I read the article (go to http://www.northkitsapherald.com/ -- the link Malcolm provides doesn't seem to work) and I have mixed feelings similar but somewhat different from Malcolm's. So you might want to also read the article before reacting to the editor and school. (I've copied the article below in case the link doesn't work for you.)
The basic question is, what does a teacher do with a bunch of old formaldehyde pickled frogs? First, formaldehyde is a serious environmental toxin that students shouldn't be exposed to. Second, the frogs were once alive and should be respected as such. Third, launching and burial may or may not be disrespectful, depending on how it was interpreted by the teacher. Fourth, the implication is this was a Christian school, and I've always liked amphibians as a metaphor for life after death -- the tadpole lives in a dimensionally restricted aquatic world but advances into a dimensionally less restricted terrestrial world. So maybe the teacher could have used the frogs as a religious teaching point. Fifth, an improper use of this exercise could lead students to practice live frog launching -- which might not be such a bad idea for alien and intrusive bullfrogs but would certainly be a bad idea (and illegal) for protected and at-risk native pond frogs. Anyway, I'm not ready to condemn but I am hopeful this incident can be used as a hinge point for teaching respect for our other natural living neighbors. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist 9403 SW 74th Ave Tigard, OR 97223 (503)246-8613 (voice) (503)246-2605 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (email) ****** Frog-launching fun flies for science at CKA By Bill Mickelson Oct 04 2006 POULSBO Upon stepping into the classroom in her first year at Christ the King Academy, junior high science teacher Robin Breakey was surveying the science room closet, when she found an old bag of dead frogs. The formaldehyde-soaked frogs typically used for rudimentary dissection projects had been sitting in the closet for years and were past the point of being productive tools for students. So, Breakey wanted to get rid of them, but she wasnt quite sure how. Then I thought ... we could launch them, she said. And launch them they did. Monday, the CKA seventh, eighth and ninth graders, gathered on the schools field, armed with homemade catapults which propelled the lifeless amphibians through the morning air. Weve had these frogs for quite a while, and now they are too old to do any dissecting with, so we wanted to bury them, said CKA principal DeAnna Henning. But we didnt want to just bury them, we thought wed give them one last hurrah. Students were tasked with building catapulting devices out of whatever materials they could find, using whatever research resources were available to them, Breakey said. And when the kids hauled their creations into the CKA gym Monday morning, she was more than impressed. They are way bigger and better than I had thought they would be, she said. The catapults, were mostly made of wood with bows ranging from surgical tubing to bungee cords strapped to swinging arms comprised of wooden two-by-fours, while some students utilized PVC pipe. The builder of the winning catapult Mitch Watland, who launched his frog more than 80 feet built his device under the watchful eye of his older brother, piecing together a wooden box, a wooden arm and surgical tube springs. Through the catapult construction and subsequent frog launching, the goal of the lesson was learned, and made apparent by the students smiling faces and the positive banter which flew back and forth between frog departures. This is like the coolest science experiment weve ever done, eighth grader Dominique Bozarth said while watching another volley of frogs fly. This has algebra in it in terms of the angles as well as science, but Im all about fun, Breakey said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- © Copyright 2006 North Kitsap Herald -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Friday, 06 October, 2006 15:58 To: [email protected] Subject: catapulting frogs is a school activity I recently became aware of a school which decided to promote catapulting = dead preserved frogs as a school activity! Do you ever wonder why we = have problems with animal cruelty in the world? Below I have the link = to the article, the newspaper's letter to the editor online submission, = the school where the activity took place, and the email to the school = should anyone feel as disgusted as was I. =20 =20 Here is the link to the article: = http://www.northkitsapherald.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=3D95&cat=3D2= 3&id=3D741789&more=3D The link to the online letter to the editor submission form: = http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals-code/lettersform.cgi?paper=3D95 The School: http://www.christmemorial.net/schools/cka/ Schools email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>=20 I cannot think of a more conservation minded activity than making the = school aware that this was an inappropriate school function. I have = already transmitted my letter to the editor and email to the school. =20 =20 Hope some of the more responsible parties will join the fight against = ignorance. =20 VISIT HERPETOLOGICAL CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY www.herpconbio.org = <http://www.herpconbio.org>=20 A New Journal Published in Partnership with Partners in Amphibian and = Reptile Conservation and the World Congress of Herpetology. =20 Malcolm L. McCallum Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences Texas A&M University Texarkana 2600 Robison Rd. Texarkana, TX 75501 O: 1-903-223-3134 H: 1-903-791-3843 Homepage: https://www.eagle.tamut.edu/faculty/mmccallum/index.html =20
