My Experience Learning About Anthropometry

To begin, I should explain anthropometry. Anthropometry can mean measurements,

nutrition, scale, and cultures. In our classes, we learned different parts of anthropometry. For

instance, in literature we learned that anthropology could be understood as cultural differences.

We read a story about a woman reading Hamlet to a tribe in Africa. Then, in our global studies

class, we learned about nutrition. We learned about a product that is saving many lives called

Plumpy’nut. Plumpy’nut is a packet of peanut paste that is loaded with vitamins to combat acute

malnutrition. Next, in my, math class, we measured certain bones and got sixth grade averages

on those lengths. This was a part of ergonomics. Finally, yet importantly, in our science class we

made a log cabin in Sketch Up to scale in order to learn about biometrics. After learning all this

we started our project with a partner that used all of these components. For this project, our

driving question was “what is the optimal middle school learning environment.” While this

project was hard, it was very enjoyable.

For this project, we needed a game plan. We created a list with what we needed to do and

get. The major steps we took were buying supplies, building our model, making our poster, and

making our presentation. In our project, my partner and I decided the optimal learning room

would be comfortable, bright, roomy, and functional. For this, we

decided to take the science room because of its size. The model we

made was very bright and had cushiony chairs. The desks were clear

and there was an astronomy room. We used many things to make our

model and it took a long time. On our poster, we had a diagram,

descriptions, and pictures. We had to describe every little thing on the diagram so it would make

sense. The diagram was perfectly to scale. The scale we used was 1/2”= 1’. Everything looked

fabulous. Our results were fantastic and I am very proud of our work.

Overall, I think my partner and I certainly did make an optimal middle school learning

environment. What I learned from this project is that people have different interpretations of

things. In addition, scale is so important when making any type of structure. When we were

doing this project, what was difficult was staying calm and not stressing out about it, I say this

because I would go home worrying about not having enough time to complete the work.

However, the easy part was being creative. I believe we got our desired results even if they were

a bit messy. It happened this way because of bad communication and little patience. Now I know

that you should take your time. This is an important thing to learn because in the near future we

might be doctors, forensic scientists, architects, and more. So in doing this project I have come to

realize that studying anthropometry is crucial to any human experience and understanding of it.