ePortfolio Reflective Writing 03

My feelings toward the dissection lab have changed some since the beginning of the semester. I was afraid that I was not going to enjoy the dissections and that I was never going to understand the anatomy of the chicken. I now enjoy every dissection and feel that I have a good grasp on the poultry anatomy that I would not have gained otherwise. One effect of this good understanding (you can decide if it is a good or bad effect) is that I am now somewhat bored with lab because I feel that I have learned all that there is to see in a visual dissection of this level. Nothing is exciting anymore.

In lab, I have learned how a chicken is really put together, what the different structures really look like, and how they are arranged. I have learned how to apply the “cartoonish” drawings and ways of teaching to the actual subject matter and gain a whole new depth of understanding of the poultry anatomy and physiology. I have learned the delicate and not so delicate links between different organs and organ systems. We usually only learn about one system at a time, but in lab, we get to see how all of them are put together and it reminds us that no system can be isolated from the others.

This lab is extremely valuable to me as a poultry science student. Without this lab, I would NEVER know exactly what the inside of a chicken is like and how it functions. Sure, I can look at pictures and cartoons and read books, but until I actually got a bird in my hands and got to take it apart myself, I would never completely understand. This can be compared to several things. One is Mars. We can send rovers to Mars and take as many pictures and samples as we want, but until we send humans there, we can never truly understand Mars. Another comparison can be made to the knowledge of Scott Manley. Scott Manley is a Youtuber who I would argue understands orbital mechanics and physics better than anyone else in the world not because of his degrees, but because of his experience. Not only does he have several degrees in physics and orbital mechanics, but he also plays many space exploration games in which orbital maneuvers are key. He said that only 10% of his knowledge of orbital mechanics came from universities. The rest came from playing these games and getting to actually perform the maneuvers himself and understand the intricacies of real time space flight. The final comparison can be made to Greek philosophers who tried to logic their way around human anatomy and disease. Because they were unable to dissect humans, the Greeks were never able to understand human anatomy and, therefore, they were never able to successfully treat many disease and their entire understanding of the human anatomy and physiology were extremely inaccurate. I fear that, if students no longer get to dissect birds, we will into the same trap and will never be able to accurately understand poultry problems and address them.

P.S. Here is a picture of a chicken who is angry about us not understanding them.

angry-chicken

#video