How important is disection for biology? (m)

[Kate CA]

I really have no idea if these kinds of things are necessary, but if they are, I want to do them. Does it matter if one's child is not going to go to a four-year school right off the bat? (It is more likely they will attend a junior college in our area first.) I have no intention of skimping if it is truly of value, but is it?

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter.

Warmly,
Kate

[RoughCollie]

I don't think it is necessary. Our local PS gives students a choice between dissecting and doing something comparable -- what that is, I don't know.

I do know that there are websites at which kids can virtually dissect animals.

We bought the animals for dissection, but never used them because (a) I let them sit around in the fridge for so long that I got tired of them and tossed them, and (b) my kids were too squeamish and I didn't feel like fighting the battle.

I loved dissection in high school, although I was squeamish about it at first. Maybe I'll try again with my kids.

But is it necessary? I don't think so.

RC

[Gwen in VA]

I have had two kids get into "elite" schools with no biology labs whatsoever.

My kids did both do physics labs, and one did chemistry labs (though one didn't), but no biology labs here.

My next child will be doing biology next year. We are not planning on doing any labs, but he will look at some online dissections.

[PamInMN]

I have a degree in Biology....... dissected tons of things in college....... I don't think it's necessary........ useful, perhaps... but not necessary. A frog is a good one to do if you are only going to do one critter..... fairly straight forward and has good parallels to human anatomy.

[Blue Hen]

We did a few days of dissection this year (the photos are on my blog) but unless I had a kid really, really pushing for it, I wouldn't bother. As we did our dissections we also used the net and followed along virtual dissections. In hindsight I wish I would have saved the money on the specimens and just used the nets virtual dissections. I found them by doing google searches.

[Kelli in TN]

We did them because the highschoolers I have had so far wanted to do them.

Like the others, I don't think it matters all that much.

[TRILLIUM]

My dh is a prof in the department of Cell and Molecular Biology--unless they've changed their name. He says disection is of limited value in modern Biology. Although his experimental work does involve the dissection of mice to remove and study the development of the gut.

There has been an explosion of biological knowledge in the last 40 years, most of which is on the molecular and Cellular levels. BTW none of the required labs for AP Biology are dissections.

[Kate CA]

Wow, thank you very much! I really appreciate all the responses!

Warmly,
Kate

[Tina]

Thanks so much for asking this question! I just plan to do the virtual frog dissection in our biology class, so now I feel much better. A friend just told me that her son only did one dissection in college!

I'll just make sure we do lots of other lab work. :)

[Eliana]

Here are a few links. The first two should reassure you about the 'necessity' of dissection. The last two take you to some specific virtual dissection products. (Another alternative: instead of dissecting an earthworm, you can place a live worm in a capillary tube and observe it under a microscope - you can see the nephridia in action!)




BTW, there are a lot of great resources online for planning bio labs! Many classes, on the high school and college level, have a lot of their lab sheets up online, including the background reading material in many cases. (I did a project for a college bio teacher in which I gathered a lot of outside material and made suggestions about what could be added/substituted to her lab packets - it was great fun & it gave me a sense of just how much there is out there.)



Eliana



http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/animal.htm

http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/animals_in_education/comparative_studies_of_dissection_and_other_animal _uses.html


http://www.digitalfrog.com/products/frog.html


The Digital Frog 2 is the newest version of our award-winning frog dissection, anatomy and ecology program. Like all Digital Frog International CD-ROMs, it uses the full spectrum of multimedia technologies—full-motion (and full-screen) video, animation, sounds, narration, in-depth text and still images—to bring teaching dissection and anatomy to life.”

“The Dissection module allows students to perform an entire frog dissection. They can make cuts with a "digital scalpel" and then see the actual cuts with full-screen videos. And unlike a real dissection, mistakes are easily corrected.
The Anatomy module, with its animation, movies, photographs and in-depth text, seamlessly links from the dissection, providing a close-at-hand research as students work through the dissection. Comparisons to human anatomy is also only a click away.
The Ecology section rounds out the educational experience by giving students insight into species diversity, frog calls, behavior and the life cycle.”


http://209.35.124.140/catworks/

“CatWorks CD-ROM offers the user an opportunity to perform exciting, highly accurate, electronic dissections of the common house cat. Through the use of special cursors and buttons, the user is actually able to "dissect" nearly all areas of the cat's anatomy. QuickTime movies show selected portions of actual dissections along with voice descriptions of the procedures being performed.

[Jan P.]

My ds applied to four colleges last year. Not one college asked about science labs. My dc do not want to do any type of dissections. I personally would like to do them, but I was a wildlife and fisheries science major in college. Dissections were routine labs for me. However, dh doesn't care for us to do them. If I do them, then I would have to do them outside. I'm sure my black lab would love to get a hold of the specimens!!

I did have my ds do microscopic labs. I think any child can learn to use a microscope correctly unless than have a handicap that prevents them from doing so.

FWIW,

[Gwen in VA]

I must have had a disability! I never took biology in college, but in high school my lab partners always had to sex the drosophila -- I couldn't tell the male from the female! :(

[Michelle in MO]

I have had two kids get into "elite" schools with no biology labs whatsoever.

My kids did both do physics labs, and one did chemistry labs (though one didn't), but no biology labs here.

My next child will be doing biology next year. We are not planning on doing any labs, but he will look at some online dissections.

I know you're very gifted in science, and I don't know what curriculum you used for h.s. science, but it's a relief to hear a science-minded mom say this! My oldest did Apologia Biology last year, and I was so concerned that we do as many labs as possible. She did two of the dissections while I took photos, to prove that we'd done them!