Another Truly Successful year using ARI funding!!!! This was the second year that I wrote a grant for purchasing fetal pigs for my 7th grade students! I first received a grant to purchase pigs last year. My students last year had really surprised me with their enthusiasm for the learning through this magnificent venture. I had girls that I thought would not EVER touch a pig, let alone, dissect every single organ down to the eyeballs. I called them the Pigs & Pearls because they were such “girly girls”. The boys were inspiring as they took extra pains to use the probes to see every aspect of the inside of the pigs. What an amazing learning experience it was for all of my students and myself. The students learned so much and they were basically on their own. I gave them handouts to guide them through the dissection and I moved around the room seeing what new organ they had discovered. However, they did not need me! My students were self-sufficient in their learning and were intrinsically motivated to learn as they worked. For years, students would come into my science class on the first days of school and their questions were always the same…What are we going to dissect this year? I never attempted to do any dissecting in the middle school because it was “something for the high schools” to focus on. Wow! I just hate that I waited until I gave my kids this wonderful opportunity. I witnessed learning like never before. I was amazing.
In doing this project for my students, I have high hopes that some of them will gain such an interest that they will pursue careers in the medical field. In the past two years, I have heard conversations where students talked about how much they loved doing the dissection and they would love to do this.
Through this unit, we discussed various career opportunities that they might consider: nursing, doctor, surgeon, heart specialist, pharmacist, nutritionist just to name a few. Some students really seem interested in such careers and my absolute hope is for them to have a great life in whatever career they choose.
This has been such an amazing opportunity for my kids. They loved every minute of this learning experience and I am just hoping that this will point them in a direction for a successful career so that they can have a great life.