The Greytown Gazette, Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Page 5
Kammaland Kapers
Hermannsburg Happenings
(From left) Lizé Pretorius, Ryan Smit, Emily Mynhardt and Sandiswa Kenny happily played outside after last week's rains.
“Hands-on in the classroom” is what it’s about - this year, the Grade 9 to 11 biologists were able to watch a calf dissection, performed by Dr Jane Wessels and her team, before observing the dissection of the heart, trachea &lungs and oesophagus from the autopsy. They were able to blow down the trachea, to see how the lungs expand and relax during breathing. The Grade 10s were then able to take a closer look by staining their own slides of blood cells for viewing under microscopes, as well as looking at the slides of biliary, provided by Dr Wessels, and seeing for themselves how the parasites affect the cells. The Grade 11s then dissected a heart, and were able to stain their own slides to view bacteria, gaining valuable insight into how a pathology laboratory goes about identifying pathogens. A big ‘Thank You’ to Dr Wessels for providing the animal organs for dissection and for taking time to come and share her valuable experience and knowledge about blood, bacteria, and the operation of a pathology laboratory.
Our Grade 12s have already written three of their final examinations, and are, no doubt, looking forward to the moment the invigilator says “put down your pens” for the very last time. On 18 October, we honoured our matriculants at their final awards ceremony. These results will be published next week.