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Many parents of high school students recall their high school biology class and enjoy a wide range of emotions from their dissection experience; the smell being the number one memory!  (Nowadays, the preservative that science companies use has very little formaldehyde, so the smell is not nearly as bad as in the past.)

 
What can a parent do about the dissections?

 
More and more traditional schools are having less and less dissections for the students, budget being the main reason given.  I highly recommend dissections because it gives the student something concrete to relate to the learning material.  If a student can know where an organism’s different organs are located, it will help to remember how they work and how they work together.  If a student can see the structure of an organ, it will help to remember its function.

 
Here are a few dissection options:

Internet dissections

There are virtual frog dissections online that students can access. These are great for the squeamish for there is no mess and no smell, and are for the visual learners.  These are limited in variety of organisms for dissection; I was only able to find a few frog web sites:

  http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/

 http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/

There is a web site that sells a cd/ internet subscription which shows, virtually, a fetal pig, owl pellet, cow eye, squid, starfish and frog:  http://www.froguts.com/flash_content/index.html

Computer programs

 These are similar to the internet dissections.  They are interactive and the benefit is: no smell or mess.  The computer programs tend to have many more learning opportunities than online.

 
For $170, you can get what looks like a great CD-ROM for the frog dissections at http://www.digitalfrog.com/products/frog.html

I have never checked out the computer programming from these folks, but it might be worth looking into:

http://animalearn.org/sciencebank.php

 
This site shows many various programs available for many different dissections, from prices as low as $24 to over $200:

http://www.neotek.com/Educational_Titles.htm#CatLab

Plastic models

These are for the more kinesthetic learner.  They tend to be very expensive and not every organism has a model available.  But, there is no smell or mess!  Carolina Biological Supply Company has the frog for $524!

Preserved specimens

These are inexpensive and are great for the visual and kinesthetic learners.  Even though the preservative changes the color of all the ‘parts’ into various shades of grey, they show the placement of organs and how all the inner parts of the creature are interconnected.  This is the best way to learn dissections because it allows the student to ‘open up and explore’.  Plus,  just about every organism desired exists as a preserved specimen.  Once the organism has been opened, the various organs can be gently moved to see how they are interrelated and how everything is connected.  There are books available to lead and guide the student in ‘how to’ dissect a particular organism.  “How To Dissect” is one that can help.  Carolina Biological is a company that sells certain preserved specimens to home schoolers.

For more information and FAQS about teaching the different high school sciences, see Bridget’s web site at   http://www.scienceforhighschool.com.

Bridget Ardoin is a homeschooling mother, teacher and author of the high school science series Science For High School.The biology, chemistry and physical science curriculums that Bridget Ardoin has been teaching for years are now available for purchase on her website at http://www.scienceforhighschool.com .  She even has materials such as dissection kits, specimens and more! 

Bridget Ardoin

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