On February 15 at West Chicago Community High School, the Human Anatomy classes all partook in a detailed dissection of sheep eyes.
There are multiple dissections that take place during the year-long course of Human Anatomy. Recently, the class performed a dissection on a sheep’s brain, and now they are focusing on ocular function, so they are dissecting sheep eyes. Being able to dissect body parts that are similar to that of a human is a key component when learning about the body.
“I learn every single day in this class. It will help me through the career I want to pursue. I want to be a radiologist,” senior Michelle Munoz said.
Many students who take the Human Anatomy want to pursue a career in the medical field, and this class is a constructive stepping stone. Other students are just interested in learning more about the human body and how it works.
“A lot of students are undecided, I believe. I have a handful who plan to go into the medical field or were curious about it and therefore took Anatomy. Some want to go into various other careers such as automotive tech, law, and even education,” Human Anatomy teacher Kylie Bosco said.
The first step for students was to put aprons, safety goggles and gloves on to keep everyone and everything safe in the classroom. Then, the students began the dissection, cutting into the sheep eye and trying to remove the different parts of the ocular cavity cleanly for examination.
“We are going to learn the anatomy of the eye. It is pretty good, I hope we are cutting the right stuff, hopefully,” senior Sydney Bennema said.
Written on the lab tables, students made boxes for each part of the eye that they were responsible for carefully dissecting from the eyeball. They had to identify and remove parts such as the retina, lens, cornea, and fatty tissue.
“I hope students gained more confidence with the gross anatomy of the eye, gained some understanding of how the structures of the eye work based on their physical anatomy, and had fun with a hands-on, interactive dissection lab. I know a lot of students were very much looking forward to second semester more because of dissections, so I hope they are having more fun learning about anatomy this,” Bosco said.