Warning, this article contains dissection images
This term our Year 8 students had the opportunity of joining the extra-curricular Dissection club. The club was designed to enrich the learning of pupils who were interested in biology, exploring the structure of organs and wanted to practise using clinical equipment and develop their observational skills.
Over the four weeks of the club, students were shown and then guided on how to dissect a heart, lungs, fish head and eyeball for themselves to learn about the structure of each organ and gain a deeper understanding of how they work.
Heart
Students got to feel the different blood vessels in the heart, as well as other structures in the heart, like valves. They started to practise their dissection skills.
Lungs
Students got to watch how the lungs increase in size as they inflate. They also got to feel the trachea and find structures inside the lungs like bronchioles and alveoli.
Fish heads
Students got to further practice their dissection skills by removing the gills, seeing how they make up a huge surface area for gas exchange. They also practised dissecting the eyes before the final week…
…Eyeball
Students got to use their now well-practised dissection skills with the delicate cows’ eyeballs. They got to look through the lens of the cow and see features like the retina and the optic nerve.