Dissection in 7th & 8th Grade Science
April 06, 2022
One of Mrs. Damon's goals for this school year in science was to give students hands-on, interactive science experiences. To achieve this goal, Mrs. Damon has included several dissection units in the year's curriculum. Recently, seventh and eighth grade students participated in their second dissection of the year. The seventh graders dissected crayfish while the eighth graders dissected starfish.
As they dissected the creatures, students learned about the internal and external anatomy of the two species and their defense mechanisms among other features of the starfish anatomy.
The students were surprised to learn that the starfish and crayfish are so complex. Eighth graders stated they did not realize the starfish had so many internal organs. They also didn't understand how a starfish functioned before the project. Similarly, seventh graders were surprised to learn that the tiny crayfish has a great deal inside of it; they thought the crayfish was just a "shell with legs."
This project was funded in part through a school improvement grant.
