Life Science

This year we are studying biology which means lots of fun science projects. Some students especially enjoy the dissections that we've been able to do. The first dissection was done on a rooster. This rooster was a gift to the Thomases, but was being kept in the yard of Michelle and my house. It was continually crowing and we couldn't wait for the day of dissection. Those who wanted to were able to see the entire process -- the slitting of the neck, the pulling of the feathers, the removal of the insides, etc. Then we took its wings and looked at the way the muscles and bones move together. However, one of the best parts was eating it for dinner in the delicious chicken casserole that Debby prepared.

Our next dissection was of a cow's heart. This took a little more effort to obtain. People don't usually buy the whole heart here, so the first two attempts resulted in workers bringing back partial or already cut hearts. Finally, a Rwandan friend who speaks fairly good English volunteered to try to get us the kind of heart we needed. He succeeded for the most part (although the veins and arteries were cut off from the top of the heart). He said that if he went to the place where the cows were butchered, he could get us a better heart, but we decided to make do with the one we already had. The students really enjoyed the dissection, especially Breanna, Darby and Brendan who enjoyed trying to pull coagulated blood out of the blood vessels. We can't wait until the next dissection comes along.

Note: Breanna is thinking about becoming a doctor and really enjoys all the dissections, so for her Christmas present I wrote her this little poem and illustrated it with photographs of our dissection of the cow's heart.

The Heart

The cow was alive, but now it is dead.

Perhaps it was killed by a shot in the head.

Perhaps it was sick or old or in pain,

But what can I say? Its loss was our gain.

For in giving its life it gave more than just meat

And some fat for the hungry people to eat.

It gave us the best that it had to give,

It’s four-chambered pumper that helped it to live.

Yes, its heart we received with awe and respect,

For we’d eagerly waited for one to dissect.

The heart of this cow was large and quite red.

The reality better than all we had read.

We carefully cut it, then pulled it in two.

The atriums and ventricles came into view.

And with awe and excitement we all gathered ‘round

To see what else in this heart could be found.

With the knife in her hand and a gleam in her eye,

Breanna dissected while others stood by.

And the things she discovered amazing and odd

Should cause us, each one, to give thanks to our God,

Who gave us all hearts so strong and untiring.

A God so creative is truly inspiring.