You have just read an advertisement for a new drug that claims people who take it can get muscular bodies without spending months lifting weights in the gym. The drug stimulates muscle growth in the same way that weight lifting does, which is to

Question

A.  stimulate existing muscle fibers to divide.
B.  stimulate growth in the size of existing muscle fibers.
C.  stimulate an increase in the proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibers.
D.  stimulate existing muscle fibers to fuse with one another.
E.  turn surrounding connective tissue into muscle tissue.

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
· What do you know about how weight lifting increases muscle strength? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

B.  stimulate growth in the size of existing muscle fibers.

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        o The question asks about how weight lifting increases muscle strength.
· What type of thinking is required?
        o You are being asked to apply your knowledge about how weight lifting increases muscle strength.

Gather Content
· What do you know about how weight lifting increases muscle strength? What other information is related to the question?
        o Endurance training does not increase muscle size and increases the proportion of slow twitch muscle fibers. Muscle enlargement is produced only by frequent periods of high-intensity exercise in which muscles work against high resistance, as in weight lifting. Resistance training increases the thickness of fast-twitch muscle fibers, causing skeletal muscles to grow by hypertrophy (increased cell size) rather than by cell division and an increased number of cells.

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        o Weight lifting stimulates the growth in the size of existing muscle fibers, not the number of muscle fibers. So if the drug works like weight lifting the size of existing muscle fibers will increase. The number of cells and proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibers will not increase.

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o This question asked you to apply your knowledge about how weight lifting increases muscle strength. If you got the correct answer, great job! If you got an incorrect answer, where did the process break down? Did you think that the number of muscle fibers would increase? Did you think that the proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibers would increase?