Students' ideas about how to build a better jumping frog....

(Notes from a session with Patrick Roizen's first period Physiology class at Westmoor High School, March 6, 1997. Prepared by Decker Walker, March 6, 1997)

The class spent about half an hour in small groups discussing their ideas for ways to make frogs jump further. (See more detail on this teaching unit.) Each group listed things they'd do or resources they'd consult to help them make up their minds about how to get the best jumping frog. What follows is, first, my summary of their suggestions, and, second, the actual words they wrote on their sheets which they presented to the class.

Ways to make a better jumping frog

• make all the leg bones proportionately bigger
• don't change bones, change muscle, give them more energy for contraction
• make the front limbs longer to give the frog a higher angle of takeoff
• better training
• better nutrition

Ways to figure out how to make a better jumping frog

• study a video recording of a frog jumping
• watch the frog jump in slow motion
• analyze the physics of a frog jump, analyze numerical data on the frog's jump derived from a video recording: speed of the jump, time, force, mass,...
• identify the muscles and bones active in jumping
• study forces exerted by muscles
• some structures (arch, e.g.) may act as springs
• study speed of muscles, shorter times to contract
• compare two or more frogs with different jumping ability
• study differences in jumping between different species
• find out which species jump further
• compare proportions, dimensions of individual good and poor jumpers within species
• study changes in jumping distance as a frog grows
• compare proportions, etc., and correlate with jumping
• study frog anatomy looking for clues
• study a skeleton, dissect a frog
• study how muscles develop force and energy; find ways to increase them
• study the frog's habitat
• where and how do good jumpers live?
• consult experts (biologist, biomechanician, bone specialist, muscle specialist, herpetologist, track coach,...)

Questions

• How does a frog jump?
• How does the frog maintain its balance?

What they actually wrote on their sheets

Group A
1.) Go on line, seeing the frog jump slowly
2.) Next to the frog, there is a box showing the frog's speed, length and height of jump. (Study them.)
3.) Study their muscular structure
4.) Try to find more about their habitat
5.) Compare 2 different frogs and do a lab on them.
6.) Study their skeletons.

Group B
1. Talk to experts who knows about frogs.
2. What types of bones and muscles are involved to make frogs jump
3. Find out which species jump further than others
4. Dissect frogs to see what is different that makes them jump further.

Group C
how to make the frog jump farther:
- more muscles
*bones shouldn't be enlarged = more mass
- quicker response = faster, stronger reactions
what muscles/parts are involved in jumping?
- arch/spring of foot
- balance
exer. of force, movement of mass
-muscle cells should be provided w/ more energy for muscle contraction. more energy = greater force.

Group D
- Make the two front limbs longer
- Keep the back limbs the same so they stay lighter than the front
- Watch a frog in motion - slow motion
- Watch growth stages
-Watch the frog in motion after the changes
- Before and after (motion)
- Show difference in weight
- Show the effects of muscle growth
- Effects of the rest of the body.
- Effects if muscles are changed

Group E
- Find out which bone acts as the lever when the frog jumps
- Compare frogs with short legs to frogs with longer legs. Which frog jumps further?
- Increasing the levers may increase the force of the jump
- The comparison may be put on computer graphics to notice the difference in the distance more easily.
- Compare frogs with a long upper leg to frogs with a shorter upper leg and note the differences of the distances. (Indicate whether the lower leg has any differences in length.)
- Compare frogs with a long lower leg to a frog with a shorter lower leg and note the difference of the distances. (Indicate whether the upper leg has any differences in length.)
- Draw a table of comparisons
- Long leg to short leg; long upper leg to short upper leg; w/ long upper having a longer lower leg, etc.
- long upper leg to short upper leg w long lowr leg having a shorter lower leg.

Group F
1) Frog jumping coach (track)
2) bone specialist and muscle specialist (The effect of structure)
3) Zoologist (knowledge of frogs)
4) physicist (knowledge of the lever system)
5) habitat specialist (the effects of the habitat)
6) nutrition of frog (to know power source)
7) experiment of them (tests)

Group G
Resources
- anatomy books
- biologist to explain sections of the anatomy books
- video clips of frogs
- photographs, illustrations of skeletal system, muscular system
- animated visuals (frog jumping to show what moves)
- illustations to show the parts
- what makes a frog jump?
- notepad, to keep notes on file
- online
- Encyclopedias available related to subject
- dictionary
- diagrams (showing weight shifts while jumping)
- Dissections of different parts to see how they function. labs
- 3 Dimensional holograms to show the actual physiology of the subject.

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