Dissecting a Pig's Stomach

My class and I explored the texture and inside and out of a pig stomach today. I asked the class to divide themselves into eight groups of four. Then I passed out safety razors and a few forceps, paper towels and sections of two pig stomachs.

Of course, there were a lot of anguished noises of disgust. A lot of grosses and eeews, but in the end every table had their section of the pig laid out on the paper towel in front of them and fairly soon—even though there was noise—everyone was hard at work.

There were rules. How to handle the safety razor (but we did this rule many times before). No talking at all when the teacher is giving directions. Handle the skin carefully. If you don’t want to participate, you don’t have to, but it would be nice if you would still watch.

And it went well. The students entered into the stomach, checked out the lining, studied the texture and strength of the stomach and generally enjoyed themselves.

I plan to do it again tomorrow with my seventh grade class.