While not nearly the same experience as dissecting in person, the videos below are the next best thing to learning about the anatomy of an organism with organ systems remarkably similar to humans: pigs!  Watch, learn, and consider following along with the Fetal Pig Dissection Lab guide.

The videos below are recommended but may not be accessible from school district computers due to age-restriction settings.

When finished, return to Week 38 – Dissection Lab and continue working.

Every year when we do dissections, there are always students who are shocked to find out they are absolutely fascinated by anatomy.  In fact, the students who are often the most reluctant before the dissection lab tend to be the most excited about it by the end.  Understanding the anatomy of different animals not only helps us better understand the world around us, it helps us better understand ourselves.  An appreciation of animal anatomy can open our minds to considering a variety of career paths.  Science and Medicine have vast numbers of careers that require varying levels of understanding anatomy: doctors, nurses, veterinarians, dentists, scientists, and all of the technical staff that support them.  But there are so many other careers out there.  Chefs and Head Cooks have to understand how to prepare different cuts of meat.  Butchers are even closer to the source: they are experts in the field of removing meat from a source animal and providing those cuts for us to eat.

It’s important to understand where our food comes from, and to appreciate the people who make it possible for us to eat without having to go out and catch our own food.  In the future, the career of butcher may transform into a career of food scientist specializing in the production of lab-grown meat.  Check out that future career below:

When finished, return to Week 38 – Dissection Lab and continue working.

Welcome to Week 38!  For our final lesson of the 2019-20 school year, you will be dissecting a fetal pig…from a distance!  If our school year had not abruptly changed, you would have had the opportunity to dissect a fetal pig during biology class.  With distance learning comes distance dissection.  Let’s get to it!

1. Week 38 Attendance Check-In (required by 10am 6/12)
2. Fetal Pig Dissection
3. Career Exploration: Butcher
4. NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge: Meatless Mondays

That’s it!  No new assignments this week (spoiler alert: no new assignments next week either).  Please make sure you have everything turned in by June 19.  It has been my absolute pleasure teaching you biology this year.  What a year to remember!

Remember, you can email me any time.  Office hours for Science are Tuesdays from 11am-12pm and Thursdays from 1pm-2pm.  Check your student Gmail for Zoom instructions.