Attending school board meetings and talking with education experts have their value, but there’s no beating visiting classrooms, chatting with students and teachers, and seeing up close what and how the kids are learning.

I had some pretty interesting classroom visits the past week that reinforced that importance for me as an education reporter of going back to school as often as possible.

I dropped by an Advanced Placement biology class at Menlo-
Atherton High School in Atherton and observed students dissecting cats.

I remember visiting some time ago a class dissecting frogs, but the cat dissection took a bit of getting used to at the beginning.

But it was all business-as-usual for the biology students and their teacher Patrick Roisen.

I visited the class for a story about a recent report on AP exam results.

A couple of the students there told me taking AP courses will help them get an edge toward their higher-education pursuits.

I also visited a biotechnology class at Carlmont High School in Belmont.

This is for an upcoming story on changes in San Mateo County’s Regional Occupational Program, which offers career-technical training for students.

Carlmont’s biotech program is in its sixth year. Students were doing a couple of projects when I visited. One involved confirming a particular gene in a plant.

Students there told me they like having hands-on, real-world learning instead of just reading about things in a textbook.