Shark skull active learning kit

Move your students' learning beyond memorization with this active learning kit covering shark skeletal anatomy, cranial nerves, cranial muscles, jaw biomechanics, and more!
Digital rendering of our dogfish shark skull active learning kit

Our Dogfish Shark Skull Active Learning Kit is a kinetic, physical model of a dogfish shark skull (Squalus acanthias) designed to engage your students in higher order, active learning. Check out these freely available, open-source kit activities that will guide your students through core concepts in anatomy, development, biomechanics, and evolution.

How to use this kit

Check out the video below for a demonstration of assembly and motion simulation with this kit (with and without muscles attached).

Kit pricing

We use volume-based pricing, so the more kits you order, the lower the price per kit! See the table below for the price per kit based on the total number of kits ordered.

Kits ordered / Price per kit

1
2
3
4
5
$399
$349
$309
$269
$259
6
7
8
9
10+
$249
$246
$244
$242
$238

The prices shown above include free shipping within the US and are for payment by check or ACH bank transfer; for payment by credit card, an additional 3% credit card transaction fee will be added. The price is the same for a color-coded or all-white kit and the volume-based pricing applies regardless of whether the kit is color-coded or all-white (e.g., if you order three color-coded kits and three white kits, each kit would cost $249). Prices are subject to change.

How to order

We are currently accepting orders from educational institutions! We accept purchase orders (with payment by check or ACH) and payment by credit card. To get a quote, please email us at contact@3danatomystudios.com and let us know how many kits you’d like to order and how many you’d like color-coded vs. all-white. The current lead time for new orders is 4 months (i.e., your order will ship no later than 4 months after your order is received). For more details on the kit, check out this informational brochure (PDF).

Kit components

Kit part checklist

Need to check that your kit has all of its components or order replacement parts? Download this two-page PDF with images and labels of all the kit components.

Preview of two-page kit part checklist

Branchial arches

If you need to replace the branchial arches in your kit, just download this PDF and print it out on card stock paper!

Dogfish shark skull branchial arch printable PDF with cut out instructions and color coding by gill arch derivation

Updates to this kit

Next version

Version 1.1 (released March 14, 2024)

  • Beveled the edges of all hooks, pegs and some of the letters on the 3D printed parts to reduce the number of sharp edges and corners.
  • Increased width of all ligament peg bases to lessen the risk of them breaking off.
  • Added graphical separation among constituent elements of branchial arches (pharyngo-, epi-, cerato-, and hyo-) in 2D paper cut-out.
  • For the white version of the kit (not color-coded), removed the roman numeral labels from the brain model since the white version is typically used for student assessment.
  • For the white version of the kit (not color-coded), replaced the multicolored pipe cleaners with white pipe cleaners to remove any color cues since the white version is typically used for student assessment.
  • Created a quick demo video to show how to assemble the shark skull and simulate all the jaw motions with and without muscles attached.

How we made this kit

For more details on how and why we developed this kit, please see the video below.