lotsofpumpkins Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 We are going to be studying the human body next year, and I was wondering if I should get a dissection kit (cow's eye, sheep's heart, etc). I'd probably only get one kit for all of us to use together. This would be for 2nd, 4th, and 5th graders; I'm sure the K'er and PreK'er would want to watch too. Is it worth it for this age? Or should I save it for high school biology? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Mine loved it in 4th/2nd. After cutting and identifying frogs insides they continued to "play" with it. Cuttting different bits to compare under microscope. Seeing if a particular bit was muscle or fat... I finally had to say enough and throw it out after a few hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 My kids thought the dissections were the greatest thing we ever did. :tongue_smilie: I would get at *least* two of each, because we messed up one of our cow eyeballs. There are videos on YouTube showing professors walking lab students through the dissections - and there are videos on the cow eye. We watched videos ahead of time, listened to the professor label the parts and listened to a small talk about each part. Also, we ordered our kits from here: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/ The kits were in great shape and came with dissection guides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Ok serious question. What makes these organs different from something you can get at a butcher (i.e. "regular" organs)? I used to buy beef heart and liver for my cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Ok serious question. What makes these organs different from something you can get at a butcher (i.e. "regular" organs)? I used to buy beef heart and liver for my cat. They're preserved so that they don't decay, and usually injected with dyes to make the veins and arteries more apparent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I'd save it for biology closer to highschool. We did it in a first round biology co-op. The kids thought it was cool, but didn't really learn a lot and weren't careful with procedures. This year, my older dd used some of the Uncover a .. books like Uncover a Frog and really learned about the anatomy of animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I'd say it would be fun....it depends on your kids. (I'm a huge fan of dissection, however, I know at least one of my kids would gag himself to death if we tried.) Have you thought about owl pellets? I played with those in the elementary grades and really enjoyed it....we had cards with animal skeletons and had to match what we found to the chart. Might be a nice way to start out...a little less intense? Otherwise I'd say go for it. You can always do it again, right? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsofpumpkins Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 I'd say it would be fun....it depends on your kids. (I'm a huge fan of dissection, however, I know at least one of my kids would gag himself to death if we tried.) Have you thought about owl pellets? I played with those in the elementary grades and really enjoyed it....we had cards with animal skeletons and had to match what we found to the chart. Might be a nice way to start out...a little less intense? Otherwise I'd say go for it. You can always do it again, right? ;) We did the owl pellets a year or so ago, and they enjoyed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I bought Frog and Rat dissection apps on the iPad for my DD7, since I'm pretty sure she doesn't have the fine motor control to do the real thing without messing up the organs. She's taken apart those poor digital critters again and again-and at $2.99/app, I think that's about what it would cost to buy a preserved specimen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.