Post-secondary schools are also facing pressure to cut back on dissections.
#VIRTUAL FROG DISSECTION MIDDLE SCHOOL SOFTWARE#
The availability of computers, software and Internet hookups, students' maturity, finding sources of specimens and storage limitations all factor into a teacher's decision. Many schools try to offer both real dissections and virtual alternatives, said Meg O'Mahony, a high school biology teacher in Toronto and the Canadian co-ordinator for NABT.
Secondary school science teacher Arthur Purdham in Waterloo, Ont., told CBC News Online, "A picture of a horse is not the horse, and students need to know that if they're planning to go into medicine." Teachers introduce dissection only after students have mastered the anatomy and physiology to appreciate the exercise. Its formal position states, "No alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissection." 17, 2000: Virtual dissection could save frogs' livesīut the 9,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers is wary of the alternatives. Start up the Inspiration software and begin standard incision. Humane Society's director of education and animal welfare. -Give each pair one frog and one dissection kit. School boards can save money by purchasing reusable dissection software instead of paying for specimens and disposal, according to Lesley King, the U.S. It estimates six million animals mostly frogs, fetal pigs and cats are dissected annually in American schools. The Humane Society distributes anti-dissection videos and loans computer software to schools interested in alternatives. In Canada, education falls under provincial jurisdiction and individual school boards, schools and teachers decide for themselves whether to offer virtual dissections to fulfill curriculum requirements. "They won't learn much with their eyes closed because they're disgusted," she said. Teachers' groups in both countries say flesh-and-bones dissections offer a better learning tool than simulations, but recommend instructors be sensitive to student qualms.Īt a school board meeting in Little Chute, Wisc., student Amy Richards gave a practical reason for accommodating the dissenters. states have approved opt-out policies on dissection after students and their parents asked for the change. are opting out of the ritual of dissecting frogs and fetal pigs in favour of computer simulations.Ī handful of U.S. Some high school students in Canada and the U.S.
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