Lesson Plan: Muscle Contraction Biology
This lesson plan includes the objectives and prerequisites of the lesson teaching students how to describe the structure of a neuromuscular junction and outline the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that muscles can be voluntary or involuntary,
- describe the coordination of the skeletal, nervous, and muscular systems in moving the body,
- describe how electrical impulses are transmitted across a neuromuscular junction, including the role of calcium ions, acetylcholine, and sodium ions,
- recall the sliding filament theory as the accepted theory of skeletal muscle contraction,
- describe how muscles contract according to the sliding filament theory, including the action of actin and myosin filaments and the role of tropomyosin, calcium ions, and ATP,
- suggest what happens when muscles become fatigued.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the structure of muscles and muscle fibers,
- transmission of a nervous impulse.
