Download Chicken Wing Labs

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Chicken Wing Lab – 20 Total Points
Answer the questions below using COMPLETE SENTENCES!
1.
2.
3.
Draw a diagram of the external structure. Label the upper arm, elbow, lower
arm and hand (wing tip). 4 points
Add tendons and ligaments to your drawing. 2 points
Connective tissue if the term used to identify any material that connects or holds
one tissue to another. In the blanks below, write the name of the connective
tissue that connects the two structures mentioned. 2 points
Connects two bones___________________ connects a muscle to a
bone___________________
4.
How does a chicken wing move at the elbow? How does the motion compare to
how your elbow moves? What type of joint is involved? 3 points
5.
Give another example a joint in your body that gives you the same motion as the
elbow joint in the chicken wing. 1 point
6.
What happened when you pulled on one of the arm muscles? What muscle action
does the pulling represent? 2 points
7.
Classify the muscles you observed as smooth, cardiac, or skeletal. 1 point
8.
In some of the wings, you might find small amounts of a creamy, greasy material
we well know as Fat. Why do wings and our arms have so little fat in them
compared to the other parts of our bodies? 1 point
9.
Did you notice any blood vessels in the wing? Why exactly does blood need to
travel through the bone and muscle tissue? 2 points
10. Why is it valuable to record your observations with accurate diagrams? 1 point
Dissecting a Chicken Wing
Procedures:
1. Thoroughly rinse and dry one chicken wing
2. Examine the outside skin tissue. Then, using scissors and forceps, begin
to cut the skin and peel it away from the muscle below. Notice the clear
connective tissue that holds the skin to the muscles. As you peel off the
skin, you may need to cut away some of this connective tissue. Work slowly
and carefully with scissors and forceps until all skin is removed.
3. Observe the yellowish clumps of fat tissue found outside the skin.
4. Observe bundles of pale, pink muscle tissue surrounding the bones.
5. Use a probe if needed to find the tendons of the chicken wing: shiny,
white tissue at the end of muscles. Tendons connect muscle to bone.
6. Remove a single muscles by cutting the tendons and peeling the muscle
away from the bone.
7. Remove all remaining muscle to expose the bones of the chicken wing.
8. Ligaments connect bone to bone and can be found where two bones come
together. Find the ligaments.
9. Cut the ligaments at the joint between the upper and lower wing.
Examine how the bones fit into each other.
Notice the texture of the ends of the bones at the joint. (this is where
cartilage is found)
10. Try snapping a bone in two and examine the inside. Any soft, red
material is bone marrow.
Questions to compete:
1. What type of tissue makes up the “meat” of a chicken?
__________________________________________________________
2. What type of tissue connects bone to bone?
__________________________________________________________
3. What type of tissue connects muscle to bone?
__________________________________________________________
4. What type of tissue acts as a cushion between bones?
_____________________________________________________
Name
Date
Look at My Muscles… Who’s a Chicken?!
Block
Introduction:
First, let’s recognize how your arm works and realize some things about muscle function. Muscles span a
joint and attach to two different bones to allow for movement. The bone that a muscle attaches to that
remains stationary is called the origin. The moveable bone is called the insertion. Muscles are attached
to your bones by tough, non-stretching white cord-like structures called tendons. Ligaments are very
much like tendons, in their structure but they function to hold one bone to another. Muscles do their work
by getting shorter or contracting. When you bend your arm to “make a muscle”, that is called flexing
your arm; the muscles used to bend your arm are called flexors. Flexors are agonists (or prime movers)
because they effect a desired joint movement. The name of this flexor muscle is the biceps. When you
straighten out your bent arm, the muscles you use are called extensors. Extensors are antagonists
because they oppose a certain movement. The name of this extensor muscle is the triceps.
Purpose: to compare your muscles and bones to those of a chicken wing. How do they differ? How do
muscles and bones work together to bring about movement?
Materials:
Chicken wing
Scalpel
Forceps
Blunt probe
Scissors
Dissecting needle
Dissecting tray
Paper towels
Text pg 378
CAUTION: Raw chicken may be contaminated by Salmonella. Keep your hands away from your face and
mouth throughout this investigation.
Procedure:
1. Compare your chicken wing to diagram 1. Notice:
a. Feather bumps
b. Underlayer of fat
c. Thin connective tissue
d
.
