Night Elf Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My son will be starting Biology with Keystone and we'll be receiving a lab pack that includes: mollusk (clam or mussel), earthworm, crayfish, grasshopper, fish, and frog. I checked out Froguts but they don't have everything that is on this list. My ds14 is already upset at the idea of doing this. Of course, we haven't even gotten the materials yet so I don't know what they expect after dissection, i.e. lab reports, papers, diagrams, etc. Have you had a child totally freaked out abour dissection? How did you handle this? When I was in school, both high school and college, I had a lab partner that was all too happy to do the dissection part and I wrote up all the papers. We obviously don't have a setup like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msk Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 What part freaks him out? The cutting? The dead animal? If you can figure out what the underlying issue is, it'll be easier to get past. It seems like starting with the mollusk or worm (which I would bet is what the program schedules anyway) would ease him into it-- those creatures barely qualify as animals to most people. If you make that really fun and interesting, by the time you get to the frog (last), it won't be such a big deal. I'm assuming since you're doing this dissection that you're not vegetarians? Maybe buying your dinnertime chicken whole rather than as packaged parts would help. You could start by teaching him the "manly" skill of carving a whole roast bird (think Norman Rockwell paintings, etc), and once he's "good at it" then draw on his fabulous new skills to help you cut up whole raw chickens during dinner prep. If he can do this without catching on that it's related to school in any way, once he's totally comfortable with it (which may take a while) you can point out that he's already gotten very good at doing partial dissections. You could also try serving various cuts of chicken, beef, and fish that still contain bones as often as you can. Anything to help him realize (without overtly talking about it) that dead animals are part of our daily lives, nothing unusual or gross at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Start with the least "offensive animal" and have her watch some online dissections first. There are several science sites with videos. You may want to avoid the frog if possible. I've never done Keystone so I don't know what is required. But, we do a perch, grasshopper, anything in it's place. This is because, though I am not normally squeamish in any way about dissections, I had a pet frog as a kid and so I have this emotional problem with doing the frog. Assure your daughter that it is not bloody. Dissection specimans are preserved without body fluids so there isn't any feeling of oozing and the smell isn't bad because formeldehyde (a carcinogen) is no longer used as a preservative. But, I have found that some of my dissection students did a lot better with the idea of "sterile", as in medically sterile. So, I would give them a dissection apron, medical mask, nitrile gloves (I don't use latex anymore because of possible allergies), and let them kind of lean back away from the pan a little. They usually managed to make it through okay. Something about wearing the medical attire made it feel more clinical and aloof instead of personal. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Could you be his "lab partner" and do at least some of the dissections while he watched and took notes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 He said it's the idea of messing around with dead animals that bothers him. He doesn't like the idea of squishy parts or bad smells. I didn't know formeldehyde wasn't used anymore. I'm interested in seeing how these things are going to be delivered to us. eww.. :) DH and I told him we would help out with the cutting. He agreed to give it a try if we would help him. I just need to get my hands on the schedule to find out how it's all planned out. Just the sound of the word 'biology' upset him because he knows the dissection is required, so his worry is like putting the cart before the horse. Hopefully it won't be as bad as he fears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 He said it's the idea of messing around with dead animals that bothers him. He doesn't like the idea of squishy parts or bad smells. I didn't know formeldehyde wasn't used anymore. I'm interested in seeing how these things are going to be delivered to us. eww.. :) They'll most likely be delivered vacuum-sealed in plastic bags. They're not floating in juices or anything yucky. They are pretty dry and rubbery, to be honest. They're not all that squishy, even. There's hardly a smell either. Much different from when I was in high school, and you could smell the dissections through the entire school building! I definitely agree with starting with the clam or the earthworm--they're not really cuddly things you get attached to, you know? And they hardly have any organs, so the dissection is over quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 It is quite interesting. Neither of my dc minded, I did help with some of the cutting. Once you get inside, you do need help. We had trouble figuring out what everything was because it didn't look like the diagram. If a science museum has someone, or anyone to help that knows (my friend's dentist helped them), it would just make it easier to figure out what all the parts are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 It is quite interesting. Neither of my dc minded, I did help with some of the cutting. Once you get inside, you do need help. We had trouble figuring out what everything was because it didn't look like the diagram. If a science museum has someone, or anyone to help that knows (my friend's dentist helped them), it would just make it easier to figure out what all the parts are. I recommend watching a few dissections on youtube. There are usually several of each specimen to choose from--some are WAY better than others, but you want ones where the teacher is clearly explaining what each part is, not where the students are just goofing off, LOL. That will help you know what you are looking for, at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 I recommend watching a few dissections on youtube. There are usually several of each specimen to choose from--some are WAY better than others, but you want ones where the teacher is clearly explaining what each part is, not where the students are just goofing off, LOL. That will help you know what you are looking for, at least. That sounds like a good idea. Thanks everyone! We're a little less nervous now. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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