Schroeder Elementary Students Dissect Cow Hears

The atmosphere was electric, as students began filing into Schroeder Elementary School’s gymnasium. It was set up with 24 stations at long tables, trays of dissection tools, and instruction manuals for the day’s learning adventure: dissecting cow hearts.

All 110 5th graders at Schroeder took their places at the tables, put on rubber gloves and other protective gear, and with the help of 50 visiting 6th graders from Boulan Park Middle School, began investigating the oversized hearts. Some students began gingerly, taking a bit of time to get used to handling them. But as the lesson progressed, the students became more and more comfortable holding, probing and slicing the hearts. “Seeing the hearts, all red with muscle and white with fat, at first was kind of creepy,” said 6th grader Emma Dume. “But the more we worked with it, the more I wanted to see what it was all about.”

Special guests arrived to help the kids move through the day: Troy School District Superintendent Dr. Rich Machesky, Oakland County Commissioner Wade Fleming, Troy Mayor Dane Slater, Troy City Councilmen Ethan Baker and Dave Henderson, and Troy School Board Secretary and Troy Foundation for Educational Excellence Trustee Paula Fleming were on hand to see for themselves this world class learning in action. In fact, this project was made possible by a special grant from the Troy Foundation, which was used to purchase the 24 hearts.

“The dissection was a wonderful conclusion to our science unit on the circulatory system,” said fifth grade teacher Jason Cichowicz, “And it was an amazing learning opportunity and certainly a lot of fun for our students.” 5th grade student Mahima Natarajan agreed, saying “This experience really made an impression on me, and made me think about becoming a scientist or a doctor.”