Diagram
1:
orientation
of wing
Capillaries
2. At the cut end of the upper wing, slip the tip of the scissors between the skin and the muscles
underneath. What skin layer are you under?
3. Cut the skin lengthwise, to the joint between the upper wing and the lower wing. Which joint in
your body corresponds to this joint in the chicken wing?
4. Using scalpel and scissors carefully remove the skin from the joint between the upper and lower
wing. Be careful not to cut any muscle, tendons or ligaments. How will you recognize tendons
and ligaments?
5. Remove the skin of the lower wing in the same way that you removed the skin from the upper
wing. Leave the skin on the wing tip.
6. Using scissors, remove any tissues covering the muscle. Use a blunt probe to separate the
individual muscles from each other without tearing them. Compare muscles to Diagram 2.
7. Straighten the chicken wing and hold it horizontally above the tray. Identify the biceps muscle
and triceps muscle. The biceps muscle is on the anterior part of the upper wing; the triceps is
located on the posterior part of the upper wing. Pull on each of the muscles in the upper and
lower wing, and note the movement that each muscle causes. Turn the wing upside down and
bend the joints. Again pull on each muscle and note how the bones move. On Diagram 2, color
each muscle that flexes a joint. Then use a different color for the muscles that extend a joint. Be
sure to provide a color key as to what your colors represent.
8. Balance the wing on your palm. Hold the biceps between your thumb and forefinger on one hand
and do the same with the triceps with the other hand. Pull on the triceps and then on the biceps
muscle in repetition. What happens?
9. Locate the nerve and blood vessels along the biceps muscle.
10. Locate and describe the function of the “white cords” attached to the end of these muscles. What
are these white cords? Where do the cords attach? Color these cords in Diagram 2.
11. Try to locate where the biceps muscle attaches to the bones. Pull on the muscle again and try to
recognize what is happening to the bones. Which bone is the origin? _______________ Which
bone is the insertion? _______________
12. Cut through the middle of a muscle that you have identified as a flexor for the upper wing. What
happens to the wing?
13. Cut through the middle of a muscle that you have identified as an extensor for the lower wing.
What happens to the wing?
14. Closely examine the joint between the upper wing and the lower wing and identify the ligaments.
Add ligaments to Diagram 3.
15. Cut the white cords at the back of the joint until the joint is open from the back. Go slowly and
find the parts: tough bands of ligaments (pearly white sheets), fat pads, and cartilage caps.
16. Bend and straighten the joint, observe how the bones fit together and move the joint. What type
of joint is this?__________ Explain why this joint cannot straighten out more than
approximately 180 degrees:
17. Observe the ends of the bones and notice a gray-white covering. Make a cut in this covering and
remove a small piece for closer examination. Name this material, explain how it differs from
bone and its purpose.
18. Examine the bone with the piece removed. What are you seeing?
Evaluation: Please type a comparison of the muscles and bones of a chicken wing and the human arm.
Include how they are the same, yet different. Summarize how muscles and bones work together to bring
about movement?
Submit the lab handout, colored diagrams and the typed evaluation.
Sources:
Ekstrom, Jim. “The Wing & I” Access Excellence. 23 October 2007.
<http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0498-JimEkstrom/>
Allison, Linda. “Muscle, Tendon, Joint Dissection”. Blood and Guts. Pg 46.
Subject: Biology
Grade Level: 9th grade
Lesson Duration: 51 minutes
State Standards:
Danville High School Standard A.4 – Students will be able to identify the major functions
of the muscular system. (relates to Goal 12, Standard A, Benchmark 4a-4f; Goal 13,
Standard A, Benchmark 4c & 4d; Goal 13, Standard B Benchmark 4a-4e)
Objectives:
1. The students will be able to identify a tendon.
2. The students will be able to identify a ligament.
3. The students will be able to describe the function of a tendon.
4. The students will be able to describe the function of a ligament.
5. The students will be able to describe the function of cartilage found at a joint.
6. The students will be able to identify skeletal muscles and their function.
Materials and Equipment:
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Chicken wings – must have at least one joint still intact (one for each pair of
students)
Dissecting trays (one for each pair)
Scalpels (one for each pair)
Blunt probes (one or two for each pair)
Forceps (one for each pair)
Dissecting scissors (one for each pair)
"Dissecting a Chicken Wing" Lab Sheet (one per student)
Dissecting microscopes (one per pair, or one for every two pairs)
Flex-Cam with projector (use to show entire class some dissecting techniques)
Conducting the Activity:
Introduction and Review:
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Review what has already been taught about joints and muscles.
