Leaping into Life Science

School:: Immokalee Middle
Subject:: Science
Teacher:: Amie Grant
: Meshain Holmes, Michael Haddock, Gregory Rameau
Students Impacted:: 400
Grade:: 7
Date:: August 23, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion For Learning - $1,198.50

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 368

Teaching Life Science lays the foundation to biology that students must pass in high school in order to graduate. I asked students to dissect a frog because it helps them understand the body and body systems. Students were able to see, touch and explore various organs in the body. Seeing these organs helped the students understand how they work together inside the frog to keep it alive, to maintain homeostasis. They could see the different organs of the different body systems and understand how they work together. Frogs are very different from humans but they have a lot of similarities too. They have a heart, lungs, intestines, muscles and bones. Students were able to see them inside of the frog and then remove them to see them individually and compare them to visual pictures of human organs. They could compare and contrast them. Frogs have a complex inside. Their heart and lungs work similar to a human and are laid out the same as a human. This allowed students to have a better insight as to how their bodies work.

Certain body structures and adaptations can be seen in frogs that illustrate how they evolved over time and how they fill particular niches in the ecosystems they belong to. Having the students see, feel and touch these organs helped them to gain a better understanding of their bodies and place in the ecosystem. Students were able to visualize internal structures and learn how tissues and organs are connected. Students were very engaged in this hands-on activity. Students that didn’t want to dissect frogs in the beginning were asking what they can dissect next at the end. Out of all the students that participated in this lab, only 2 students refused to do the real frog dissection. Having the plastic frog models came in hand at that point. They had to assemble the frog instead of dissect the frog.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

With this equipment, Immokalee Middle School teachers and students will be able to conduct a hands-on exploration of the anatomy and physiology of a frog, which has body systems very similar to our own human body systems. The students will gain a memorable experience, which they can then relate to body systems lessons in the classroom.

What will be done with my students

As students are learning in science, they often have trouble visualizing the concepts and tapping into prior knowledge which helps them make connections with new information they are learning.

With this equipment, every student at Immokalee Middle School will have the opportunity to participate in a group frog dissection and have a first-hand, real-world experience with anatomy and physiology. Students will follow teacher instruction and lab book directions to complete the dissection of a frog and observe its’ body systems.

Teachers will also be able to utilize the equipment in other lab activities throughout the year and re-use the dissection pans for years to come as well.

Benefits to my students

According to the University of Albany report, “What Works in Middle School Science”, hands-on experiments and experiences are vital to student learning. The report states, “Hands down, hands-on stands out as the most popular approach to teaching middle school science students and is seen as directly connected to reinforcing that science can be fun and relevant to their lives. Hands-on activities are viewed as particularly effective for English Language Learners (ELLs) and special needs students in that they provide pathways other than lecture to sometimes abstract ideas. Balancing lecture with plenty of purposeful hands-on activity in middle school science is a way to both prepare students for more advanced science and still communicate the increasingly complex ideas.”

As Immokalee Middle School has both a very high ELL and special need student population, this type of classroom activity is particularly impactful with our students. There have been other types of activities suggested in place of dissection, but time and again, many factors have shown that dissection has virtual explorations beat when it comes down to the science and techniques they are using in order to gather information.

Edulabs states, “Many teachers believe the reality conveyed by dissection cannot be matched by alternatives. Virtual simulations cannot showcase abnormalities or variations from one specimen to the next. It would seem that overly perfect alternatives cannot compete with the biological surprises of real specimens and the learning opportunities they provide. From manipulating sharp instruments to employing delicate hand-eye co-ordination, the reality of physically dissecting a specimen can also develop fine motor skills.”

There is no doubt that a frog dissection experience will increase student engagement, learning, and understanding of scientific concepts.

Budget Narrative

We need frogs for dissections ($845), tools to dissect with ($169), a model of a frog for students that are against real dissections ($129.50) and slides that allow students to look more closely and frog blood and skin at the cell level ($55).

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	125 frogs	$845.00
2	1 class set of dissection tools	$169.00
3	1 frog anatomical model	$129.50
4	4 frog skin slides	$30.40
5	4 frog blood smears	$24.60
	Total:	$1,198.50

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