Half of my family belongs to medical. We have a cardiologist, oncologist, endocrinologist and one emerging doctor. They all believe that dissections in schools and colleges were useless and redundant. What helped them tremendously was human autopsies.

OP, if I were you, I would explain that your child really does not need to go through it. I would also write to the teacher explaining how redundant his idea is. You want your child to grow interest in science, not despise it!

Ok - we had to dissect frogs in a fourth grade overnight field trip, and it was NOT a wonderful experience. The smell of the formaldehyde…the feeling of the scissors when cutting the skin and peeling back the layers…cutting out the heart….it just LAYING there looking like it had arms and legs. It didn’t long term traumatize me or anything, but here I am literally decades later able to recall all of those details I just described.
Fast forward to my gifted high school, and even at that age many people were very upset and traumatized when they had to dissect baby pigs. My biology teacher opted not to do it so I didn’t have that experience, but I remembered that frog then, too.

Is he giving 7-8 yr olds scalpels? Are they just observing?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gee I don't know how to teach students of this age interested in advanced learning, so I guess I'll just take some task I did when I was 10 years older and make that my lesson plan.

We did frog dissection in 7th, to me this task is only 5 years advanced. I think it might be appropriate for a gifted only class.

I did it in 7th grade. It didn't teach me me much. I knew animals had organs.

What I remember most is the boys trying to stick frog legs in the girls' hair. Ugh.

Honestly, if the teacher's that committed to science, the teacher is probably a good teacher. People grow up to be doctors, zooologists, and biologists because of exposure to good teachers and scientific tasks. However, if this is going to make your kid sad, I'd skip it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These frogs are doomed either way! Let us honor their short lives by inspecting their guts!

Having a less lifespan doesn't make one worthless. Teach your children value of life and respect for any life and you will contribute toward saving earth.

Learning about frog anatomy is respecting its life. Being "above" such things does not honor the frog or value its life. Nor does it contribute to respecting the earth and working to save it.

I'd call that self-righteousness

Anonymous wrote:I would not let my sensitive gifted 2nd grader do this, but it’s really individual child dependent. Curiosity at that age can be met in other ways IMHO.

We dissected a cow eye in 7th grade, a frog in 9th (I think? Maybe 10th?) and a fetal pig in AP bio. The fetal pig was the worst (they use them because their anatomy is closest to humans of all the random things you can dissect). I think those ages are more appropriate.

Is there a way to opt out of dissections?

I would not let my sensitive gifted 2nd grader do this, but it’s really individual child dependent. Curiosity at that age can be met in other ways IMHO.

We dissected a cow eye in 7th grade, a frog in 9th (I think? Maybe 10th?) and a fetal pig in AP bio. The fetal pig was the worst (they use them because their anatomy is closest to humans of all the random things you can dissect). I think those ages are more appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These frogs are doomed either way! Let us honor their short lives by inspecting their guts!

Having a less lifespan doesn't make one worthless. Teach your children value of life and respect for any life and you will contribute toward saving earth.

Learning about frog anatomy is respecting its life. Being "above" such things does not honor the frog or value its life. Nor does it contribute to respecting the earth and working to save it.

Anonymous wrote:These frogs are doomed either way! Let us honor their short lives by inspecting their guts!

Having a less lifespan doesn't make one worthless. Teach your children value of life and respect for any life and you will contribute toward saving earth.

These frogs are doomed either way! Let us honor their short lives by inspecting their guts!

I don’t think this is appropriate for second grade, gifted or not.

Anonymous wrote:Gee I don't know how to teach students of this age interested in advanced learning, so I guess I'll just take some task I did when I was 10 years older and make that my lesson plan.

We did frog dissection in 7th, to me this task is only 5 years advanced. I think it might be appropriate for a gifted only class.

Anonymous wrote:Gee I don't know how to teach students of this age interested in advanced learning, so I guess I'll just take some task I did when I was 10 years older and make that my lesson plan.

Advanced learning is not about dissections. There are plenty of options to learn from. We live in a Google enabled world. There is no need to go to primitive ways of learning to be able to stand out.

Sounds like fun! Dissect away!

Gee I don't know how to teach students of this age interested in advanced learning, so I guess I'll just take some task I did when I was 10 years older and make that my lesson plan.