Holler for a Hands-On, Highly Respectful Pig Dissection!
My students need a set of dissection equipment and specimens to dissect for our 12th grade Environmental Health course.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Urkov's classroom raised $535
This project is fully funded
My Students
Budding health science professionals over here! My students live in an extreme poverty area with higher than average rates of asthma, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Dissection will help them better understand how body parts interact and how diseases like these affect the body.
My students are fun, loving, eager to be challenged, and many of them are about to go on to college next year.
My students are all African American, 99.3% of them live in what is considered extreme poverty, and many of them have a close family member who is affected by an easily preventable non-communicable disease.
My school is a public charter school in Chicago. Every day, students face down serious safety threats and personal challenges in order to attend school, and unfortunately, many of their classes have inadvertently failed them.
On average, they will graduate high school with an elementary school reading level. They will get to college, but statistically speaking, a majority of them will drop out. In my class, I try to inspire them by teaching them critical thinking skills and scientific inquiry skills that will allow them to make the most out of their brains and hopefully will give them the tools necessary to make it THROUGH college!
My Project
In our senior-level science class, we are currently learning how each of the major body systems in the mammalian body is structured (anatomy) and functions (physiology). My students are in love with the material and beg nearly every day to do a dissection. I have personally struggled with the idea of a real dissection vs. a virtual dissection, as I am a vegetarian and dislike the idea of using real animals as teaching tools.
However, when I think back to the experience that sparked my own interest in life sciences, it was from my high school biology class during the dissection unit. I still vividly remember the feeling of seeing all the body parts that were previously just abstract ideas that were hidden away inside my body.
I will absolutely approach this dissection with the utmost respect for the animals that we will use. I will make sure each student acts with that same respect as well.
When I was able to purchase one sheep brain during our Nervous System unit, I asked for students to come help me dissect it in front of the class and almost every hand in the room shot up, some students jumped out of their seats because they wanted to help so badly.
By funding this project, you are helping students cultivate a passion for the medical profession and science in general that many of them might not otherwise have. You are also giving them an experience that they will never forget.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Urkov and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.