Animalia Disections Reflection
Dissection was a relatively new type of project for me. I had done the basic 7th grade cow eye and 8th grade shark dissections, but at that level we didn't really learn about what we were doing; it was more just coloring in diagrams. Dissections were also very different from our early labs this year because they are much more hands on than say making a gel. I really enjoyed this unit, despite the awful smell we dealt with every day. It helped me realize that things are not as easily recognizable in the real world as they are in diagrams. We would get pictures of what we were supposed to dissect, but when we actually did the dissection, it looked almost nothing alike. This really helped to improve my ability to recognize things in the real world based on diagram, which is critical in the science world. For example, I could recognize the heart based on its location relative to the lungs, regardless the shape and look of the heart itself. I am really pleased that I was able to gain this new skill and found it to be an interesting ability/skill. I also found it interesting that there is so much correlation between different species. For example, we can see how both worms and squids have digestive systems, while sponges do not. Evolution is visible between species as well. We can see how mollusks are the first organisms to have two different sexes, this is a step above annelids, which have one sex. This difference shows how evolution causes some species to have more advanced characteristics.
I would like to learn about more species. I feel that we learned allot about the species that we studied and dissected, but I think we should have done some more dissections. For example, we could have done a frog dissection to show even more complex body systems. That is the one thing that I wish I learned more about, more complex species. The squid was the most complex organism we studied, yet there was very limited correlation with its organs and ours. If we studied more complex organisms, we would have been able to see the correlation between animals body systems and ours.
I would like to learn about more species. I feel that we learned allot about the species that we studied and dissected, but I think we should have done some more dissections. For example, we could have done a frog dissection to show even more complex body systems. That is the one thing that I wish I learned more about, more complex species. The squid was the most complex organism we studied, yet there was very limited correlation with its organs and ours. If we studied more complex organisms, we would have been able to see the correlation between animals body systems and ours.