Student Feedback
Alicia
In Italy we looked at the four chambers of the heart, the left and right ventricle and the left and right atrium, and the connected arteries and veins, pulmonary artery and the pulmonary vein etc. We also had the chance to dissect a pig heart, however, when it came to a dissection many things were different from how we would do it back in England. For example, in the Italian school you had to wear lab coats and were not able to use a scalpel or many of the equipment that we would usually use in our school at home, you could use only tweezers. The overall experience when it came to the dissection was amazing and it was so fascinating to see what people our age and a little older than us do when it comes to science as there are so many different ways of approaching certain subjects and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to witness and be a part of this project on a whole.
Brianna
When we went to Italy, we took part in a Heart dissection, rather than doing our usual sheep heart we dissected a bovine and a pig heart. This was to ensure we had the experience to take part in an experiment that was done slightly differently to how we would have done it in England. The main difference was the animal. In England we must dissect sheep hearts as we aren’t allowed to dissect other animals. This is due to high prices and difficulties finding enough hearts for everyone in the classes. Another big difference was we weren’t allowed to use scalpels or cut the heart ourselves. This was mainly due to health and safety rules implicated by the Italian government. We investigated the bovine heart and how it works. We observed the different valves and muscles and the way they work to perform every job. We also looked at the difference in valves muscles and appearance of the two hearts. We had one of the teachers make the first cut into the heart (we could choose which cut we wanted) we chose straight down the centre. We then poked and prodded at the heart to find the way the oxygenated blood would travel to and -the deoxygenated blood- from the heart. This made it easier to understand as it was interactive as a posed to just seeing diagrams and being told about it. I learnt that bovine hearts are a lot stronger and heavier. Their walls are also thicker to allow more blood to be pumped around as they are obviously a bigger animal and there will be more pressure on the heart. You could see the heart strings a lot easier as it was a bigger animal and there were more. I found the fact you could just get on with it and investigate what was going on very good and useful in understanding the differences between the pig and sheep heart. The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and everything was very clean and organised and handled impeccably. Another thing that was incredibly well timed was the lesson. We had a lesson (taught by the students) prior to the investigation which was helpful then later the teacher recapped what was about to happen. This was useful as we then understood more of what we were doing rather than going in with no clue what was happening or what things were I think the main improvement I would make is allowing the students to make incisions and cutting the heart themselves. I feel this would engage a lot of students more as they will learn from trying and seeing what’s going on. However, I feel like supervising this would be difficult so maybe doing the dissections with say, two groups at once. I also noticed having many groups doing the experiment at once was hard to contain so more restrictions were in place.
Phoebe
During our exchange trip we did activities such as visiting the Frassasi caves where we uncovered facts such as in one chamber “Grotta delle Nottole”, a huge colony of bats that live there. Another activity we did was a tour of the town (Jesi ) where we visited the cathedral and the city walls which were used as a defensive strategy. During my stay my accommodation was very different than in England as my partner lived in an apartment so I had walk a lot of steps and also her house was a lot smaller so it was difficult to adjust. Luana‘s family consist of her mother and father and one brother and they were very welcoming such as they allowed me to buy food items when we went shopping. Throughout the week we met up with other Italian people who are taking part in this project - We went to various places such as the arcade and the iceskating rink we also went to Ancona one night and we ate a lovely dessert. Also on the last day we went to a restaurant by the ocean and had a great lunch; I ate a lovely meal (Prawn and crab ravioli). On the last Sunday we visited Senegalia with Luana’s family and visited the huge port. the school and this exchange trip was very different to my school such as the school Yes it finished at 1 o’clock however my school finished at 3 o’clock. The school specialised in maths and science where is my school has no speciality. Also in Italy they only have to legally be in full time education until the age of 16 whereas in England it is 18. One day we went to a museum where we discovered many interesting facts to do with archaeology, biology and cosmetology. I found the museum interesting as certain artefacts dated back to millions of years ago. On the Saturday we visited Rome we had to get up very early as we only had one day to go – in Rome the first thing we visited was the da Vinci Museum which showed some of his best artwork and some of his maths and science advancement. In my opinion the da Vinci Museum taught many facts such as before I visited I thought Leonardo da Vinci was only a painter and I did not know he discovered many maths inventions such as golden ratio. After the museum we visited the Spanish steps where we saw a massive parade due to the rugby then afterwards we went to the Trevi Fountain where we saw some amazing architectural work afterwards we briskly walked past the Imperial forum where we saw a huge statue and Various duomos. After the walk we arrived at the Coliseum I enjoyed the Coliseum the most as I thought it was very factual about the Romans and how they built it and the uses of it in the Roman times afterwards during our walk to the Vatican City we visited a huge palace which was where the Italian government hold meetings and decide law. During our brisk visit to the Vatican City we saw Saint Peters Square which was massive and full of tourists I enjoyed Saint Peters Square as it had very many statues of past pops and emperors I thought it was very historical and factual . During our flight back we discussed the highs and lows of the trip such as Rome, the museums we visited, and the families. In my opinion I enjoyed Rome the most as I thought it was an interesting way to see science and maths in physical form In a capital city I also enjoyed it as I enjoyed the history of rum and how it has been built up ever since mediaeval Period. However one of the things I didn’t enjoy was the scavenger hunt of Jesi as I thought it was too long after a tiring day.
