Kidney craters

Observing craters in the body

By Radka Zarkhova

Dissection is always an important part of biology. It is one thing reading about and poring over drawings of parts of the anatomy. It is quite another seeing them ‘in the flesh’. Indeed, I once remarked to a surgeon, how awesome it is that they actually manage to recognize so many details. This comes through study, yes but also through experience. It is this experience which we, at St Edward’s College , aim to expose our students to. This term, the IB students had a go at dissecting a pig’s kidney. In a discipline like this, because the subject is perishable, we try to do as many samples as possible. Emily and Sara reacted to the lesson.

As soon as we walked into the classroom, we were welcomed with the wonderful sight of a kidney and our smiling teacher. We put on our lab coats and our gloves, as the excitement grew. Scalpel in the right hand, kidney in the left. We explored the structure of the kidney first hand. Following this, we analysed slides of kidney cellular structures under the microscope and took magnificent pictures! It was an insightful and fun exploration to experience what we have learnt in textbooks and apply our knowledge.

-Emily Robinson and Sara Bereš

Read on, Macduff!

7