Australia's Science Forum

Hi Brains Trust,

Just wondering if anyone has a Science Disection Policy they would like to share. I'm trying to put one together, making sure I haven't missed anything.

Cheers

Again DoE did NOT have one three years ago, and I believe it still does not one. But I could be wrong. And the PSA are not too worried about it.

A Science Dissection Policy? Interesting. What sort of things are you looking at to go into that? Is it a policy or a procedure? Scienceassist has some good SOPs on dissections.

Never heard of a Dissection Policy?
Have any other schools got one of these?

Yeah sorry, private school and meant Standard Operating Procedure, doing other policies and procedures at the moment as well.
I'm doing cert lV W.H & S for School, so I can incorporate into my course. I'll have a look at the Science Assist.

With the increase in teen suicide and self harm, really need to enforce the collection of equipment. I know Teachers should know but!! "It must of been wrapped up with the dissection". Well no now we can unwrap and find it!! Feel my pain.

But if anyone has one would love to have a look.

We have a booklet "Science Guidelines September 2009". It was put together for the public school system but all high schools were expected to follow the guidelines. It covers a variety of things including dissections, animal ethics etc. I can't find it online at the moment but I may be able to send as an attachment in an email. It is too large to attach here. I have also downloaded all the SOP's that I can find on Science Assist on dissections and any other SOP that is relevant to my job. A big folder with SOP's always looks good during an audit.

Lyn

I would love a copy of the guidlines if you can find it. Just looking at the Science Assist at the moment, will need to compress down and adapt to our school I think they'll never read all that information. I'll pm you

Thanks

Macca

Let me know if the guidelines I sent were of any use. Feedback is always useful if it wasn't fit for the purpose that you needed assistance with.

Hi,

Brains trust a quick question "I would say NO". We have a teacher wanting year 7 to bring into school insects etc., to dissect in class. When we re-did the dissection policies we added yr7 & 8 were not to use scalpels due to the amount of accidents that have happened, they pull apart flowers or use a kitchen knife, this is working really well. I already have staff members saying it is cruel to be dissecting anything the kids bring in.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. thanks in advance.

Oh yuk, why? Although they don't fall into the Animals in Schools requirements, I think you still need to have some level of ethics - or am I just being over sensitive?
And if you already have a policy about Year 7&8 not using scalpels, how does the teacher going to get them to cut them up?
Will they even get anything out of it except a great mess? You would need to use a dissecting microscope and some great skills that students and most teachers wouldn't have. It is just going to be a complete waste of time. First year uni students do insect dissections and they are not easy.
Next thing you'll have kids running around destroying every insect they find, then in Year 8 they'll be getting taught about the fine balance of ecosystems. Wrong message we need to be giving in today's world.
I agree, I would be having no part of it and loudly voicing my objection.

Thanks Merilyn I couldn't agree more, but you have given something else I hadn't thought of; Year 8 fine balance of ecosystems. Thanks It helps sometimes just to get another point of view. I'm sure they dream up some of these ideas without even thinking about how and why, just makes me out to be the horrible labbie who always says no. I let you know how I go!

That came to me as I was typing! Pretty proud of myself, coming up with that one

Here I go again!! Brains trust "I would say No" Many many moons again we could!

Have a teacher wanting to bring in a pluck and maybe reproductive organs???? after a sheep kill on a friends farm. Farmer not butcher and no disease checks. Yes or No

Background:
We dont have an Ag farm or an abattoirs within 3 hours drive. Currently my butcher organises eyes, brains, kidneys and hearts for me these have to be stored at my house prior to bringing into work then into a small upright fridge/freezer. So there isn't any room at school or my home to store class set or otherwise of plucks.

Happy Hump Day

I think this is a question for the ScienceAssist group. Part of me thinks yes, part of me thinks no... Not very helpful, I know!

I'm assuming the farmer is killing the sheep for the family to eat at home - they are unlikely to do this if there is any risk of disease in their sheep. If the teacher agrees to be 100% responsible for the pluck from farm to school and it is a demo only then I don't really see a problem. However, I also don't know off the top of my head what the "rules" are surrounding this (I am in a private school) so I would be looking at the legality of it in terms of being in a school.

You shouldn't be needing to keep those things at home. Can you request a bigger fridge as a one-off in next year's budget? You can get some good deals at factory seconds places with delivery included just because of dints in doors, scratches etc. I got a dishwasher with a dint in the door for 57% off this year. It still has all the normal warranty and works perfectly fine!

Here's an example. Sorry I know this isn't actually answering your question...

Yep private school too. That's the sort of fridge/freezer we already have but because of the difficulty getting dissections as soon as they are used I start trying to replace. A chest freezer as well would be good but we just don't have the room.