Anatomy & Kinesiology

​All-Gender Course; Prerequisite - Successful completion of one year of high school biology; ​Fall semester or Full-year course
COURSE DESCRIPTION
How does exercise change the body? How do muscles get bigger? How do bones repair themselves? What’s the best breakfast to eat before an athletic event? Why? In this course, we will examine the body through an exercise lens. We will study the cardiovascular system and the changes that occur through exercising. We will learn about the endocrine system and research how performance enhancing substances interact with the endocrine system, for better or worse. We will study the skeletal system, muscular system, tendons and ligaments, and metabolism and nutrition. Throughout the course, you will engage in research, readings, discussion, projects, and presentations. The class will culminate with a presentation where you will research a question of your choosing in a peer-reviewed science journal. You will analyze the information and convey your conclusions to the class in an accessible way, speaking in your own words. 
WHAT STUDENTS SAY

Antatomy & Kinesiology is a new course for 21/22 school year at One Schoolhouse. To read what students have said about other One Schoolhouse courses, visit our What Students Say webpage!

WHAT STUDENTS DO
Learning is an active process at One Schoolhouse. Students design, create and apply. And, they engage with classmates and connect with their teachers through discussions, video conferences, and projects. Specifically, in this class students will:
  • Set goals that drive their learning. Students reflect regularly on their growth, and meet on video chat with their online teacher to review progress towards their goals.
  • Have choice in how they learn new content and practice new skills. Students are given agency to determine the best ways for them to learn.
  • Apply what they are learning to the real world. Learning is meaningful and connects to concepts outside the classroom.
  • Practice constructive engagement in a diverse and changing world. Students interact with classmates from across the country and around the world.
  • Gain academic maturity. Online learning takes greater discipline and independence than a traditional face-to-face classroom. Teachers support students to build this skill.
MEET A TEACHER FOR THIS COURSE
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SECOND SEMESTER?
Students wishing to pursue an anatomy and kinesiology project may enroll in the course for the full year. For students continuing into Semester II, the course shifts into personalized, project-based work, where students engage in deep, sustained inquiry; authentic and iterative research; critical analysis; and rigorous reflection, revision, and assessment as they journey through a self-designed, long-term activism, design, or research project on the topic of their choosing. Guided by a One Schoolhouse teacher, students pursue individual study/self-assessment or collaborative seminar/peer-review. Pathway options from which students choose include:
  • Spring Activism Seminar: In this seminar, students identify a need and create a plan to effect economic, environmental, political, or social change in a target community.  Utilizing a social science approach to research and evaluation, students are guided through the process of planning the deployment of a novel idea and identifying markers of success.  Students may create a strategic plan for a club or non-profit or design an artistic product in this seminar. 
  • Spring Design Seminar:  In this seminar, students design a technological solution to a real-world problem.  Through the engineering design process/scientific method, students gather and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of their model or the accuracy of their hypothesis.  Students may prototype and produce a public product in this seminar. 
  • Spring Research Seminar:  In this seminar, students answer a theoretical or ethical question.  Utilizing the social science/humanities tools for source evaluation, students collect, critique, and evaluate artifacts or primary source documents to explore their thesis.  Students may create a written or multimedia product in this seminar. 

Upon completion of their inquiry-driven project, students will have gained academic maturity and expanded their ability to engage in a diverse and changing world. They will be able to draw and defend conclusions from theoretical underpinnings, contextual background, and mathematical analysis or source evaluation. Finally, they will have created and tested something useful of their own design or will be able to defend a position based on their own research.​
SIGNATURE ACTIVITIES
Examples of signature activities and projects for this course are:
  • ​Learn the muscles of the body, then develop a strength training plan for athletes of a desired sport. Motivate the athletes to perform these exercises by explaining their significance and importance to the sport. Or, learn the muscles of the body, then research a disease related to the muscles (like muscular dystrophy), and develop a hypothetical treatment for that disease based on your knowledge of how muscles grow and repair.
  • Create an analogy comparing rubber bands to ligaments and tendons. Read a story about the anatomy of the achilles tendons in Olympic high jumpers, and then evaluate your analogy based on what you learned in the reading.
  • Analyze your diet or a popular diet of your choosing. Based on what you’ve learned about the digestive system and nutrition, determine the benefits and downsides of the diet, and then propose ways to improve upon the diet.
COURSE APPROVAL
This course is approved by the NCAA. 
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One Schoolhouse is fully accredited with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges through December 1, 2025; we are an approved online publisher for the University of California. ​
Erin Hatton
she/her/hers
Science Teacher
BA Bowdoin College
MA Union Graduate College