Cache High School receives grant for zoology, anatomy classes

CACHE — A grant will help the zoology and anatomy classes at Cache High School a lot.

The Toshiba America Foundation awarded a $4,763.40 STEM grant for detailed anatomical models.

“This will help for years,” said Paul Runnels, zoology teacher at Cache High School. With the money, “quite a lot of models” can be purchased.

The idea of anatomical models is to complement the dissection of actual animals, and help students create a deeper and better understanding of the anatomy of animal and human bodies, and to compare both the international and external anatomy of animals to humans. The models don’t come in one piece and have to be put together by the students. By building the models and seeing the organ structures, the students are therefore able to reinforce what was taught in class.

It doesn’t stop there, though. The high school students then take the models into other classes from pre-K to fifth grade. They helped the younger children to build the models, answer questions about the animals, and then donatedthe models to that teacher’s class, reaching over 160 students. The students became the teachers.

“Toshiba America Foundation’s grants fund projects designed by individual classroom teachers,” the Toshiba America Foundation (TAF) said in a release. “This ‘direct-to-teacher’ approach brings immediate results. Teachers are able to change the way they teach STEM subjects because the grant supports equipment for hands-on experiments and inquiry-based approaches to the curriculum. At TAF, we believe that STEM is a lot more fun than just reading a textbook. TAF grants provide teachers with the tools they need to be more effective educators. The grants make the classroom a more exciting place for both teachers and students.”