored by the same scoring criteria for the same credit, and its own submission artifact is the marked-up flawed analysis, posted in place of the chatbot share link and report.

Part 7 — What to Submit

• All three completed scaffold tables, filled from your own atlas work or the printed fallback descriptions
• Written answers to all five analysis questions, including your chosen reflection option
• The chatbot critique report with its share link, or the equivalent route's marked-up flawed analysis

Deliverable:

A short A&P Lab & Inquiry report on building a bone: three completed tables (the plan with your hypothesis, the five-part long-bone identification table, and the shape-class table with your row count), written answers to five analysis questions, and a critique of a chatbot's account of your bone, or, on the equivalent route, a marked-up correction of the printed flawed analysis. 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. Choose a written, recorded, or visual form for your answers; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria.

Rubric

The rubric below shows how each submitted part is evaluated; bands are full, partial, or none.

Workshop evaluation criteria

Criterion	Full	Partial	None
Hypothesis and the chosen long bone set before identifying	An if… then… because… hypothesis about structure and function appears before the identifications, and the student names the long bone chosen and its limb.	A hypothesis appears but lacks a because clause or is written after the identifications, or the chosen bone is missing.	No hypothesis and no chosen bone.
Long-bone identification table with structure-to-function reads	All five rows say correctly what the part is and where it sits, with proximal and distal epiphyses assigned correctly, and each gives a structure-to-function sentence that fits.	Three or four rows are correct, or the epiphyses are swapped, or a structure-to-function sentence is missing or does not fit the part.	Fewer than three rows are correct, or the table is missing.
Shape-class table and row count	Each class has a correct example bone with a shape feature that fits, and the row count is written as an addition that matches the completed tables.	Three or four classes have a correct bone, or the shape feature describes size rather than shape, or the row count is missing or does not match.	No shape classes are filled.
Analysis in words	Questions 1 to 4 are answered accurately: spongy ends and a compact-walled shaft with the right marrows, the shape-not-size rule, the epiphyseal line read as finished growth in length with osteoclasts and osteoblasts still remodeling, and one concrete limitation; the chosen reflection option is answered.	The questions are attempted, but one or two answers swap the marrows, treat the class as a size, or give a vague limitation.	The analysis questions are not answered.
Critique of the chatbot or of the printed flawed analysis	On either route, at least two errors are quoted and corrected with evidence from the student's own tables or Chapter 7, and one correct point is acknowledged; both routes earn this band equally.	On either route, errors are named but corrected without evidence, or only one error is caught.	No critique appears on either route, or pasted output is submitted without any checking.

Quality Gate

• Every identification comes from your own atlas work or the printed fallback descriptions, never from memory or a chatbot.
• The diaphysis is named as the shaft and each epiphysis as an end, with proximal and distal assigned from where the limb attaches.
• Every structure-to-function sentence names the structure and the job its shape makes possible.
• The shaft is read from the outside in, and spongy bone is described as trabeculae, not osteons.
• No measurement, study, or source is invented anywhere in the submission.
• The critique quotes the chatbot or the flawed analysis and corrects at least two errors with evidence from your tables or Chapter 7.