Middle School Students Put Their Minds to Dissecting Brains

It isn’t often that students get to put their minds to dissecting brains. Seventh graders typically dissect chicken legs and sheep plucks (heart, lungs, and liver), but this week MICDS seventh-grade students had the rare opportunity for a hands-on experience dissecting sheep brains. Middle School Science Teachers Michelle Bouchard and Nolan Clarke led the dissections as the conclusion of the Interacting Body Systems Unit. “It is both memorable and instructional. Students can appreciate the complexity of organisms and learn how the tissues and organs are interrelated,” said Clarke.

Learning through dissection is vastly different from textbooks and models. “This unique, hands-on learning can impart an unparalleled appreciation and understanding of anatomy. Students can engage more—see, touch, and explore—the various structures and derive significant benefits from hands-on experiences,” Clarke continued.

Dissection is undoubtedly one of the favorite experiences for MICDS seventh-graders. While there might be one or two “gross” moments, Upper School students often say that their seventh-grade dissections were some of their best Middle School experiences. Clarke says he and his students get many of the same benefits from the procedure, instilling in him and his students “an absolute love for science, and an understanding of body systems, the intricacies of an organism, and how internal systems work.”