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Walk through the lab with the students. Explain what they are to do and what
they are to look at. You may use the flex-cam to show the whole class some
important things to look for on an example chicken wing. Show them the easiest
way to remove the skin and how to work around the muscles.
Explain how to use the dissecting scopes (if necessary).
Review lab safety. Review what to do in the event of a broken scalpel or an
injury. Also remind them to wash their hands when they are through.
Activity:
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Have students work with partners. Students need to move to their lab stations
and once there, the teacher should distribute the chicken wings.
Allow students to work through the lab independently. Walk around making sure
that students are on task and making progress. Answer questions as you go.
Have a pre-dissected example to carry around with you to show the students if
they are having trouble.
Allow student to use dissecting scopes to investigate anything that they find
interesting on their chicken wing.
As students finish, have them clean up their stations and return to their seats to
work on the lab questions.
Extensions:
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Make it mandatory for students to look at part of their chicken wing under the
dissecting scope and make a sketch of it.
Have students sketch their joint and label the cartilage, tendon and ligament.
Have a virtual dissection for students who cannot participate in the real
dissection.
Expectations:
To assess the students I will collect and grade their lab sheets. I will be able to see that
they worked through the lab by their answers to the questions about each step.
I will also include questions about tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles on a test
or quiz over this material. I may choose to phrase the question, "From the chicken wing
dissection…(insert question about lab material)"
Reflections:
I used this lesson in both of my Human Life Science classes at Danville High School.
This is a freshman level class for students who aren’t quite ready to begin regular track
biology. A few of my students have failed this class previously, and are taking it again in
order to get credit to graduate. There are 27 students in each class. In my 6 th hour
class, I have one student with ADHD. He is on medication, but I often times have
difficulty getting him to stay in his seat and on task. I would say both classes are about
50% male and 50% female. They are also about 50% white and 50% black students.
Both classes are a bit on the talkative side. They have short attention spans, and would
much rather cause problems in the class than pay attention. They were able to choose
their own seats which may be a cause of the talkativeness, yet, even after moving some
students around, they continue to talk from across the room from time to time. The
students for the most part are enjoyable when they are interested in what is going on in
class. They are interested in doing activities, working in groups, and getting out of their
seats. This activity allowed them to do all three of these things, and for that reason, I
think that I worked well with my group.
Learning Goals:
The students did very well on answering the questions both through the lab procedure
and the post-lab questions. I feel like giving them the opportunity to actually touch and
work with the muscles interested them and allowed them to better understand the
information. I actually had students excited to show me the tendons they found in their
own chicken wing.
Materials:
The chicken wings were easy to find at the supermarket. I was lucky enough to have a
school with plenty of good dissecting equipment for the lab. I actually made up the lab
worksheet myself. I used an already made dissection lab sheet as a guide, but added
questions to see that the students were working through all the parts of the lab. Also,
the flex-cam was very helpful. I used it to show the students my pre-dissected wing
before they even went to their stations. I demonstrated how to remove the skin without
damaging the muscle underneath. All the students could see the same thing at the
same time, and they were also interested in seeing the use of technology. I have found
that using high tech visuals and examples really interests and engages students.
Conducting the Activity:
I really just let the students work through the lab by themselves. I felt like I had
explained exactly what they were to do and even showed them examples of what to
look for. I walked around with my already dissected wing to help those who were
confused. My ADHD student in 6th hour was off task a bit, walking around the room and
being off task, but I told him that he needed to go back to his station and work with his
partner or else he would receive a zero for the lab. That settled him down pretty quickly.
There were a few questions about finding different structures and I simply guided the
student to finding their way.
I had one broken scalpel in each class period. In the first class, I hadn’t discussed this in
my lab safety discussion at the beginning of the lab. Luckily, the students remembered
from their lab safety quiz that they are supposed to tell the teacher about things like
that. I remembered to tell the students what to do in the event of a broken scalpel in 6 th
hour. I also had one minor cut in each class period. I told the students to let me know
ASAP if anyone was injured, even the slightest bit. Both girls who cut themselves let me
know about the situation and we took care of it.
