Support and movement in living organisms

About this lesson

This unit covers support and movement in living organisms, focusing on plants and humans. For plants, it explains support mechanisms such as deposition of cutin, suberin, cellulose, or lignin in cell walls, and describes types of movement including haptotropism (twining of tendrils), pulling roots in corms and bulbs, and cytoplasmic streaming. For humans, it details the skeletal system (axial and appendicular skeleton, bones, vertebrae, skull, thoracic cage, girdles, limbs), cartilages, joints (fibrous, cartilaginous, synovial), ligaments, tendons, and the muscular system. It explains muscle structure, contraction mechanism (sliding filament theory), role of nerve impulses, and muscle fatigue. By the end, students should be able to recognize concepts of movement and support, differentiate movement types, describe skeletal and muscular structures, explain movement mechanisms, and link structure to function.