Year 7 students have been investigating how and why we classify things in our world in their Science classes. As part of this investigation, we have been discussing the differences between invertebrates and vertebrates. Students were provided with a fish and a prawn and were tasked with identifying features of both animals with a focus on investigating the main differences between an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton via dissection. This is an authentic applied learning task taking the students out of the pages of their textbooks and doing the real work of a biologist.
Here are two student reflections of the fish dissections:
Last week Year 7 classes got to participate in what was to be our first proper dissection in secondary school. We had to dissect a fish as well as a prawn and our goal was to be able to find the main differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. The thought of the dissection sickened some of us, while it enthralled others. Regardless of our opinion on cutting open these creatures and examining their insides, we all learnt how to classify animals based on their skeletal attributes. Though some may not say it, I believe that we all had fun and learnt plenty about classifying animals. — Campbell Manser (Year 7 Red)
Last week my class was given the opportunity to dissect a fish and a prawn. The whole purpose of this exercise was find out the differences between invertebrates and vertebrates. I found this practical quite interesting. It was fun to learn about the way we classify different creatures. During this class I felt a bit upset because we were cutting open a once-living thing, but I knew there was a reason for doing it. Overall, though, it was quite enjoyable. — Kathleen Rhodes (Year 7 Red)
