Introduction
Students view two anatomical illustrations—one from 1708 and the other from 1926—that used a house and a factory, respectively, as metaphors of the human body. They examine these different metaphors and assess anatomical knowledge of each period. Then students work in small groups to create their own human body illustration using metaphors to represent various functions of the body accurately.
- Explain to students that they will use their knowledge of biology, art, and language (i.e., metaphor) for group projects.
- Tell students that the class will first look at examples together.
- Display two anatomical illustrations—Human body and a house and Industrial body—from the Dream Anatomy online exhibition. Review each image as a class by reading aloud its captions—source publication title, date, artist/author, a brief narrative, etc.
- Use the following questions to conduct a class discussion:
- What is a metaphor?
- Observe this image for a few minutes to identify metaphors used. Note students’ responses on a flip chart or an overhead projector.
- How does each metaphor convey a certain body part or function?
- What are the differences and similarities between these two images and the types of metaphors used in each image?
- Can you think of other things to use as metaphors? List students’ responses on a flip chart or an overhead projector.
- Tell students that they will be creating a collage of a human body/anatomy using metaphors.
- Prepare 5 pieces of paper in a bag with one of the following written in each paper: "head and neck", "upper torso", "lower torso", "arms and hands", and "legs and feet."
- Divide students into 5 teams and have each team draw a piece of paper from the bag.
- Tell each team that they will have until next lesson to research and work on creating a collage to illustrate the part of body that they selected.
- Provide each team with a minimum information to be included such as:
- Title
- Collage that illustrates examples of exterior, interior, and microscopic parts of the assigned body area
- Labels for each metaphor and its corresponding human anatomy or its functions
- 1-page essay describing why they chose their specific metaphors and what new anatomical knowledge they gained
- Allow students to work in teams and plan for their ‘metaphoric anatomies’ presentations at the end of the next lesson period. Optionally, have teams display the human body composite by posting 5 collages together on a classroom wall or in the hallway.
- Lesson 1 Evaluation: Teachers may use the team essays and anatomy collages to evaluate students’ knowledge and understanding of metaphors and human anatomy.