Hands-on lessons took on a whole new meaning in anatomy class when teacher Patrice Cox pulled out sheep brains for dissecting. For many students, it was their first dissecting experience; Cox, who is new to the district this year, is hoping that the activity taught her students about different brain functions along with dissecting basics.

“I hope that the students gained knowledge of how to dissect and also awareness of how the brain works,” Cox said. “Overall what I wanted the students to get out of it is experience in working with dissections.”

The students also learned about the difficulties that come with dissecting.

“I learned that there are many different parts of the brain and that every piece has it’s own job to do for the body,” senior Randy Salazar said. “It was also difficult trying to cut such a small object; it made it hard to find certain parts of the brain.”

Many of the students are planning to go into the medical field after high school, so the lesson had longer-reaching effects than just in the classroom that day.

“I want to become a nurse and help out in the ER; I feel like it would help me later on to know how to do some of this stuff,” senior Mayte Compean said. “I feel like it went great, and now I know so much more that will help me in the career path I want.”