Internal Systems - Fetal Pig Dissection
The final artifact that I’ve chosen to talk about for the internal systems unit is this picture of a fetal pig which we dissected recently. This dissection represents everything that we learned in this unit because when we dissected the pig, we analyzed and thoroughly examined all three of the internal systems that we learned about in class; the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system and the digestive system. This pig dissection is significant to me because I have always looked forward to doing a large-scale dissection since I began high school. From this activity, I learned how our internal systems function. For example, I got the chance to trace the path of food down the pig’s digestive system. I also got to look at the heart and analyze the ventricles, atriums and arteries that were connected to it. The lungs and the diaphragm were also interesting and I observed their positioning and how they surrounded the heart. This knowledge can be applied in real life if I was to become a surgeon because understanding the anatomy of a pig can help me prepare for real, human surgeries. We specifically chose fetal pigs to dissect because their anatomy most resembles a human. However, even if I wasn’t going to become a surgeon this information could help me. For example, if, later on in my life, I suddenly developed a pain in the upper left part of my chest, I could reflect back to what I learned in this dissection and I would remember that the heart is located at that location; which would tell me to go to a doctor because it might be a heart problem. This dissection helped me to understand the unit better because learning about internal systems by diagrams and pictures is one thing, but actually looking at all the organs in the body by cutting open a pig is something completely different, and in my opinion, very useful to help the student get an idea of the layout of the internal system. In conclusion, I believe that this dissection was a good idea to help the students get a clear idea of how the organs are organized and positioned inside the body.