Frog dissection with younger children?

[8mittens]

We have two dissection frogs and a dissection kit and after months of procrastination I am finally ready to get this project underway.

Has anyone done this with younger children? Any suggestions, warnings, etc.?

My children are not squeamish (they've caught and cleaned their share of large fish) and neither am I. We don't have a dissection guide, and have no way of getting one, so unless I find one online --I've looked to no avail--we'll just open them up and see what we learn.

Would love to hear about your experiences with dissection.

[5knights3maidens]

http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets.php


http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/frog2



http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/reptile-amphibian-comparative-dissection-guide.html

I hope these work!

[Jenny in Atl]

Just be ready for the smell. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/aljen1111/100_0877.jpg

[5knights3maidens]

Actually, it didn't smell bad at all, to me or my ds. My older dd said she could smell it. I guess it depends on the person.

[Jenny in Atl]

What kind of kit did you use? Ours used good old formaldehyde and smelled awful. We did a frog, clam, starfish and perch.

[Fran51]

This is a virtual dissection -- maybe it would assist you since you don't have a guide. Good luck!

http://froggy.lbl.gov/virtual/

[5knights3maidens]

We got them from tobins lab; link in above post.

[KAR120C]

We did frogs with three 6 and 7 year olds and it was really excellent... My only trick was that ~I~ got a frog (which I took apart carefully and showed them pieces of as we went), and they each got a frog (which they chopped up more or less randomly...) That way they saw everything they were supposed to see, but weren't responsible for the careful disassembly process.

The other thing was that we had our microscope handy. Ours is a Digital Blue (kids' scope, but USB so it displays on the computer and you can take pictures) and the kids loved being able to throw whatever under the scope and see it up close.

[5knights3maidens]

How much is that microscope? We have to get one this next year for dd going in to 9th.
Thanks.

[KAR120C]

How much is that microscope? We have to get one this next year for dd going in to 9th.
Thanks.
The one we have is a Digital Blue and about $100, but I think it's more of a kid thing than a high school thing... I think if I were going USB for high school I'd go with a good quality regular scope and a USB eyepiece adapter.