The human body is an incredible machine, and Cullman City Schools elementary students are learning about it first hand by building a few of their own spare parts — but not literally, of course.

As part of their standards for fourth grade science, East Elementary students are working to learn about how the systems of the human body work together. Students used index cards, paper and yarn to string their own moveable “fingers” together to see how muscles and tendons work together to make the human body move. The lesson highlighted how our skeletal and muscular systems interact to make our bodies function.

Before creating their posable fingers, students used construction paper, crayons and vegetable oil to make model X-rays of their hands to learn how the nervous system communicates commands to our bodies, causing our bones to move.

“We moved on to these robot fingers when we investigated what mechanism muscles use to control our bones’ movement. We used strips of index cards for the finger bone, paper for the muscles, and yarn for the tendons,” East Elementary School fourth grade teacher April Dean explained. “My assignment at the close of each lesson is for each child to go home and tell someone at their house what they learned in science class. I’m sure there are some future surgeons and orthopedists in my classes, just as there are future engineers, artists, and teachers. Science class has something for everyone.”

Dean said her students love hands-on projects like this, noting it’s a creative way to learn and see the lessons come to life.

“These students will remember this science content and be able to apply it to other situations,” Dean said. “My job as a science teacher is to facilitate learning experiences for my fourth graders, and our curriculum makes those experiences engaging and fun every day. Up next, students are constructing working models of the human eye using magnifying lenses and index cards.”