Ever since the owl pellet dissection, Tuna has been expressing interest in continuing with biology and dissection. So, I ordered some specimens and got a lesson plan in motion.
It was somewhat difficult to find straight-forward, middle school level lesson plans online. Most of what I could find was cutesy, lower grade, arts and crafts stuff. Knowing the end of our unit study was a pretty serious matter, I wanted to avoid the cutesy and cut to the chase. Here's what we did:
Frogs
Time Spent: 3 DaysPurpose: To facilitate curiosity of frog anatomy. To provide an introduction to middle school level biology and dissection. To explore and learn about the internal and external structure of the grass frog in a hands-on manner.
Materials required:
- internet connection
- printer (optional, for worksheets)
- frog specimen*
- dissection pan* (or Styrofoam meat tray)
- dissection tools* (pins, scissors, scalpel, pointer/stick)
- recommended: gloves and goggles
- a strong stomach and nerves of steel
*I ordered our supplies from the Online Science Mall.
Outline
Day 1: Familiarization with frogs
- We watched several video clips on the National Geographic site:
Life Cycle of the Tree Frog
Trials of a Tadpole
Frog Father Spits out Young
Baby Toad Born from Mom's Back
Bullfrogs Eat Everything
Slow-Mo Frog Jump - We discussed the life cycle of the frog in further detail.
No need to be overly serious. Some fun with basic amphibian information:
A Brain Pop on amphibians (subscription required) has a good video, worksheet, and quiz.
Day 2: Learning about frogs' bodies and preparing for dissection day
This one from Teacher Tube
and this set from You Tube:
Day Three: Our turn (The actual dissection)
If the videos from day two didn't scare you off, congratulations. You've got guts. Much like our little friend here.
I, on the other hand, am very squeamish, and I'm having a hard time even typing this. My head is a little bit spinny and I keep averting my eyes.
Throughout this process, I have maintained my badass stature. No big deal, I said. I can do this, I said. Tuna thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had to keep pace.
So don't feel bad if you ...feel bad. I know how you feel. Really, I do. If Tuna wasn't into this, we wouldn't be doing it. This is definitely not for my benefit.
Ready? Right then. Away we go.
I printed this PDF Frog Dissection Manual to accompany our dissection, because the dissection guide that came with our frog was tiny print and I didn't find it particularly user friendly.
We donned our gloves, put on play clothes, and went to work.
We first took a good look at all the external structures of our frog: the head, the trunk, the arms and legs, the cloaca, the eyes, mouth, and external nares, the tympanic membrane, the toes and webbing, the skin (not slimy), the belly, the jaw (pretty firmly closed, not slack like I was expecting).
Then, we look a look inside the frog's mouth. In order to do this, we had to cut his mouth wider where the jaw hinged. We checked out his tongue and manipulated it to demonstrate how it catches prey. We felt his (oh, right, our frog was a boy) teeth and looked at his eye sockets (if you poke them gently, you can open the eyes, but don't poke too hard. trust me.)
I've decided not to share more graphic images. The videos cover everything in detail.
Tuna was able to identify almost all of the frog's parts at the end of the dissection. She was amazing throughout the dissection. Lots of guts, that kid. Pun intended.
If I can survive frog day, anyone can. I breathed through my nose (though he really didn't stink, more psychological than anything). I wore gloves. And I put on a brave face for Tuna.
So, we did it. Our next specimen is a perch, but that's a few weeks off yet.
- We used the following websites to familiarize ourselves with frog anatomy before our dissection:
eTutor
The entire set of links at Biology Corner - And, finally, we watched two dissection videos (actual dissection shown):
This one from Teacher Tube
and this set from You Tube:
Day Three: Our turn (The actual dissection)
If the videos from day two didn't scare you off, congratulations. You've got guts. Much like our little friend here.
I, on the other hand, am very squeamish, and I'm having a hard time even typing this. My head is a little bit spinny and I keep averting my eyes.
Throughout this process, I have maintained my badass stature. No big deal, I said. I can do this, I said. Tuna thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had to keep pace.
So don't feel bad if you ...feel bad. I know how you feel. Really, I do. If Tuna wasn't into this, we wouldn't be doing it. This is definitely not for my benefit.
Ready? Right then. Away we go.
I printed this PDF Frog Dissection Manual to accompany our dissection, because the dissection guide that came with our frog was tiny print and I didn't find it particularly user friendly.
We donned our gloves, put on play clothes, and went to work.
We first took a good look at all the external structures of our frog: the head, the trunk, the arms and legs, the cloaca, the eyes, mouth, and external nares, the tympanic membrane, the toes and webbing, the skin (not slimy), the belly, the jaw (pretty firmly closed, not slack like I was expecting).
Then, we look a look inside the frog's mouth. In order to do this, we had to cut his mouth wider where the jaw hinged. We checked out his tongue and manipulated it to demonstrate how it catches prey. We felt his (oh, right, our frog was a boy) teeth and looked at his eye sockets (if you poke them gently, you can open the eyes, but don't poke too hard. trust me.)
I've decided not to share more graphic images. The videos cover everything in detail.
Tuna was able to identify almost all of the frog's parts at the end of the dissection. She was amazing throughout the dissection. Lots of guts, that kid. Pun intended.
If I can survive frog day, anyone can. I breathed through my nose (though he really didn't stink, more psychological than anything). I wore gloves. And I put on a brave face for Tuna.
So, we did it. Our next specimen is a perch, but that's a few weeks off yet.
