2nd year Advanced Science recently had some exciting lessons in Biology Class. A heart and lung dissection observation and a hands-on chicken wing dissection!

On the 6th February, students had the opportunity to observe a pig’s heart and lungs, in order get hands on experience in learning about the structure of the heart/lungs and differences between cardiac and alveoli tissue, through an inquiry-based approach. At first, a number of students felt overwhelmed, as many have never seen organs before, but over the course of the lesson, students warmed up to experience and became more interested in learning more about how blood flows through the heart and how the lung tissue expands/retracts during inspiration/expiration. This lesson was followed up with a critical thinking skills task, a case study related to the dissection, where students had to predict any observable and unobservable changes in a future autopsy, which many students enjoyed.  

Two weeks later, on the 17th/20th February, students had an opportunity to do a dissection practical. This time they were asked to dissect a chicken wing in order to reveal the connections between muscles, tendons, bones and cartilage underneath. Everyone followed instructions closely and were able to correctly identify the muscle that caused the wing to bend. It appears that in ２nd year. we have many surgeons and veterinarians in the making.