Megan Rosenblatt

10/25/15

To Dissect or Not to
Dissect
Megan Rosenblatt
Ms.Giannou
Period One
10/25/15

Megan Rosenblatt

10/25/15

To dissect or not to dissect, that is the question. This is the question

that most schools have been struggling with. Dissections have been seen as
good education lab that helps students better understand the world around
them. But at the same time Dissections can also be very expensive. I believe
that Dissections should be allowed in schools in order for Students to fully
understand the way living things work, get hands on experience, and would
allow for students wanting to go into medical fields the chance to see if they
really want to peruse that goal.
Dissections are a great way for students to explore and fully
understand the anatomy of organisms. It allows students to apply everything
that they have read/ learned and apply it in a real life situation. According to
Susan Offner dissections help understand that the world was a rational
place and that knowledge and understanding can come from serious study of
real specimens and real data. So in other words students can learn how to
take things that they learn and apply it to the real world.
The hands on experience will open the students minds and allow them
to absorb more information and retain it for a longer period of time. A study
done proves that On the initial exam, students in the plastic model and organ
dissection treatments scored higher on anatomy questions than students who
performed virtual dissections(NCBI) which goes to show the hands on experience is
the longer lasting and more effective way of learning about the anatomy a physiology of
living organisms.

Megan Rosenblatt

10/25/15

Dissections allow students looking to go into the medical field a chance to see if
this is truly their passion. According to Kaitlyn There are many surgeons who say that
they first discovered their lifes passion standing over a dissected frog in a middle or
high school biology class. Without these Dissections who knows how many doctors
and surgeons we would lose due to the fact that these people never got that first spark
of passion while dissecting these frogs.
Professionals say that digital dissection is the way it should be done in schools
because live dissections cost about $1000 per year and are a onetime use, while digital
dissections can cost $896 for 60 computers, your school will have unlimited use of the
program in as many biology classes as you have, year after year, according to The
Digital Frog 2.5. While this may be true there is also proof saying that Students who do
digital dissections dont retain as much information as a student who got to physically
dissect an organism (NCBI)
With all of this said high school dissections is a positive and needed experience
in Students. It allows for growth and understanding of anatomy, while at the same time
making the information more retainable than that a digital dissection would allow. High
School dissections also allow for young people to get that first spark of passion that will
let them peruse their new found passion in the medical field. All in all High School
dissections are a needed process for students to experience in order to open their
minds and allow for a more rich education.

Megan Rosenblatt

10/25/15

Works Cited
Boettcher, Kaitlyn. "Why Do Students Dissect Frogs?" Mental Floss. Mental Floss, 9 May 2013. Web.
25 Oct. 2015.
Estuarine, Marine. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Fridmand, Elinor, and Edith Barabash. "York Region District School Board: Put an End to Animal
Dissection Labs in High Schools." Change.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Offner, Susan. "The Importance Of Dissection in Biology Teaching." Jstor. University of California
Press, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
"Save Money." Digital Frog. N.p., n.d. Web.
Shine, Nicole. "The Battle Over High School Dissection." Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard, 15 Oct.
2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.