Human Skeletal Anatomy: Laboratory Manual and Workbook

The Human Skeletal Anatomy: Laboratory Manual and Workbook has been designed to help students who are enrolled in courses dedicated to this topic. It is the product of many years of designing and instructing a Human Skeletal Biology course for undergraduate students. The key to this manual is flexibility. Instructors may utilize as much or as little of the manual as they see fit. It is largely based on the regional approach to anatomy. However, the first section of the manual begins with a survey of the microscopic and macroscopic structure of bone. After grounding the student in the basics of bone structure, the manual then turns to the gross morphological anatomy of skeletal elements. The axial skeleton is dealt with first, then the appendicular skeleton. The manual is designed to cover material in an incremental fashion. Specifically, the anatomy of less complicated bones such as the ribs, sternum and hyoid are discussed prior to other axial bones in order to acquaint students with how to handle real bone material in the laboratory. Each successive laboratory session demands more from the student in both the level of understanding and expectations in assigned laboratory exercises. Each laboratory session begins with an introduction in order to familiarize the student with the areas to be studied. Subsequently, the laboratory session has a stated purpose with clear instructions of expectations and learning objectives. 'Important Terms' are clearly indicated in boxes to stress to students that these must be understood. This is then followed by a clear laboratory Procedure for the student to follow. This usually involves the identification of particular features of assigning specific tasks as identified in the various Exercises. Finally, as a means of stressing the applicability of what has been learned in the laboratory exercise, the student will be requested to generate an evaluation of some aspect of the anatomy (such as using a method for determining age at death) from assigned specimens. The student is then required to interpret this information and produce, for the next class or session, a 'Laboratory Research Report.' Guidelines for these reports are contained within this manual. Diagrams/photographs have been provided for students to label. These diagrams are meant to be a study guide. Instructors may wish to add anatomical features or de-emphasize certain features accordingly.