While goggles, gloves, and aprons may not seem like appropriate fashion for most students, Zoology students see these accessories as essentials during class.
“I look like a doctor. What’s not cool about that? I just need a lab coat,” Jonathan Casto (12) said.
These accessories served as protection for the Zoology students during their frog dissection that they engaged in during class from Oct. 21-22.
“I am the only Zoology teacher. There are five classes each semester. I teach Zoology during periods 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 with a total of 159 students this semester,” Mrs. Moreno, Science, said.
The frog dissection was just one of the four animals that the Zoology class will dissect during the semester course.
“It was a very fun experience. It’s cool [because] you get to apply what we had to learn about. Instead of just sitting through the lecture, you actually get to see what you were just watching,” Casto said.
Students in the Zoology course are guided through the dissection with a handout of information. During the dissection, they touched and viewed the frog’s moist skin, webbed feet, lungs and three-chambered heart. By the end of the dissection, students are expected to be better aware of the animal parts they dissected.
“It’s gross, but I’m over it. We’ve done other dissections, so we’re kind of used to it,” Rachael Peterson (12) said.
The first animal that the students investigated through dissection was the spiny dogfish shark.
“[The shark] was more interesting and bigger to work with,” Peterson said.
The next animal students will learn about and dissect will be the pigeon. Many students are anticipating the fetal pig dissection, which will follow the pigeon dissection.
“I’m excited to dissect the pig. It’ll be something different,” Morgan Olson (11) said.
Students in Zoology engage in often once in a lifetime learning experiences through this class.
“I love to see the students really get involved with the dissections. They see pictures and watch dissection videos, but nothing compares to this hands-on experience. It’s amazing to me to see that sometimes the quietest student in the class will be the one that loves to get their hands dirty with dissections,” Mrs. Moreno said.
