High-school Teach physiology with muscle signals
Help students explain how muscles work using signals they record themselves.
Use established muscle, heart and brain investigations alongside your A&P course. Choose a question, review the teaching materials, then check the recording setup your students will use.
Choose an existing human physiology investigation
Start with the published experiment and decide what students will observe, record and explain. The optional load-comparison guide follows these existing routes.
Existing labs. Questions to choose
Read each established experiment’s method, materials and measurement limits. Choose the question before choosing the station count.
How do muscles share the work?
Compare biceps and triceps recordings across movements. Discuss agonist/antagonist roles and coactivation. Uses two channels and five patches with a shared reference.
Explore paired-muscle EMGWhat makes a heartbeat visible?
Record a surface ECG from the wrists, identify repeating features and estimate heart rate. Connect the trace to cardiac electrical events.
Explore the ECG activityCan you see a brain rhythm?
Explore EEG and alpha activity with the included headband and gel. Add this after students can discuss contacts, noise and muscle artifacts.
Explore the EEG activity
Published classroom work you can inspect
Hanzlick-Burton and colleagues describe eight lessons and 21 investigations with student materials, teacher support and sample recordings. Their Bowdoin classroom example already compared EMG RMS while students held light and heavy objects.
That implementation involved 23 nonmajor undergraduates and historical equipment. It informs lesson selection; it does not establish high-school learning gains or validate this site’s optional bottle plan.
The paper’s Supplementary Information section identifies the original student supplement. Publisher-hosted files may be unavailable, and the archive may request verification before download. It uses historical software instructions; read current connection and measurement guidance separately. The book’s chapters 18 and 21 develop biceps recordings and isometric holds.
Optional guide A known comparison. Current setup
The light/heavy-object EMG comparison was described by Hanzlick-Burton and colleagues in 2020. This guide adapts it to current Human SpikerBox and Spike Recorder. The book also teaches biceps recording and isometric holds.
Use the guide’s optional trial plan, recording sheet and suggested assessment if they fit your class. Its exact bottle amounts, six-trial order, timing and classroom performance have not been validated; your lab notebook can be the primary record.
What students learn
A controlled comparison
Ask why an arm can stay still while its muscles are active. Change one condition and compare the recording.
A visible learning outcome
Connect motor neurons, muscle fibers and joint position. Students use a table and graph to explain what they observed.
A way for everyone to contribute
Work as recorder, timekeeper or analyst. Wearing electrodes is optional; everyone can analyze the group’s data.
Fit the investigation to your course
Choose the activity’s scope before setting your schedule. The optional guide offers a 60-minute core and a 75–90-minute college plan; these are new planning estimates, not measured completion times. Rehearse on the actual classroom device and leave time for analysis.
Use existing investigations alongside skeletal muscle, nervous-system or health-science teaching. Select the student task and prerequisites first. If you use the optional guide, retain its record of conditions, graph and limited claim; use the supplied sheet or your lab notebook.
What your first station needs
Start with one Human SpikerBox, three fresh electrodes per volunteer, a USB data cable and a computer running Spike Recorder. The featured lesson adds two plastic bottles and 250 mL of water. No Reaction Timer or Reflex Hammer is required.
The worksheet follows the current browser app on Chrome/Edge or Chrome on Chromebook. Managed devices must allow serial access. For iPad, iPhone or Android, check the native app and data cable for that specific device before you plan the class.
One recording kit. Muscle, heart & brain
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Human SpikerBox
The human physiology recording kit
Use the same kit for EMG, ECG, EEG and eye-movement recordings, with the appropriate setup. The lesson here uses one channel and one electrode cable. Includes battery, USB-C cable and 12 patches; bring your computer. No timer or reflex accessory is needed.
$299.99
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Large Muscle Electrodes
Plan fresh patches for each placement
Keep your class ready for the next volunteer. Three fresh patches per biceps placement; six trials use the same attached set. Removed patches are not reused. Plan for every section and a few replacements.
$24.99
Connect the lab to the unit you already teach
Students model the connection between the nervous and muscular systems, investigate a controlled change and support an explanation with data. The pathway drawing can contribute to NGSS HS-LS1-2’s work on interacting body systems; this single lab does not cover the entire performance expectation.
In a health-science class, use the same evidence to discuss movement and measurement. This is a physiology investigation, not clinical diagnosis or certification. For dual enrollment, review the college extension and assessment with the credit-granting instructor.
Choose the investigation first.
Read the established method and teaching resources. Check the current device workflow, then plan stations and supplies for your course.
Equip your class one station at a time
Plan your station count
Tell us your class size, number of sections, devices and first lab. We can discuss an equipment list for one shared station or a class set.
School purchase orders
BYB accepts purchase orders. Include your equipment list, shipping destination and required date when asking about current terms and delivery.
Paperwork, ready to use
Download the signed W-9 for your purchasing office. The sole-source letter (PDF) is available too.
Keep exploring
Current-device teaching guide
Use the optional adaptation of a published EMG comparison, with source links, current setup help and analysis support.
Review the optional EMG guideCollege & dual enrollment
Match the schedule, assessment and purchasing plan to your teaching setting.
Explore college A&PClassroom funding
Find educator funding programs and build an equipment request around a specific lesson.
Find classroom funding
One station can support shared recordings and analysis. Choose groups and rotations so each student has a meaningful task. A biceps placement uses three fresh patches; repeat trials can use the same attached set. Count new volunteer placements across every section and allow replacements. More stations do not by themselves establish independent biological samples or hands-on participation.
The featured lesson uses current Spike Recorder on a laptop or Chromebook with USB recording. Use Chrome or Edge on a supported computer, or Chrome on Chromebook. Managed devices may need permission for serial access. BYB also offers native apps; mobile OS, ports and cables require separate checking. Test connect, record, save, reopen and Measure on one actual classroom device before preparing the class set.
Human SpikerBox records electrical signals in EMG, ECG, EEG and eye-movement configurations. It has two recording channels. This lesson measures surface EMG amplitude with RMS; it does not directly measure muscle force, individual motor-unit firing or health. Keep any force, pressure or other acquisition equipment your course needs.
The guide adapts Hanzlick-Burton and colleagues’ 2020 light/heavy-object EMG comparison. The bottle amounts, six-trial order, worksheet, synthetic practice numbers and 10-point assessment were added for this guide. They are optional teaching aids; their exact timing and classroom outcomes have not been validated. The published work documents earlier implementation with different equipment.
Students can record, time, graph and explain shared volunteer data without wearing electrodes. If no usable recording is available, the optional, explicitly synthetic dataset supports arithmetic and interpretation practice. Label it as an analysis-only activity; it does not assess acquisition skills. Never require personal recording for credit.
The supplied steps are written for Human SpikerBox and current Spike Recorder. Older Muscle SpikerBox models and other acquisition systems may support a similar investigation, but connectors, channels, file formats and measurement tools differ. Send the model, computer/OS and intended activity through Contact so we can discuss the setup before you buy.