Students are fascinated by virtual 3D presentations of anatomy, but typically fail to appreciate how these do not
represent a real body. That is, these visuals are interpretations or models of real bodies, and differ in important
ways. This presents an opportunity to teach about how scientists create and use models, a key Practice and
Performance Expectation in the Next Generation Science Standards. In this exercise, students use 3D Slicer?a
free, open source, multi-platform program for analyzing image stacks. In this exercise, students create two
models of the heart based on a freely downloadable CT scan of a human torso. These models are created from
the underlying data in two different ways: either by colorizing and cropping the data or by segmentation, where
a human user manually assigns data to each heart region. By contrasting what was included or excluded in their
two models versus the underlying data, two classroom models and an actual heart, students learn to appreciate
what models accomplish and that different models can be correct for different applications. Additionally,
students trace regions of the data while creating these models themselves, helping solidify their anatomical
knowledge without worrying about artistic ability.
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