The kids have been dissecting several specimens in their biology studies this year, and it's been even more fun to do our labs with some of the other teens we've been meeting here.
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| Jarret sneaks up on Destry to introduce him to his frog |
It's been fun to see the individual personalities emerge. Jarret, of course, takes everything way too seriously. Or maybe that's Destry who is intent on being the first one to complete the lab sheet (every single lab).
Then you have the girls like Adalee and Briana who take their dear sweet time playing in the guts of the specimens and carefully identifying and preserving each body part.
Briana was even courteous enough to help Jarret decipher the mess he made of his specimen. I didn't get any pictures of Alexandra, but she and Bri were mostly grossed out by the specimens until Bri decided to see if kissing her frog would garner her a prince.
We have been dissecting fun creatures like earthworms, crayfish, grasshoppers, starfish, perches, and frogs. Our last and most exciting lab for the year will involve a fetal pig. Yes, the kids are rather excited about it.
Fortunately, we've had snacks like Monster Cookie Bars, cookies, and Cinnamon Roll cake available after each lab so Jarret didn't really have to eat his fish or frog. (Growing boys are always hungry, you know.)
The day we dissected the frogs, our lab ran over and Alan got home in time to join in on the fun. Who else but Alan would have come up with the idea to blow into the frog's lungs with a straw to watch them inflate and deflate? Don't worry, I didn't let him stick the straw back into my Pepsi.
shaking head.....only Alan would think to do that! I don't miss dissecting animals at all. We dissected cats in nursing school...yuck!
ReplyDeleteAlan really wanted them to dissect a cat, but they were 40+ apiece, so we decided to call the pigs good enough. Do you have a cheaper source??? :D
DeleteAlan = Genius
ReplyDeleteJohn
Heh, heh, heh, way to stick up for your friend! :) Yes, I'm quite sure the labs would be better if we scheduled them after he gets home from work. Maybe we'll do that with the pig!
DeleteJohn told me I needed to read his comment... which he made using my account, ha. :) I actually think that's a pretty neat thing to think of, and don't recall anybody thinking of it when I was in school. I would think I'd remember that... but then there probably weren't straws on hand either, and the teacher probably wouldn't have approved. Another (dubious?) advantage of homeschooling. :) We didn't dissect a cat, but we did do the fetal pig, as well as some but not all of what you've already done. The pig was by far the best dissection imo, b/c it was large enough to see things more easily. I think we had to share every time w/at least one other person, too, so your students are getting an advantage there for sure. And that's not even counting the snacks! :)
ReplyDeleteI just hope y'all washed your hands after dissecting and before eating. Somehow the smell of formaldehyde always kills my appetite.
ReplyDeleteCool. (Did you think I would say that?) But it is. One of the best classes we had at the Dept. of Conservation this year was dissecting owl pellets. Everybody loved it.
ReplyDelete