In all honesty, I don't think many of you readers will have a problem looking at pictures of high school dissection, but as a precaution: if you have problems with images of animals being used for educational dissection then you may want to go read another blog. Shout out to MBA with her blog Farm to Classroom. Go check it out if you feel squeamish with this topic, or just because it's amazing!
Dissection in the classroom is great for a number of reasons. Susan Offner has a great article talking about
Dissection in the classroom is great for a number of reasons. Susan Offner has a great article talking about
The structure of the brain and sizes of its components show how a shark "thinks" or doesn't think and just acts on reflexes. When a student is able to hold the brain in their hands a flood of questions come rushing out that they wouldn't have thought of before.
Here is a video of my classroom where we are working with pig hearts. Even my students who don't usually find enjoyment in slicing up things in lab found it fun to be able to trace the pathway of blood through the heart with their own hands. This is something that Elizondo Rodrigo covers in his article. Students learn through many different modalities, lecture and images can only cover a couple of these learning styles. We need something for those hands-on learners that can't get a grasp for a tricuspid valve until they are actually feeling one with their own fingers. We need to do everything we can as educators to make sure ALL of our students have a handle on what we are teaching.
So get out your gloves and scalpels and lets cut stuff open!
So get out your gloves and scalpels and lets cut stuff open!