In Italy we looked at the four chambers of the heart, the left and right ventricle and the left and right atrium, and the connected arteries and veins, pulmonary artery and the pulmonary vein etc. We also had the chance to dissect a pig heart, however, when it came to a dissection many things were different from how we would do it back in England. For example, in the Italian school you had to wear lab coats and were not able to use a scalpel or many of the equipment that we would usually use in our school at home, you could use only tweezers. The overall experience when it came to the dissection was amazing and it was so fascinating to see what people our age and a little older than us do when it comes to science as there are so many different ways of approaching certain subjects and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to witness and be a part of this project on a whole.
Brianna
When we went to Italy, we took part in a Heart dissection, rather than doing our usual sheep heart we dissected a bovine and a pig heart. This was to ensure we had the experience to take part in an experiment that was done slightly differently to how we would have done it in England. The main difference was the animal. In England we must dissect sheep hearts as we aren’t allowed to dissect other animals. This is due to high prices and difficulties finding enough hearts for everyone in the classes. Another big difference was we weren’t allowed to use scalpels or cut the heart ourselves. This was mainly due to health and safety rules implicated by the Italian government. We investigated the bovine heart and how it works. We observed the different valves and muscles and the way they work to perform every job. We also looked at the difference in valves muscles and appearance of the two hearts. We had one of the teachers make the first cut into the heart (we could choose which cut we wanted) we chose straight down the centre. We then poked and prodded at the heart to find the way the oxygenated blood would travel to and -the deoxygenated blood- from the heart. This made it easier to understand as it was interactive as a posed to just seeing diagrams and being told about it. I learnt that bovine hearts are a lot stronger and heavier. Their walls are also thicker to allow more blood to be pumped around as they are obviously a bigger animal and there will be more pressure on the heart. You could see the heart strings a lot easier as it was a bigger animal and there were more. I found the fact you could just get on with it and investigate what was going on very good and useful in understanding the differences between the pig and sheep heart. The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and everything was very clean and organised and handled impeccably. Another thing that was incredibly well timed was the lesson. We had a lesson (taught by the students) prior to the investigation which was helpful then later the teacher recapped what was about to happen. This was useful as we then understood more of what we were doing rather than going in with no clue what was happening or what things were I think the main improvement I would make is allowing the students to make incisions and cutting the heart themselves. I feel this would engage a lot of students more as they will learn from trying and seeing what’s going on. However, I feel like supervising this would be difficult so maybe doing the dissections with say, two groups at once. I also noticed having many groups doing the experiment at once was hard to contain so more restrictions were in place.
Phoebe
During our exchange trip we did activities such as visiting the Frassasi caves where we uncovered facts such as in one chamber “Grotta delle Nottole”, a huge colony of bats that live there. Another activity we did was a tour of the town (Jesi ) where we visited the cathedral and the city walls which were used as a defensive strategy. During my stay my accommodation was very different than in England as my partner lived in an apartment so I had walk a lot of steps and also her house was a lot smaller so it was difficult to adjust. Luana‘s family consist of her mother and father and one brother and they were very welcoming such as they allowed me to buy food items when we went shopping. Throughout the week we met up with other Italian people who are taking part in this project - We went to various places such as the arcade and the iceskating rink we also went to Ancona one night and we ate a lovely dessert. Also on the last day we went to a restaurant by the ocean and had a great lunch; I ate a lovely meal (Prawn and crab ravioli). On the last Sunday we visited Senegalia with Luana’s family and visited the huge port. the school and this exchange trip was very different to my school such as the school Yes it finished at 1 o’clock however my school finished at 3 o’clock. The school specialised in maths and science where is my school has no speciality. Also in Italy they only have to legally be in full time education until the age of 16 whereas in England it is 18. One day we went to a museum where we discovered many interesting facts to do with archaeology, biology and cosmetology. I found the museum interesting as certain artefacts dated back to millions of years ago. On the Saturday we visited Rome we had to get up very early as we only had one day to go – in Rome the first thing we visited was the da Vinci Museum which showed some of his best artwork and some of his maths and science advancement. In my opinion the da Vinci Museum taught many facts such as before I visited I thought Leonardo da Vinci was only a painter and I did not know he discovered many maths inventions such as golden ratio. After the museum we visited the Spanish steps where we saw a massive parade due to the rugby then afterwards we went to the Trevi Fountain where we saw some amazing architectural work afterwards we briskly walked past the Imperial forum where we saw a huge statue and Various duomos. After the walk we arrived at the Coliseum I enjoyed the Coliseum the most as I thought it was very factual about the Romans and how they built it and the uses of it in the Roman times afterwards during our walk to the Vatican City we visited a huge palace which was where the Italian government hold meetings and decide law. During our brisk visit to the Vatican City we saw Saint Peters Square which was massive and full of tourists I enjoyed Saint Peters Square as it had very many statues of past pops and emperors I thought it was very historical and factual . During our flight back we discussed the highs and lows of the trip such as Rome, the museums we visited, and the families. In my opinion I enjoyed Rome the most as I thought it was an interesting way to see science and maths in physical form In a capital city I also enjoyed it as I enjoyed the history of rum and how it has been built up ever since mediaeval Period. However one of the things I didn’t enjoy was the scavenger hunt of Jesi as I thought it was too long after a tiring day.
it_activities.docx |