Frogs

We're about to do a virtual frog dissection on iPads. Students might wonder "Why in the world are we dissecting frogs when we're in the middle of a body system unit?" Well, it's all about models. No, not models that artists sketch, or scale model cars, it's about vertebrate models. Scientists need to understand how our bodies work, but need to do their research in a ethical and affordable way. That's where frogs (and fish) come in. Frogs are a vertebrate, just like humans. That makes them a valuable scientific research model. Before I decided to go into teaching, I managed the zebrafish and cichild facilites for four different research labs at UMass. The website is a bit out of date, but you might be able to link to the lab websites and get a better understanding of what research they're doing, and how important these little models are.