Examining the Effects of Zero Gravity

In this activity students measure the change in the area of calf muscle from transverse MRI images collected from an astronaut before and after a prolonged journey in space. They compare the total area of calf muscle from before and after flight to determine if muscle loss has occurred. The lesson introduces some reasons for the muscle loss, measures to reduce the loss, and other effects of space flight. Students perform the image analysis with WebImage, a customized version of ImageJ running in a browser.

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NSES Standard: Science as Inquiry, Grades 5-8, Content Standard A
• USE APPROPRIATE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO GATHER, ANALYZE, AND INTERPRET DATA: The use of tools and techniques, including mathematics, will be guided by the question asked and the investigations students design. The use of computers for the collection, summary, and display of evidence is part of this standard. Students should be able to access, gather, store, retrieve, and organize data, using hardware and software designed for these purposes.

NSES Standard: Life Science, Grades 5-8, Content Standard C
Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs. Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole.

NSES Standard: Science and Technology in Society, Grades 5-8, Content Standard E
• Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive technology, as it addresses questions that demand more sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better instrumentation and technique. Technology is essential to science, because it provides instruments and techniques that enable observations of objects and phenomena that are otherwise unobservable due to factors such as quantity, distance, location, size, and speed. Technology also provides tools for investigations, inquiry, and analysis.

NSES Standard: Science in Personal and Social Perspective, Grades 5-8, Content Standard F
• Societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific research, and social priorities often influence research priorities through the availability of funding for research.

NCTM Standard: Problem Solving (6-8)
Instructional programs should enable all students to
• Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.

NCTM Standard: Measurement (6-8)
Instructional programs should enable all students to
•understand, select, and use units of appropriate size and type to measure angles, perimeter, area, surface area, and volume. 

NETS Standard: Grades 6-8
• Use content-specific tools, software, and simulations (e.g., environmental probes, graphing calculators, exploratory environments, Web tools) to support learning and research.