Anthropometry Reflection

Have you ever heard of anthropometry? Anthropometry is the study of measurement of

people. When we started the anthropometry unit, we had to measure each others tibia, radius,
and humorous in math class. In science, we found out how to use ergonomics for the scale in our
model. Then Mrs. Smith, our global studies teacher, taught us about wellness and nutrition. We
talked about how malnutrition is affecting children all around the world. Our literature teacher,
Mr. Gehrer, taught us about anthropology, which is the study of different cultures. He read us a
story about an anthropologist who goes to a tribe and reads the story of Hamlet. The members of
the tribe had many different perspectives about the play. Some even thought there was magic in
the story. As a final project, we had to construct a model classroom that included all of the topics
we learned. Our driving question was What is the optimal learning environment for middle
school students?
For the project, we were given a partner and my partner was Leah. We had to follow
some steps to help us complete the project. Step 1 was to research different ideas about room
design and furniture. Step 2 was to make the floorplan. Step 3 was to get all of the materials that
we needed. Step 4 was to plan the presentation, and the last step was to build the model
accordingly. Leah and I chose to recreate the global studies room, because we thought that it
could use some new furniture and walls. Our poster title was A Peace of the World. The
poster had many pictures of new desks, tables, chairs, and more. We also had to build a model
representing something in our room. We built a Bram Boo Salsa Table entirely out of
Styrofoam. (I know this is a weird name, and I questioned the Salsa part a lot!) It was white and

could sit four people in a pinwheel format. The whole project turned out to be better than we
thought it was going to be.
In conclusion, our optimal learning environment for middle school students turned out to
be great. I learned a lot about wellness and nutrition, ergonomics, biometrics, and anthropology.
It was fun learning about these different topics in my classes. The easiest part of the project was
making the poster and the model. The most difficult part was finding the scale of the model,
because I couldnt find the actual dimensions of the real Salsa Table. We actually did get the
results that we wanted, because we thought of a good idea and completed it. Mr. Davis, our
schools headmaster, said that we should use some of the 6 th grade room ideas. I thought that was
awesome. I would use anthropometry if I were planning to be an architect and needed to have the
right dimensions to fit people inside a room so it wouldnt be so crowded. Overall, this was the
most fun project Ive ever done, and I would recommend this project to other students.