This is page has been made to help the younger student (from K to 12) understand some of the basics of how an embryo grows.
In humans, the growth of a baby inside a mother takes about 9 months.
In mice, rats and birds this growth only takes about 3 weeks.
How long does it take for cats and dogs to develop?
During this time a single cell will grow into many different cell types with different shapes and jobs to do in the body. A similar process will occur in all different embryos. In humans, many important changes occur in the first few weeks of development and much of the following 9 months is growth.
Lets now follow the growth and changes in the embryo over time.
Click here to Go to Week 1
Movie of Human Embryo Growth (this shows a human embryo growing, all images are to scale)
Movie of Limb Growth(this shows development of the human arm from bud to paddle, to hand with arm)
Movie of Mouse Embryo Growth (this shows a mouse embryo growing)
Movie of Rotating Embryo(this shows an early embryo from all angles)
All Moviesthis shows many different ways of looking in at changes in different embryos.
Home Page
Embryo stages
Fetus
Dev Notes 1
Dev Notes 2
System Notes
Acknowledgements
K12
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5 to 8
Arm and Leg Development
Week 9 to 12
Week 13 to 15
Week 16 to 20
Week 21 to 25
Week 26 to 29
Week 30 to 34
Week 35 to 38
Birth
Movies
Class Notes
Serial Images
K12 Students
Abnormal
Embryology in the News
Histology
Site Map
School of Med Sci
UNSW Medicine
University of NSW
UNSW Cell Biology
NCBI Books
Dev Biol (Gilbert)
Teachers Note- These notes are still not yet complete.
It is also difficult to make notes suitable to cover the entire K -12 age group.
For younger students I suggest showing the movies of embryo growth and other movies. Also the Other Embryos pages also has many pictures of different embryos.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.