Dissecting a frog teaches students about biology.
Dissecting a frog in a high school class is something that most students will eventually perform. Using frogs for dissection purposes so that students can learn is as worthwhile as their use as food for other animals in the wild, asserts teacher Keith Wilhelmi. Dissecting a frog provides students with the chance to see the organ system of another living creature that is similar to their own.
Skeletal Muscular System
A major part of a dissected frog is its skeletal and muscular system. The skeletal and muscular system of a frog is defined by its framework of both bones and joints, according to Biology Junction. Almost all of the voluntary muscles of a frog are attached to this framework of bones and joints. Voluntary muscles are defined as those muscles that a frog has control over. Voluntary muscles occur in sets of flexors and extensors. As a flexor of a frog's body part contracts, that body part bends. If an extensor of a frog's body part contracts, the body part straightens.
Urinary System
Students will see the parts of a frog's urinary system when they begin dissecting the dead animal. The urinary system of a frog is centered around four body parts. Those are the frog's cloaca, bladder, ureters and kidneys. Kidneys excrete the frog's urine. The ureter is attached to each kidney; it is a tube where urine flows into the frog's bladder. The bladder is where a frog stores its urine until it flows out of its body by way of the cloaca. The cloaca is a frog's exit chamber for its digestive and excretory systems.
Respiratory System
The respiratory system of a frog is another part of the dead animal that students will familiarize themselves with during dissection. The respiratory system is made up of both the larynx as well as its nostrils, reports Biology Junction. The frog's larynx opens up to its two lungs. The walls of a frog's lungs are full of capillaries, which are tiny blood vessels. These tiny blood vessels carry materials into, as well as out of, the blood of a frog.
Circulatory System
The circulatory system of a frog is made up of its heart, blood and blood vessels. The heart features two receiving chambers called the atria, while having only one sending chamber called the ventricle, reports Biology Junction. Veins transport blood to the heart. Different veins enter the frog's left and right atria. Blood coming from both atria travels to the ventricle and is pumped to the frog's arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that transport blood away from the frog's heart.
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