Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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ScienceThe human body26 min★★ difficulty

The skeletal and muscular systems

Your skeleton is a living scaffold, and it goes nowhere without muscles pulling on it in matched pairs.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Biology: structure and function: Understand the structure and functions of the human skeletal and muscular systems

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the structure and functions of the human skeletal and muscular systems

Key learning points

  • • What the skeleton does
  • • Joints
  • • Muscles work in antagonistic pairs

This lesson at a glance

  • 26 minutes
  • 13 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

structurefunctionsskeletalmuscularsystems

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 13 · Discover8%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 13

Watch first

The skeletal and muscular systems

An English teaching video on this topic from Explore Planet English. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the structure and functions of the human skeletal and muscular systems

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 13

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · What the skeleton does

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 13

Learn

What the skeleton does

The skeleton supports the body, protects organs (the ribcage protects the heart and lungs, the skull protects the brain), allows movement by providing anchor points for muscles, and produces blood cells in the bone marrow of certain bones.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 13

Learn

Joints

Bones meet at joints. Synovial joints, like the knee and elbow, are lubricated by synovial fluid and allow free movement. Ligaments connect bone to bone, holding joints together, while cartilage cushions the bone ends and reduces friction.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 13

Quick check

What connects muscle to bone?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 13

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 13

Quick check

Why do muscles work in antagonistic pairs?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 13

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Muscles work in antagonistic pairs

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 13

Learn

Muscles work in antagonistic pairs

Muscles can only pull, not push, so they work in pairs. When the biceps contracts to bend the arm, the triceps relaxes; to straighten the arm, the triceps contracts and the biceps relaxes. Tendons attach muscle to bone.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 13

Quick check

Where are blood cells produced?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 13

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Mastery quiz

Part 12 of 13

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: The skeletal and muscular systems

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What connects muscle to bone?

  2. 2. Why do muscles work in antagonistic pairs?

  3. 3. Where are blood cells produced?

13

Lesson round-up

Part 13 of 13

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

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    Understand the structure and functions of the human skeletal and muscular systems

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