Lisa, Sam, and I meet weekly to talk about plans for the 5/6 science program. We've been working through the human body systems for the first half of this year, and while we have done a number of cool demonstrations and simulations, it can be difficult to reconcile abstract images with the reality of flesh and bone. Our brainstorming eventually turned to the idea of dissections. It's hard to get more hands-on and experiential than an actual dissection.
Lisa, the consummate biologist, had no qualms at all. Sam and I, however, were the kids who opted out of the dissection labs as squeamish high schoolers. (See last week's blog entry on fear.) We have a particularly sensitive and thoughtful group of kids, so we naturally assumed that many of them would take issue with the notion of dissection for a host of reasons, ranging from ethical to squeamish. We decided to ask them if they were interested.
In our group, the answer was a resounding and unanimous YES. They were very excited about the prospect, and when Lisa arrived with a lamb pluck, they were very eager.
Visit Lisa's Science Blog for her entry (featuring a few graphic photos. Be advised!) on the activity. (She gets points for the best blog title as well: Hearts and Minds.)
I also got some fly-on-the-wall video footage. Take a look:
So much awesome here. One day, I'll tell your class about my Man-in-the-Pan class in college. It was like CSI but with organs only.
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