anthropometry journal
TRANSCRIPT
Laura Bohannan
is an Anthropologist.
An anthropologist is a
person who studies
bones. The Tiv
people live is West
Africa. She wanted to
learn about the
ceremonies that they
celebrate. Hamlet is
connected to being an
anthropologist
because
anthropologists study
bones after people
have died, and in
Hamlet, everyone
dies. Shakespeare
was understood, but
they had very
different thoughts
than Americans do. I
learned that many
other people think
different about things
in a way that we
would never think of.
Anthropometry in Literature
If the King were to die the
King’s brother should not
take the throne, instead
the king’s son would take
the throne.
We believe that a widow
should not remarry until
she has mourned for 2
years
The King only has one
wife
We know that ghosts don’t
exist but that they are in
stories
We know that some people
will kill themselves
We know that water can
kill you
They think that the King’s
brother should take the
throne rather than the
King’s son
They think that 2 years is
too much to wait to be
remarried.
They think that the King
should have more than one
wife
They don’t believe that
ghosts can be in stories
They don’t think that
anyone has a reason to kill
themselves
They think that water is for
bathing and drinking only.
They do not think that you
can die from water.
Anthropometry in Global Studies
Everyone needs protein to have a healthy bone
structure, but some people in our world do not have access
to food, therefore they are malnourished. When someone
does not have enough
food to live, it is called
malnutrition.
Malnutrition effects how
much your bones grow;
therefore, many children
are going to be stunted
for the rest of their lives.
Many children suffer from malnutrition because their
mother's did
not have
enough
protein, so they
were born
malnourished.
Since Africa is
a poor country,
many of their people are malnourished; many babies there
who are malnourished die before the age of one. A group of
doctors has come up with a solution for malnutrition; it is
called Plumpy Nut. The problem with Plumpy Nut is that if
your child is over a year old and suffering from malnutrition,
it is too late. In America, we do not have to worry about
malnutrition. The majorities of American’s live a healthy
lifestyle and do not have to worry about not having enough
food for dinner. We should take this for granted, and think
about the people in our world who do not have those
benefits.
Anthropometry in Science First, we measured ourselves with our partner Then, we measured the masks to determine who they
were Next, we guessed who the masks were. My group
guessed Rory for mask one, Kennedy for mask two, Victoria for mask three, and Eli for mask four.
Then, we drew ourselves on graph paper according to our measurements.
Lastly, we found out whom the mystery masks belonged to!
How well were you able to identify the masks by using the measurements?
It was hard to identify the masks because we did not know if we had measured wrong or the other person might have measured wrong, therefore it made it hard to identify the masks.
How does each cast compare to the model’s actual face?
I think that some masks were more obvious who they were than others. You have so many options to choose from that it makes it hard.
Are the measurements the same, close, or very different?
I think that our measurements were not very close. I think that is why we did not get any of the masks right.
What might have caused the difference?
I think that we should have taken more time to measure and measured more carefully.
Anthropometry in Math
In math class, we were asked to measure our partners and
ourselves. Then, we made a
graph of all the people in the
class and their measurements.
We measured our height and
radius the first day, and
then, the third day we
measured our tibia and
humerus. On our graphs, you
put a dot for each person.
The y-axis is the height in
inches, and the x-axis is the
radius in inches. You would
put a dot where the person's
radius and height met each
other on the graph. Then, we
repeated this for all the
students in the class. Next,
we made a line from the right
corner of the graph, through
the middle of the dots, and up
to the top of the graph. I
learned how to use information
in a different way than I
thought. I have done so much
with a little bit of
information, and I am sure
that I will use some of these
methods in the future.
1. How close were your results to the actual heights? On most of the problems, I was two inches or less off from the actual heights.
2. Does one formula predict heights better than others do? Explain. I think that the humerus formula works best for both men and women.
3. What advice would you give to a forensic scientist or archeologist about predicting heights from bone length?
My advice to a forensic scientist or an archeologist is that you should measure at least two times to make sure that you have the correct measurement. If the two measurements are different, you should measure another time. Then, I would take my time multiplying because you do not want to get it wrong!
Anthropometry Final Reflection In the past week, we have been working on an interdisciplinary anthropometry unit in science, literature, math, and global studies; anthropometry is the study of the human bones. In science, we measured some mystery masks and ourselves; then, we tried to guess whom the masks belonged too. When the masks were revealed, I found out that none of my guesses were correct. First, in literature, Mr. Gehrer read us the story of Hamlet; then, we were asked to make a summary paragraph of how anthropometry relates with Hamlet. Next, we had to make a chart of the way that the Tiv people understand the story, and how we understand the story. Then, in global studies, we learned about malnutrition; next, we had to write a summary paragraph about malnutrition and how it
affects our world. Finally, in math, we measured our tibia, humerus, and our radius; then, we made a graph of everyone's tibias and actual heights. We used formulas to predict our heights using the measurements of our tibias, humerus, and radius.
Global studies was the easiest class for me to do, because all you had to do was take good notes, and then put them into a paragraph. I thought that measuring in science and math was the hardest thing to do, because if your measurements were wrong, it would mess up everything. Learning about malnutrition was the most
meaningful thing to me, because I could really understand how others live, and how we are so lucky to have food and water every day. Anthropometry is used to find out whom someone is, to make houses, to make desks and chairs, to find out how tall someone is, and many other things. There will become a time in everyone’s lives where they will have to use anthropometry, and now that I know how to use it, I am sure that I will be able to use it!