On Friday, Jan. 17, students in Joe Brocksmith’s Biology II classes didn’t consist of  listening to the teacher talk and filling out notes, it was a lab day. Students in 1st, 4th, and 6th hours started dissecting earthworms.

“I liked the worm dissection a lot, I also liked seeing how the animal moves and works,” junior Olivia Stuertz said. “Overall, my favorite part was seeing how the organs worked together and how and where they were placed in the worm.”

The lab consisted of an earthworm, dissecting kits, dissecting tray, and a packet about dissecting the earthworm. This is a yearly lab for Brocksmith because students in Biology II dissect an animal in every unit and it is apart of the district’s curriculum. Dissecting earthworms are a part of the Filum annelida.

“I think so,  the kids tend to look forward to that part of each unit,” Brocksmith said. “They pretend like its gross and disgusting, but deep down inside they love it.”

In this lab, students were allowed to choose their own groups. The dissection of earthworms is to help students learn anatomical structures and features that are found in earthworms. Every unit they study the characteristics and the animals that belong in that group. Not only do they study the external part of the worm, they study the inside of the worm as well. The dissection gives them a chance to see the internal part of the worm.

“My least favorite part of the dissection was the smell of the worms,”  junior Nicole Moyes said. “I don’t really have a favorite part because I thought the lab was disgusting.”