Staff writer
The stench of formaldehyde filled the science room Thursday at Marion Elementary School, but second-graders’ excitement didn’t wane as they watched teacher Ginger Becker dissect two dogfish sharks.
As she dissected the fish, Becker showed and explained the animals’ anatomy. Students’ exclamations of “disgusting” and “awesome” punctuated the dissection.
When the dissection was done, students had the opportunity to touch the sharks’ sandpaper-like skin, hold their oily livers, and touch their sharp teeth with gloves on.
A few squeamish students — both boys and girls — declined to handle the unusual specimens, but more were excited for the chance.
After students handled the sharks, Becker answered several questions. Students seemed poised to ask questions all day, but Becker had to take time to clean up from the dissection. She offered to reply to any more questions in writing.
The hands-on experience helps students learn, Becker said, and students in Kansas don’t have too many opportunities to see sharks. The project was part of a unit on oceans.
More students wanted to touch the sharks than in years past, Becker said.
Acquiring the shark cadavers was more challenging than it had been before. In a previous term as an elementary school teacher, Becker was able to order sharks without much red tape. But this year, the school had to place the order.
The sharks Becker dissected Thursday were not caught specifically for classroom purposes. The sharks were inadvertently caught in fishermen’s nets while fishing along the Atlantic coast.