dissections

[Denisemomof4]

I'm wondering if any of you have done any dissections? I can't/won't do a frog, cat, or pig for personal reasons, but I saw Tobin's Lab had a crayfish that's injected to show the circular system. I'm going to be helping out with a circulation class and thought the crayfish dissection may be good, and perhaps an earth worm for the younger kids.

 

Has anyone done this? In put??

 

Thanks!!!

 

Denise

 

ps - would LOVE to dissect a heart but think the age range is too young for that. The kids will be around 10, with some younger kids 7 - 9.

 

OH MY - I *AM* a homeschool mom!!!!! What's a circular system?????

 

Oh me oh my. Circulation. Oh how embarrassing....

Edited April 1, 2010 by Denisemomof4

[Catiejoy]

Have you considered digital frog- it is a computer program-right now homeschool buyers coop has a group buy-

[shalom22]

We have done a dissection of a chicken wing. It was great for a beginning and intro to dissection without to much gross factor. My daughter really enjoyed, but my son did get a little squimish. I don't know if he could make it through anything too involved.

 

We will be doing a worm in their biology course coming up. We will see how that goes.

[cassiemc]

We dissected a cow's eye last month. I love anatomy and biology. We will be doing lots more dissections as the kids get older. I dissected pretty much everything in highschool and college. My kids did great with the eye and my dd just asked to do a cow's heart. I ordered from Carolina Biological Supply.

[Lolly]

Oh yes! I started doing them when my kids were fairly little. (Probably 4,6,8). We did they on the little plastic picnic table outside to keep the smell down. Started off with an eyeball. Have done brain, kidneys, heart, worm, fetal pig. Honestly, the bigger the more interesting and less gross. It makes biology a breeze in high school.:lol:

[Karis]

Froguts is a great alternative!

 

 

I think it's simply www.froguts.com

[AFwife Claire]

I led a crayfish dissection for our CC group, so it included kids from age 4 up to 6th grade. I have a degree in biology, but I also found lots of online dissection instructions for crayfish that made it easy for anyone to do. Our crayfish was not injected, which does make it easier to see the circ. system, but it was interesting and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. No one thought it was too gross (well, some of the girls didn't like the smell, LOL).

[newbie]

Froguts is a great alternative!

 

 

I think it's simply www.froguts.com

 

:iagree::iagree:

[Chris in VA]

Ds did an earthworm, a fish, and a frog when he did Apologia Bio in 9th grade. He also did a cow's eye in 7th grade ps.

 

He wasn't really into it.

 

Don't think dd will do them the same way--she'll be interested, but probably feel bad for the animal.

[Liz CA]

Several years ago ds and I (well mostly he)dissected a sheep's brain. It did not resemble any living thing, so I was okay with it - and it was interesting. I believe we did this with the ABeka Science program.

[gaillardia]

Son dissected starfish and clam. It seemed like the specimens were not as well preserved as we thought they should be, not that they had spoiled. But the shark spoiled and he couldn't do that one. ew.

I think there are issues with dissecting, no, it's not really necessary. But for someone who is going into a career in biology, it is necessary.

Don't forget the gloves.

[Mrs Mungo]

We've done a worm, a crayfish and a perch. We have a frog ready to go.

[Mergath]

I haven't done any dissections as a parent, but in high school I dissected an earthworm and a frog, and I got to assist when the biology teacher dissected a cat. I never had any problems with it, as the fascination far outweighed the ick factor for me. And to this day, I still make jokes about how I know from personal experience that there's more than one way to skin a cat. Heh.

 

Sorry, I have a twisted sense of humor. :P

[lllll]

We bought cow eyeballs from a slaughterhouse and did those. Mostly, though, I've always used dead things we find wherever we go. Sounds gross, I know, but we do run across various dead things. The cat has brought in mice and flying squirrels. Our male cat has killed 3 grown gray squirrels. The dc find dead (and live) creatures of all kinds in the garden all the time. Birds frequently fly into our windows and die. The stream is loaded with creatures. We kill any poisonous snakes which we find near the house. (ds skinned one of those last year) We don't dissect every single thing, but we do examine and discuss them before tossing them. Once I made them stop on the side of the road to pick up a wild turkey which had been hit by another car (it was long dead). After examining it, we put it out back for the bears, who love 'aged' meat. It was gone the next day.

 

Keep your eyes open. :D

[Mejane]

I did a fetal pig, cow eyeball and cat in college. I actually thought it was fascinating. My kids refuse to dissect anything, so I'm glad there are alternatives for them.