Brian Skyberg

03 Education · Interactive 3D

Vertebrate Lab 3D

An interactive 3D anatomy and virtual dissection lab for high school science classrooms.

Release candidateVersion 3.1.0-rc.1
Vertebrate Lab 3D anatomy explorer showing a dissected 3D frog pinned in a dissection tray, with organ-system checkboxes on the left and a tray of virtual instruments along the bottom.

The frog anatomy explorer with organ systems shown.

Overview

Dissection is one of the most memorable parts of a science class. It is also hard to prepare for, and specimens are limited. Vertebrate Lab 3D gives students a place to practice first. They can learn where structures are, how the instruments work and what each step of a dissection involves before they ever pick up a real scalpel.

It was built for high school agriculture, animal science and biology classrooms, with the Career and Technical Education Academy in Sioux Falls in mind. It runs on school Chromebooks with just the built-in trackpad, and it works without an internet connection.

Vertebrate Lab 3D is an independent project. It is not an official product of any school or district.

What it does today

Features

  • Five specimens in 3D

    Frog, rat and cat for small animal science; a fetal pig and an isolated sheep brain for large animal science. Male and female specimens where it matters.

  • Virtual instruments

    Scalpel, dissection scissors, forceps, probe, blunt dissecting tool, pins and magnifier, all usable with a Chromebook trackpad. No external mouse needed.

  • Guided and independent labs

    Step-by-step guided dissections with hints and on-model "Show Me" markers, and independent labs where students work on their own.

  • Anatomy explorer

    Free study mode for clicking structures, lifting organs aside and toggling organ systems to see how they fit together.

  • Real specimen comparisons

    Many structures link to genuine specimen photographs with source and rights information, so students can compare the model to the real thing.

  • Student reports and saved progress

    Lab progress is saved on the device and students can download a report of their work.

  • Works offline

    The whole application is one HTML file. No installation, login, account, subscription or server is required.

Real screenshots

Screenshots

Development

Current status

Release candidate

Release candidate. Automated testing passes; teacher and anatomy-expert review and validation on classroom Chromebooks are still in progress.

Built with

  • JavaScript
  • WebGL
  • Single-file HTML

Planned next

  • Teacher and anatomy-expert content review
  • Validation on classroom Chromebooks and display boards
  • Broader real-specimen photograph coverage

Good to know

  • Virtual dissection is a preparation and learning aid; it is not a replacement for teacher instruction.
  • Real specimen photographs cover most, but not all, structures.