I want to thank Andrew DeLong, Agricultural Education teacher at Logan Hocking High School, for inviting me to come speak to some of his students this past Thursday. I had a tremendous time and wanted to share some fun projects we are working on at the school and let you know what we are planning.
A fun presentation I have done in the past is a gross dissection class of a system. The best one to start with is the cardiopulmonary system as pretty much all the mammal species have the exact same system, just different sizes. Mr. DeLong was able to source the perfect specimens, two full cardiopulmonary systems from swine. Pigs are a lot like people. The organs are near the same size and we use pig heart valves as replacement for defective human valves.
After a short classroom discussion on heart sounds, anatomy and the circulation pathway, it was out onto the shop floor.
We had two tongues, two complete systems from larynx to diaphragm and microscope stations with different things to look at really close.
Then it was time to glove up and get in with it. The kids were knowledgeable and full of questions. The future looks bright at LHHS.
Talking to Mr. DeLong with have some ideas for future programs that will be fun. I will keep you all in the loop.
The other fun thing we have started planning for is using the greenhouse to grow vegetable starts for The Urban Farm at Southeast Ohio Regional Kitchen.
The greenhouse is huge and has a ton of cool projects going on in every nook and cranny. One really interesting thing is the aquaculture experiment where fish swim and create a nutrient rich water that then feeds plants without the need for soil. I have an interest in aquaculture and Extension has some researchers working on developing this further. I look forward to working with Mr. DeLong on this project.
Fish in the tub, plants in the tubing.
Lots of fun things to do. I am looking forward to partnering with Logan Hocking High School on lots more fun projects.