![]() The bones in the body are not only there to support the muscles when the frog is moving about. The frog skeleton also contains a lot more cartilage than yours to make it lighter. The bones of the second half of the spinal chord are fused together to form a rod (called the urostyle) between the sitting bones that propel the frog into the air. We added some fun facts and useful links for the curious.īy just looking at a frog's skeleton, you can already guess what is its favourite way of moving around – jumping! Powerful hind legs dominate the skeleton. It is our hope that teachers and pupils alike will be inspired by this Instructable on how to make your own ready-to-dissect frog. ![]() She would have loved to give her students more practical experience with animals, but ethical considerations and limited resources make it impossible for her to expose her students to anything more hands on than a YouTube video.Īs an engineer, an occupational therapist and a zoologist, we immediately put our heads together to design the perfect solution – an educational tool that would allow anyone to perform a virtual dissection of a frog! And the best part? It can all be done with bits and bobs lying around the house, with no background knowledge of frog anatomy whatsoever. However gross it might seem, this frog dissection is the starting point for understanding how our bodies work.Ī friend of ours, a high school biology teacher in a small rural town in South Africa, recently lamented the fact that this iconic activity is no longer part of the school curriculum. While dissection remains a controversial practice to some, Glotfelty says Taylor's turnaround exemplifies its power: that a kid who normally doesn't even like science can get downright excited about frog guts.What is one of the first things that come to mind when you think of a biology classroom? To some, it might be the dreaded frog dissection, a rite of passage for students of the life sciences the world over. One by one, Taylor and her team lay the organs on a laminated sheet of paper. "You might hear some popping and some crackling." This is the thing they want to do," Gotfelty says.Īnd, indeed, even the faint of heart now seem eager to get started, bouncing around their dissection trays.Īs for Taylor Smith, who says she doesn't like science - she's about to use tiny scissors to cut through the frog's collarbone. "They've been looking forward to this all year. The computer model helps kids understand anatomical theory, he says, but actual dissection engages them in a rare way. The National Science Teachers Association now asks educators to give students a choice, though it also insists on the fundamental importance of dissection as a teaching tool. At least nine other states have done the same.Ĭourtesy of Melissa Torres-Gutierrez Melissa Torres-Gutierrez, a student in Rob Glotfelty's life sciences lab, documents dissecting a frog.Įver since, computer-based models have been filtering their way into the classroom. She took her case to court, which ultimately led to a state law that requires students be given an alternative to real animals. ![]() But that changed in 1987, when 15-year-old Jenifer Graham of Victorville, Calif., refused to dissect a frog in her biology class. Using dead animals to make these connections used to be the only option for students, whether they liked it or not. "What does this particular organ feel like? How stiff is it? Is it compressible?" "There's something visceral and important about the real thing," says David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association. Rats, cats, and fetal pigs all give insight into how our own bodies work. In high school the animals get even bigger. First, the class cut open an earthworm, then a chicken wing. "But are we really interested in how frogs' bodies work?" Glotfelty asks the class. Glotfelty's goal is to get them over the squeamish hump. The smell was awful, but it was worth it. Once I opened it, this horrendous smell came out of it.
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