The Inside Story: Dissection Materials Needed!

My Students

My students come to school every day to learn biology in a school built 90 years ago, with minimal access to relevant technology. This year, I would like to move beyond websites and videos when teaching body systems by providing my students with preserved biological specimens for dissection.

My students are a wonderful group of people.

They come from all over the world, with over half of my students speaking multiple languages. They are kind, ambitious, and excited to learn. Several of my students are considering careers in health care, and have specifically requested the opportunity to dissect real biological tissues. Our school has dissection equipment, but lacks dedicated funding to supply specimens for dissection.

My Project

I am fortunate to teach biology in a classroom renovated several decades ago to serve as a chemistry lab. Therefore, we have ample bench space for students to work in small groups while conducting the dissection activities. The frog dissection will provide students with an opportunity to study the organ systems in a whole organism. The pig heart, cow eye, and sheep brain will provide students with access to complex organ tissue from larger animals. This work will directly support student mastery of the Next Generation Science Standard HS-LS1-2 (Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms).

Every year during Open House, the one question I receive from nearly every parent is: "Will my child get to dissect a frog?" It's the one thing they remember from biology class.

While the study of biology has changed a lot in a generation, students still want to know, in as real a way as possible, what is going on inside of them. Dissection not only provides a shared learning experience between parents and their children, it inspires students to consider careers in science and health care.