Not everybody can say that they’d be thrilled to see a heart being sliced open, prodded and played about with! Especially the faint hearted, but as I waited for the dissection workshop to begin, I was filled with great anticipation!

Before it began, I had a few spare minutes to take a peek at the rest of the impressive exhibition; a wide variety of challenges, interactive games and amazing facts to flip through, I soon realised that I’d need more than a few spare minutes to get the full experience!

When the crowd finally gathered, settling themselves around the table, on which the sheep’s heart lay, I nearly chuckled at a Dad sitting not too far from me, barely able to conceal his disgust while his children looked on with curiosity, on the verge of slipping off their seats to grab the heart with their own hands. 

Although I had already dissected a heart before (in Higher Human Biology), the excitement was still there. Of course, a heart dissection is not only about the slicing and cutting messy parts, there’s also the anatomy to be explained. I completely understand the struggle to describe the complexity of the heart, however the presenter capably explained both the function and the anatomy with ease and never made it needlessly difficult to understand.

Afterwards, everyone even had the opportunity to go up and pick up the heart itself, some prodded it, some cradled it in their palms while some couldn’t scuttle faster away, but even if it may not be for the faint hearted, I definitely believe that it’s worth a try!

A little about Paulina (who interned with us for a week in July):

My name is Paulina Zurakowska and I’m 17 years old. Soon, I will be beginning  my sixth and final year in Secondary School before hopefully attending a University. I am originally from Poland, however I moved to Scotland when I was only five. In order to improve my English, my parents took me to the library throughout my childhood which is where my love of reading and writing stemmed from. Since then, I have been avidly reading and writing as a hobby and passion, and now aspire to study English literature and hopefully get involved within the Publishing Industry.

NB: Please note that all of our samples are a by-product of the meat industry and no animals have been specifically slaughtered for these samples. As such all animals have been slaughtered in a humane and legal way under the direction of the Food Standards Agency.