Anonymous
Post 04/20/2024 08:58     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:I think this is really young to get much out of it from an anatomy standpoint, also pretty young to use a scalpel appropriately. If he's really never seen a live frog, they have skipped some important naturalist education that usually happens at this age and happens way before dissection. Shouldn't you study the live animal first??

I'd opt out and tell DS he can do it when older. And I would rethink whether this program is actually age-appropriate overall.


+1
Anonymous
Post 04/19/2024 19:23     Subject: frog dissection
We dissected a starfish in elementary school and I don't recall being traumatized by it (and I say this as a life long vegetarian).
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 12:41     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:2nd grader boy attends a program outside of school. We are emailed that kids will do frog dissection. A teacher has teaching background on this science project and he raised all these frogs for this purposes. Parents are emailed/notified ahead to be given option to opt out. He has never seen a frog, and I am not sure if this project cause trauma or a wonderful experiences. I think they have enough frogs for this 20+ kids project. He has fishing before at camp, but he never touches bait and he releases fishes back to water.

DH says he did not do frog dissection till high school. So any thoughts of opt out or not? My kid is the youngest child, 1-2 years younger than other kids. He gets into this project due to his academic giftness.



By allowing the teacher to show frog dissection to children so young, you will be encouraging nothing but desensitizing the kids! Please stop this! There is nothing that kids cannot learn through animated videos about animals. There is absolutely no need to take lives of animals just because they cannot speak!!
How horrible!


Huh? At 7-10, a child should have had the opportunity to go fishing and catch fish and probably frogs and should help or at least watch the fish being cleaned. That's not desensitizing. It's learning.


This is exactly why the world is a sad place.


You’re a sad sack


because people like you exist
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 12:34     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:I think this is really young to get much out of it from an anatomy standpoint, also pretty young to use a scalpel appropriately. If he's really never seen a live frog, they have skipped some important naturalist education that usually happens at this age and happens way before dissection. Shouldn't you study the live animal first??

I'd opt out and tell DS he can do it when older. And I would rethink whether this program is actually age-appropriate overall.


I agree with this. I’m a biologist who opted out of dissecting until college.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 09:30     Subject: frog dissection
Am I the only one who had to dissect a fetal pig in 8th grade? Shudder. Didn't enjoy that activity. Also dissected a squid in 7th, a cow's eye at some point and the frog in high school. I knew medicine was not my calling at a very young age.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 09:26     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:2nd grader boy attends a program outside of school. We are emailed that kids will do frog dissection. A teacher has teaching background on this science project and he raised all these frogs for this purposes. Parents are emailed/notified ahead to be given option to opt out. He has never seen a frog, and I am not sure if this project cause trauma or a wonderful experiences. I think they have enough frogs for this 20+ kids project. He has fishing before at camp, but he never touches bait and he releases fishes back to water.

DH says he did not do frog dissection till high school. So any thoughts of opt out or not? My kid is the youngest child, 1-2 years younger than other kids. He gets into this project due to his academic giftness.



By allowing the teacher to show frog dissection to children so young, you will be encouraging nothing but desensitizing the kids! Please stop this! There is nothing that kids cannot learn through animated videos about animals. There is absolutely no need to take lives of animals just because they cannot speak!!
How horrible!


Huh? At 7-10, a child should have had the opportunity to go fishing and catch fish and probably frogs and should help or at least watch the fish being cleaned. That's not desensitizing. It's learning.


This is exactly why the world is a sad place.


You’re a sad sack
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 08:43     Subject: Re:frog dissection
We did this in 5th grade. I wasn't traumatized by it, but I was grossed out. The thing I remember most about it was the strong smell of formaldehyde that the dead frogs were stored in - which stuck in my nostrils for about an hour afterwards. Disgusting, and I don' think anyone really found it much of a learning experience at 10-11yo.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 08:20     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:2nd grader boy attends a program outside of school. We are emailed that kids will do frog dissection. A teacher has teaching background on this science project and he raised all these frogs for this purposes. Parents are emailed/notified ahead to be given option to opt out. He has never seen a frog, and I am not sure if this project cause trauma or a wonderful experiences. I think they have enough frogs for this 20+ kids project. He has fishing before at camp, but he never touches bait and he releases fishes back to water.

DH says he did not do frog dissection till high school. So any thoughts of opt out or not? My kid is the youngest child, 1-2 years younger than other kids. He gets into this project due to his academic giftness.



https://navs.org/humane-alternatives-are-more-effective-than-harmful-animal-use/





My message didn't go through before.

https://navs.org/humane-alternatives-are-more-effective-than-harmful-animal-use/

Children learn from adults. It does not depend on your child what he wants to do because he is too young to distinguish between what is right versus wrong. It is up to you as the parents to decide what values you want to inculcate in your child. If you want your child to learn respecting life no matter how big or small the life is, then that lesson starts at home, from you, and now.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 08:05     Subject: frog dissection
Anonymous wrote:2nd grader boy attends a program outside of school. We are emailed that kids will do frog dissection. A teacher has teaching background on this science project and he raised all these frogs for this purposes. Parents are emailed/notified ahead to be given option to opt out. He has never seen a frog, and I am not sure if this project cause trauma or a wonderful experiences. I think they have enough frogs for this 20+ kids project. He has fishing before at camp, but he never touches bait and he releases fishes back to water.

DH says he did not do frog dissection till high school. So any thoughts of opt out or not? My kid is the youngest child, 1-2 years younger than other kids. He gets into this project due to his academic giftness.



https://navs.org/humane-alternatives-are-more-effective-than-harmful-animal-use/



Anonymous
Post 04/16/2024 07:40     Subject: frog dissection
This doesn't bother me, but I would talk to my kid about what he feels comfortable with. My kid hasn't dissected frogs yet, but they did dissect mollusks in 4th grade summer camp, which he found fascinating. My other kid is in 3rd and they didn't dissect, but they got to investigate a dead deer and the process decompensation which was gross (to me!) but he found it fascinating.

Anyway, this is one of those things where it depends on the kids. My kids would probably love it. Other kids would not. If you think your kid would not, I think its fine to opt out .
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2024 20:50     Subject: frog dissection
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!
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2024 20:34     Subject: frog dissection
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.
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2024 19:32     Subject: frog dissection
Is he giving 7-8 yr olds scalpels? Are they just observing?
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2024 19:27     Subject: frog dissection
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
Post 04/15/2024 16:20     Subject: frog dissection
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