Clean up also went really well. I told the students that they needed to leave their lab
stations as they found them. I have found that making lab clean up worth a few points
on the lab grade that students will make sure that it gets done. This is very helpful if you
have the class more than once during the day in order to set up for each class to do the
lab.
Extensions:
Luckily, none of my students had a problem with doing the dissection. A few were a little
grossed out, but once I showed them that they had nothing to be afraid of, they were
actively engaged. For students who were absent the day of the lab, I allowed them to
make up the lab after school any day for a week after we did it in class. None of the
students chose to do this. I also had an alternate assignment asking them questions
about muscles, ligaments, tendons and cartilage. It is very difficult to get students to
make up work in these two classes. These students are not very motivated to do school
work. Most of them are lower level students just looking to pass the class in order to
graduate.
The lab did take the entire class period, so I did not use any of the extensions
mentioned. I might think to add drawing a sketch to a more advanced group.
Expectations:
The students for the most part met my expectations. They did well on the lab and the
questions. They also did fairly well on the exam questions covering the material. For the
part in the procedure where it tells them to sketch a tendon, I would change that to
sketch the joint and label the tendon. This seemed to be confusing to the students, and I
think that it would be easier to assess if the question were more specific.
Overall:
This was the first lesson that I did with both of these classes all by myself. I think that
they were really impressed that I took the time to set this up and allow them to do it.
They thought that it was really cool that I had my own dissected wing already done to
show them. I was surprised by their maturity in the lab setting. They really seemed
engaged and their lab sheets showed learning.
I thought it was nice to be able to do the lab twice with 2 different groups. I forgot a few
directions with 3rd hour. I made a note of this and corrected it 6th hour. Both classes
actually ran very smoothly for my first time teaching. I really enjoyed myself, and I think
the students recognized that. They were for the most part, on task and engaged and
they also asked some really great questions as I was circulating. I thought it was great
when a group would call me over to show me what they found. They were really getting
into the dissection. I think that this was a really good way to engage and interest the
students. It was also, fairly easy to set up.
Overall, I would definitely do this lab again in any class. I would recommend it to anyone
who is willing to put sharp instruments into their students hands. I enjoyed myself, and
I’m sure the students did as well. The students also learned using a hands-on method. I
really like this lab and I’m sure I will do it again in the future.
Back to Materials and Equipment
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________
Name ________________
Period _____ Date ______
Dissecting a Chicken Wing
Procedure:
1. Thoroughly rinse and dry one chicken wing
2. Examine the outside skin tissue. Then, using scissors and forceps, begin
to cut the skin and peel it away from the muscle below. Notice the clear
connective tissue that holds the skin to the muscles. As you peel off the
skin, you may need to cut away some of this connective tissue. Work slowly
and carefully with scissors and forceps until all skin is removed.
Describe what the connective tissue looks like. You may use pictures
to help describe it.
3. Observe the yellowish clumps of fat tissue found outside the skin.
4. Observe bundles of pale, pink muscle tissue surrounding the bones.
Do you see just one muscle, or are there many muscles present?
How can you tell?
5. Use a probe if needed to find the tendons of the chicken wing: shiny,
white tissue at the end of muscles. Tendons connect muscle to bone.
Draw and label a picture of the tendon connected to the bone.
Describe how it feels.
6. Remove a single muscle by cutting the tendons and peeling the muscle
away from the bone.
7. Remove all remaining muscle to expose the bones of the chicken wing.
8. Ligaments connect bone to bone and can be found where two bones come
together. Find the ligaments.
9. Cut the ligaments at the joint between the upper and lower wing.
Examine how the bones fit into each other.
a. Describe the texture of the ends of the bones at the joint. (This is
where cartilage is found)
b. What occurs when the cartilage at your joints wears away?
10. Try snapping a bone in two and examine the inside. Any soft, red
material is bone marrow.
Questions:
1. What type of tissue makes up the "meat" of a chicken?
2. What function is performed by ligaments?
3. What is the function of a tendon?
4. What is the function of the cartilage found at a joint?
5. What are skeletal muscles and what are their functions?
Lab 4: Chicken Wing Dissection –
Skeletal and Muscular Systems
How do I work?
