Anatomy and Physiology: Have a Heart

A fun video for my class showing how blood moves through the heart as well as other great heart info.  I don't categorically endorse all the Crash Course videos (they can be a bit crass) but I liked this one.😏

Anatomy and Physiology

Sassy Starfish

 Here's something that got lost in the shuffle: I'm already six weeks into my Anatomy and Physiology class!

This is my favorite class to teach!  It was also my favorite class to take in both High School and College.

Also, it is what I consider the second most important class you ever take.

The Emperor argues that English is the second most important, since you will always need to communicate, but I disagree.  You can move where no one speaks English, but wherever you go, you'll take your body with you.

The most important, of course, would be theology, since you'll need that even when you've moved where you don't take your body with you!

Jazzy Starfish

At any rate, I have six great teens taking the class, and we are having a great time learning about the human body.  We meet twice a week: once for lecture, once for lab.  We should finish up the A & P around Thanksgiving, and then we will add on a 4 class Bioethics course in December.

And we are doing a lot of dissections!  So far we've done a worm, crayfish, grasshopper, clam, fish, and starfish.  We will finish our frogs this week, then move on to individual organs (cow eye, sheep brain, kidney, heart, lungs), and finish up with fetal pigs.

Inspiration and Expiration

Literally. :) I great, clear video, and, for bonus points, the narrator is Scottish!  Did I mention that , after watching The Rise of the Continents, Oob wants to grow up to be a Scottish Geologist?

Anatomy and Physiology: Heart Videos

This is a good overview of the flow of blood through the heart by none other than Bill Nye.

And here is a  more detailed explanation (there is a strange pause at one point, just fast forward to the 2 minute mark):



Kahn Academy also has an excellent explanation, less flashy, but very clear and well presented:

Kidneys and Nephrons

Here's a good animation  and explanation of nephrons:


An excellent (and slightly more detailed) description done with animation and music!

For All the Frog Fans (and Parents of Frog Fans)

 Or, if you need proof for your portfolio, you can right click, save the picture and print it on your computer.

 If you're curious, we're half way through the frog dissection.

We've completed the worm, crayfish, grasshopper, clam, starfish, and fish.

 After the frog, we'll be doing some individual animal organs: a brain, eye, heart, and kidney.

And, as a grand finale, we'll finish up with three weeks on the fetal pig!

And then my office won't smell like formaldehyde! :)










I think I'll miss doing the dissections, though.  We've all really enjoyed the process (can you tell?) and we are learning an amazing amount!

Muscle Contraction Videos

This is for my A & P students (Hi!).  We were discussing muscle contractions last week and I wanted them to see some animations.  The actual contraction of a muscle really is amazingly complex!


Here's one that shows the anatomy very well:



And the continuation that shows the actual actin-myosin interaction:

Dissection Day

 Thursdays are our lab days: dissections!

So far we have dissected a worm, a crayfish (pictured), and a grasshopper.  I have been prepping for the dissections by reading  about them, and watching the You Tube videos.

Today we are working a double dissection: clam and starfish!

The progression has been really interesting.  We started with segmented animals, increasing in complexity, and now we are starting on non-segmented animals.

If anything it's more fun than I thought it would be because the kids are fascinated by the process and have all sorts of questions and insights.

The biggest surprise has been that the younger Zoomlians really want to do dissections.  I don't think that Choclo, for example, has the dexterity to safely use a scalpel, so I am thinking about getting an extra set of specimens and doing it for them.

Anatomy and Physiology

It's been a crazy few weeks: last week Klenda started Spanish, Mxyl's Japanese class started up again, and we started Anatomy and Physiology!

This was my favorite class in high school, and it is what I consider the second most important class you ever take. 

The Emperor argues that English is the second most important, since you will always need to communicate, but I disagree.  You can move some where where no one speaks English, but wherever you go, you'll take your body with you.

The most important, of course, would be theology, since you'll need that even when you've moved where you don't take your body with you!

At any rate, I have 8 teens and we are having a great time learning about the human body.  We meet twice a week: once for lecture, once for lab.  We should finish up the A & P around Thanksgiving, and then we will add on a 5 class Bioethics course in December.


We are doing an amazing 13 dissections!  What you are seeing on that middle shelf is each kids dissection kit and specimen bag. 

The aprons and gloves go with the lab stuff.  I've found that lab coats are expensive, but aprons do a fine job fairly cheaply.  Plus they are easy to customize with permanent markers!