For their final project, freshman biology students wrap up the year with carnation dissections in biology teacher Lori Watson’s class.
The dissection is meant to connect the flowers to evolution, and teach students more about that process.
“The flower shows several adaptations, which connects to the evolution unit,” Watson said. “We will also discuss how and where the flower photosynthesizes, which we learned about last semester, and also explains why plants are at the base of any food chain.”
Watson’s students enjoy this dissection for many reasons. One including learning more about the parts of flowers and how they function.
“It’s really cool to see what they’re like on the inside because I didn’t know that before,” freshman Katie Gilbride said. “And it’s cool how there’s more to them that you can see on the outside.”
The students also enjoy the dissection because of the better experiences with the lab environment.
“I liked dissecting flowers instead of an animal because it smelled nicer and it looked nicer too,” freshman Milla Veselinov said.
The main goal of this project is to teach students more about agriculture and evolution.
“There are unfortunately very few opportunities for students to learn about plants and how they function during our school year,” Watson said. “I think this is important since we live in a state where agriculture plays a big role in our economy. With this lab, while it connects several topics together, it is also a way for students to get an up-close look at the structure and function of plants.”