What am I made of?
What connections do I have?
How do I find out?
Why is this important to my life?
Purpose: To see how the muscular and skeletal systems work together to move and support a
chicken’s wing.
Procedures:
1. Tape the chicken wing dissection table and chicken wing diagrams into the left side of
your notebook. In addition to filling out the table with observations 1-6, there will be
questions A-G to answer separately in your observations and inferences section.
2. Obtain a chicken wing and dissecting equipment.
3. Rinse the chicken wing under cool, running water and thoroughly dry it with a paper
towel.
4. Pick up the wing and imagine it is still on the chicken. Write your observations and
inferences on the page to the left of your pre-lab.
Question A (answer in your observations and inferences part of your lab
report): Do you think your wing is from the right or left side of the chicken?
Explain. You will have an observation and an inference that answers this
question.
5. Imagine that the wing is your arm. Move the joints and look at Figure 1 to answer these
questions.
Question B: Which joint in the human body (shoulder, elbow, wrist or finger) is
the equivalent to joint A? Why do you think so?
Question C: Does joint A move more like a ball and socket joint or more like a
hinge joint? Explain your answer.
Question D: Which joint in the human body (shoulder, elbow, wrist or finger) is
the equivalent to Joint B? Why do you think so?
5. Examine the skin covering the chicken wing.
Fill in #1 on the Table.
6. Carefully cut the skin along the entire length of the chicken wing as shown in figure #1.
Try not to cut through the muscles below the skin.
7. Remove the skin from the wing. This is difficult. It works best if you slide your finger
around under the skin to break some of the connective tissues then grab the skin, cut and
pull hard from top to bottom.
8. Notice the yellowish tissue found in small clumps on the inside of the skin. This is called “fat
tissue.” All cells contain some fats but “fat cells” are fills with the stuff. A bunch of “fat
cells” together make “fat tissue.”
Fill in #2 on the Table.
9. Observe the muscles on the wing. They are bundles of pale pink tissue.
Fill in #3 on the Table.
10. Follow a bundle of muscle down to the tendon. Observe the shiny white tendon.
Fill in #4 on the Table.
11. Notice the ligaments at the joint.
Fill in #5 on the Table.
12. Find a thin reddish-brown strand of tissue. Pull it aside with the dissecting needle. This
is a blood vessel.
Fill in #6 on the Table.
13. Look at your chicken wing and use it to help you label the tendon, muscle and bone in
Figure 2 (under the Table).
14. Find a tendon or a single muscle and pull on it to see how it moves the chicken wing.
You might experiment with more than one muscle.
Question E: How did the muscles move the bones? Describe or draw.
15. Remove the muscles and tendons from the bone to expose Joint A. Pull the bones apart
at the joint. Look for the ligaments that hold the bones together. Can you find two
ligaments crossing each other? These are the cruciate ligaments (often injured by
athletes).
Question F: How did ligaments hold the bones together? Describe or draw.
16. Break one of the bones and look inside.
Question G: Describe what you observe about the structure of chicken
bone.
17. CLEAN UP: Throw the chicken remains away. Wash all equipment in hot, soapy
water, rinse well, and put on the tray to dry. WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP
AND WATER!!
 Note: if you do not finish Procedures #1-17 in one period then you must
write your names and block on a bag. Then put your chicken wing in the
labeled bag. You may have the next period to finish up your observations.
Chicken Wing Dissection Table
#
1.
Tissue
Skin
2.
Fat
3.
Muscle
4.
Tendon
5.
Ligament
Description (color, texture, etc.)
Location:
6.
Blood
Vessel
Analysis Questions:
1. What tissue of the chicken wing is commonly referred to as the “meat”?
2. Why would a bird be unable to fly if there were torn tendons in the wing?
3. Which of the types of muscle found in the human body is/are found in the chicken wing?
4. Which two specific muscles found in the human upper arm are the equivalent of the
chicken wing muscles you looked at in this lab?
5. Why does a chicken need to have so many different bundles of muscles attaching to
different parts of the bones?
Conclusion: Look back at the purpose. Then, explain how bones, muscles, tendons, and
ligaments work together to move a chicken’s wing. Use observations to support your
explanation. Then, make connections to the class throughlines and to how your own body
works.