Continuation of virtual dissections

The easiest way to use the frog guts dissection simulation was by doing a google search on Frog Dissection Games. Through this search I came up with a website called http://www.roketoyun.com/frog-dissection.asp and it allows you to virtually use tools to cut open a frog and identify 5 or six organs. in my opinion, pretty lame.

The students don't get a feel for the pressure they need to apply to the instruments, nor can they feel how hard or soft they need to use an instrument like a scalpel to cut away the organs in order to identify those underneath.

What sort of generation of people are we raising that students get there memorable experiences through virtual reality. After reviewing some of the free online simulations I say, "Let the squemish sit out the activities that require actual human presence!" Do the virtual stuff for home work!

Real!

Fake!!! See the difference.

Virtual Dissections

In response to student distaste for actual dissections, I'd like to post some links to virtual dissections.

Many of the students became ill and carried on as if I were asking them to cut up up live human beings. These students were sent to the library to complete Amphibian chapter questions from the text. needless to say, this activity was not interactive.

Here is a review of several websites that allow students to see how to dissect a  frog for comparative anatomy purposes.
Virtual Frog Dissection

www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL.../BL_16.html 

This website uses computer generated, 3-D images to demonstrate the dissection procedure and location of organs once the abdominal muscles are penetrated. What is really nice about this website is that the student may play video segments that go through the dissection step by step.

http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/frog_alternative.html

The above link is a nice alternative lesson using the Virtual Frog Dissection above. There are nice slide shows with labels on completing a frog dissection. 

 Many of the online dissection websites I visited were just plain lame. For example, froguts.com is impossible to navigate. No matter what clicked on, I was lead to dead end pages. I did however reach pages that were advertisements for software that will probably become obsolete tomorrow.

High School Biology Dissections

Today was a fun day of teaching. My students dissected pig uteri as the culmination of the sexual reproduction unit. They had a great time whether they thought it was awesome or gross. Students were able to identify the umbilical cord, placenta, and amniotic sac. I even let them take photos of their dissections to post on facebook later on their own time. So, even though its a memorable experience for high school freshmen, do they actually further their knowledge of the female reproductive system by pretending to be pig Obstetricians, or is it an activity to stall in anticipation of a new week when we can start fresh on a new topic?

I started asking as myself this question as I passed from lab station to lab station. I realized students were having fun dismantling their specimens, but I did not get the feeling that they were progressing in their knowledge of what it means to be pregnant. The purpose of the activity is to handle the female pig anatomy in order to make the connection between structure and function. I got the feeling that it was something fun for them because it had nothing to do with regents practice.

Prior to this lab activity we fully discussed the structures and hormones involved in pregnancy. Yesterday they took an exam on reproduction and actually did poorly overall. But, I do not think their grades overall would have improved if we completed the dissection lab before the exam. For example, I extracted one of the fetal pig lungs from one of the fetal pigs extracted by a lab team and asked around the class, "If I submerged this lung in water, would you expect it to float or sink?" Most of the students responded with blank stares, but a few reasoned that they would expect it to float because they're used for breathing and contain air. Not one student could make the connection on their own that the fetuses got all the oxygen they needed through the placenta and therefore, the lungs never contained air.

Many of the older teachers in the department have abandoned dissections all together, a practice I don't agree with. But, in this age of APPR, is it better to have fun and create an experience a student can look back on fondly, or is it better to look good in the eyes of the district by drilling students with regents practice so they become good test takers? It's a catch 22.

The more I think about it, the more I hate final exams.