Monday, March 30, 2009

Science Workshop

Monday afternoons for us are spent at our Science Workshop. It is a class for home schoolers and kids get to do some hands on science. During the fall the focus was on engineering and Physics types experiments. This term has been a biology focus. The kids have enjoyed learning all about plants and animals. Today's lesson was Sophie's absolute favorite. They got to dissect sharks.
Everyone had to have their gloves and goggles on for this one.
They got to really look at all the different parts of fish.
Henry is looking for the teeth of the shark.
Then the real fun begins. The kids took turns cutting the sharks's skin so they can look at all the inside parts.

Eventually they were able to take each of the different organs out of the shark. They took out the huge liver, stomach and even the heart. Sophie said they even cut open their stomach and saw inside some sort of shell in there. These sharks are bottom feeders eating crustaceans.
I am so glad they get to do these things at the workshop. I don't think I would be able to walk them through such dissections. So anyone in the bay area and can find a Schmahl Science workshop that takes place near them. They are great and well worth the cost.

3 comments:

Sherry Gann said...

Wow! What an experience; I'm sure they loved it! :)

Bibliophile said...

What a terrific educational experience! I didn't realize that you had these opportunities for the children.

Anonymous said...

Great opportunity for them. I'm like you, I don't think I could ever stomach doing this at home.