Diagnosing the fish.

Monday (07/03/2011)

a) Did you find out?
• Last Friday, I asked the kids to check with their parents of what can be found in a fish body? Zhe Qing replied that her mother didn’t cook fish last weekend. The others didn’t ask. Thus, we guessed.
Xing Tong: blood. Yun Xin: meat. Jun Yu: lungs. Zhi Feng: bone and etc.
• I showed a picture of fish internal anatomy. I sketched a huge fish and added on each organ as we discussed.

b) Fish internal organs.
• Last week, we learnt about overall fish fins, tail and lateral line functions.
• A fish breathe water through the mouth and the Oxygen is being absorped through the body while the water goes out from the gills. Alive and fresh fish has red gills.
Zhe Qing: What if not fresh? Teacher: Usually, brown or dark red.
• Most fishes have 2 holes in each nostril to smell the surrounding. As the fish eats, the food will go through its mouth, being digested in the stomach and goes along the intestines. The nutrition gives the fish energy to swim around. The liver will filter the food and detox. The waste goes through the vent as solid discharge or urine. It also has kidneys to filter the salt water and it goes out of the vent as urine. A fish has a long back bone like humans. The kids couldn’t believe that a fish has a heart.
Qian Joe: Why does it have a heart?
Teacher: When a body has blood, it usually tells us that it is pumped throughout the body by the heart. Just like human.
• Sea water fish usually the big ones have got a swim bladder to allow the fish dive in and up the ocean and surface. I used a plastic bag to demonstrate for the kids to see. When the fish dives in, the swim bladder will be flattened as to give the energy to go down. To swim to the surface, the swim bladder is bloated again so that it can swim near surface.
• Thus, that explains why salt fish still float when it doesn’t swim. However, a freshwater fish will sink when they don’t swim.
• A fish has a small brain.
Weei Xiang: Why is their brain that small. Teacher: When a living being is small, the brain is usually smaller.
• A female fish also has an egg which is orange colour. The kids exclaimed that they had eaten fish egg before.

c) Diagnosing the fish.
• I bought 2 Mackerel fish (Ikan Kembung). Only a few kids were excited to touch its body. Cold and smooth with little scales on mackerel fish.
Yun Xin: Is it dead? Why are its eyes still open.
• At this point, we recalled the fact that fish don’t have eyelids. Thus, they don’t close their eyes when they sleep.
• Some kids said that I was cruel and I explained to them the meaning of cruelty. They even said that I would have nightmare and the fish was really smelly. I clarified with them the statement later on.
• The kids identified the parts: eye, mouth, nostril, gills, heart, stomach, egg, vent, brain and also the liver.

d) Steaming the fish.
• To cook, I washed the fish, put some salt on its body, and add on sesame oil as well as ginger. I steamed and explained the steamed food are healthier than fried food.
• Meanwhile, the kids drew the fish and its internal organs. They were quite good and detailed at their drawing such as Kwong Yong, Xing Tong, Yun Xin, Jia Xun and etc. A few needed encouragement.
• The kids ate the fish and said….”Yummy…it smells good! Can I have more?”
• I have to explain to the vegetarian kids about our activity.