The Muscles Hut

In the Muscles Hut, students have an opportunity to explore the kinds and properties of muscles. Their exploration of the Java Race game should be preceded by a visit to the the Muscles Hut. Below are some details about muscles that you may want to introduce students to, before their visit to the Hut. When they visit the Organ Systems Hut, they can bring the questions below with them, as well as a labelled diagram of frog muscles (can be obtained from a lab manual or other resource), to explore the interrelations of specific muscles on the frog's body. For the Jumping Frog Problem, have students focus on the leg muscles. The focus below is on skeletal muscles. Make sure students understand this is only one type of muscle tissue.

Skeletal muscles work in pairs - as one contracts, the other relaxes, and vice-versa. Students can see this on their own arms: The BICEP and TRICEP muscles of the upper arm work in opposition to each other - as one contracts, or flexes the bicep by bending the arm at the elbow, the tricep relaxes, and as one relaxes your bicep by extending the arm, the tricep contracts. Students can see this in the Muscles Hut demo.

Have students try this out on their own arms.

1. Try to figure out which muscles work together.
2. Identify the two muscles by name.
3. Call one muscle "Muscle A" and the other "Muscle B"
• What happens when the frog contracts Muscle A and relaxes Muscle B?
• What happens when the frog contracts Muscle B and relaxes Muscle A?
• What do you think would happen if Muscle A was larger?....smaller?
• What do you think would happen if Muscle B was larger?....smaller?
4. What are the implications of this for the Jumping Frog Problem?