Humane Science Education: Ending the Use of Animals for Dissection

2/7/2019

Nicole Green, MA - Director, Animalearn
Dr. Elisabeth Ormandy - Executive Director, Animals in Science Policy Institute

Were you faced with animal dissection in middle school or high school? Most likely the answer is yes. Teaching children to have empathy for ALL animals, including those used in the name of science, will help to encourage compassion in the classroom environment. In this session, participants will discover the many dissection alternatives available, and they’ll learn about the global efforts to end the use of animals in dissection.

Sadly, millions of animals are used as teaching tools in science education from K-college. Fortunately, there are a wealth of humane science resources that can be accessed for kids who love animals and want to pursue a career involving animals to possibly be the next Dr. Jane Goodall. Today, kids who are interested in science technology engineering and math are encouraged to immerse themselves in STEM related classes and or learning experiences. That includes kids who aspire to work with animals or those kids who simply care about animals and don't want to participate in using animals in science.

One particularly harmful use of animals in science education is dissection. Advocacy groups have worked on the issue of dissection for many years; however, the pace of change is slow and animals are still widely used for dissection in North American secondary science education. This occurs despite evidence that non-animal alternatives: 1) are often superior in educational merit compared to dissection; 2) are more economical; and 3) provide a safe, inclusive educational experience. This is also despite the ethics-based Three Rs argument that if non-animal alternatives exist then they must be used. The continued use of animals for dissection undermines efforts to move towards a humane science education paradigm. Animalearn and AiSPI have built programs of work and campaign strategies to end the use of animals in dissection, not only in Canada and North America, but globally.

As humane educators, we can let kids know that they can pursue a science career or take a science class without having to harm an animal to do so. Kids can explore anatomy using virtual programs and inexpensive mobile applications in place of dissection. There are a number of hands-on learning tools that allow kids to have a tactile learning experience, such as through the use of clay modeling systems, which have proven to be just as effective learning tools as animal specimens. Giving kids the opportunity to understand that animals are not just inanimate objects and instead once living individuals who deserve our empathy and understanding is an important step in moving toward a more humane society.

About our Speakers:
Nicole Green, MA - Director, Animalearn
Nicole Green is the Director of Animalearn, an educational program of the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) located in Pennsylvania. She has worked at AAVS for close to 20 years, helping to enlighten the public about the use of animals in science education and the numerous humane methods that can be used to replace them. Nicole currently serves as a Board Member at the Association of Professional Humane Educators (APHE) and as an Advisor to the Humane Education Coalition (HEC). Nicole holds a Master's degree in Education & Innovation with an emphasis in Humane Education.

Dr. Elisabeth Ormandy - Executive Director, AiSPI
Elisabeth Ormandy’s academic background in neuroscience and animal behaviour/welfare/ethics has driven her passion to critically evaluate the use of animals in science, and to promote the replacement of animals as best scientific practice. In 2015, she co-founded, and is current Executive Director of, the Animals in Science Policy Institute – a Canadian registered charity that aims to build a more ethical culture of science by promoting alternatives that reduce or replace animals in research, testing and education. Elisabeth serves as an advisor to the Vancouver Foundation, the Robert and Judy Clark Foundation for Animal Rights, the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, the Canadian Council on Animal Care, and the Humane Education Coalition. In addition to these roles, she is an instructor at the University of British Columbia, and currently teaches Animals and Society, Ethical Issues in Science, and Non-Animal Methods in Biomedical Sciences.

Links and Resources:

AiSPI

Animalearn

The Science Bank

16 Comments

Kim Korona

2/7/2019 08:39:52 am

Thank you so much for your compelling presentation in demonstrating the ethical, academic, and financial reasons for using enhanced dissection methods that do not include actual animals. Thank you for working on this issue for so many years and continuing to expand and grow what you offer. Ideally one day using actual animals will be a thing of the past and your methods will be the option everyone uses. Thank you!

Elisabeth Ormandy link

2/7/2019 10:22:52 pm

Thanks for the kind words Kim! It was a pleasure to put this talk together with Nicole. Feel free to follow both our organizations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc to keep up with the impact we're having on replacing animals in education, and definitely feel free to spread the word to others. We're all so much stronger when we work together! Yours in ethical science. Elisabeth.

Nicole Green link

2/11/2019 11:30:07 am

Thank you so much for your support throughout the years Kim! It means so much to know that we have allies like you promoting compassionate science! I too hope that one day dissection will be a thing of the past and classrooms will embrace non-animal methods!

Maggie Lantzy

2/7/2019 09:36:52 am

Nicole and Elisabeth, thank you for sharing! I'm baffled that with all of the alternatives, cost savings, and environmental concerns, we are still dissecting animals in schools. I'm curious as to what some of the reasons teachers and school systems give you for keeping dissection in place?

2/7/2019 10:39:43 pm

Hi Maggie - that's a great question.

In 2017 AiSPI did a survey of BC science teachers and one of our questions was about the barriers to using alternatives - we wanted to know what was getting in the way so that we could help remove it. We learned that there were several key factors:
1) Teachers lack the time to research alternatives to dissection...which is fair. I know many teachers who work incredibly hard and have barely any time left at the end of each day to do any extra research. This is one of the main reasons that as a charity we have done all the work to research suitable alternatives and put them in a free online database, so that teachers don't have to do that work.
2) Perceived cost of alternatives - there's a common misperception that alternatives are more expensive, especially the high tech ones, but as you saw the costing works out in favour of the alternatives pretty much every time, and in both the short and long term. Both AiSPI and Animalearn are working hard to correct that misperception.
3) The perception that dissection provides a superior educational experience - again, that's a misperception of the truth. I think it comes from the embedded culture of science teaching - teachers teach the way they are taught to. That's why we're been working with teachers in training to interrupt the development of that science teaching culture and build a more ethical culture of teaching where animals are no longer used for dissection.
4) Peer pressure - even if a new teacher is fully committed to non-animal methods, there are teachers who reported feeling peer pressure from colleagues to do dissection because the whole school culture is one where dissection is expected - it can be really hard for a single teacher to adopt non-animal alternatives if their science teaching team are not on board. Hopefully with the teaching awards that are given out by AiSPI and Animalearn, we can start to build a community of humane science educators who feel supported even if they don't receive support within their own school.

I'm sure there are other factors that weigh in as well - things that weren't captured in our survey, but that have come up in my conversations with teachers are things like the opinion that dissection is a "right of passage" for anyone who wants to be a scientist (not true at all....I had a successful neuroscience career before changing life paths, and I have never dissected an animal!), and the argument that the students who want to go to vet school/med school will need to do dissection if they are to be prepared for their future (not true - many vet and med schools have stopped using animals for dissection and have switched to using simulations, plus an extremely small percentage of high school students go on to those careers). I've also heard from teachers who simply think dissection is "cool" or "fun", and they truly believe that their students feel the same. For me that's where the ethical arguments come in. The internationally accepted principle of replacement states that if we can meet our scientific or educational goals without using animals, then it is our ethical obligation to use non-animal methods. Given that non-animal alternatives have been empirically shown to be effective (and in many cases) superior for learning, then it an ethical obligation to no longer use animals. It goes beyond teacher preferences, beliefs, opinions etc.

I hope all that helps! Please do feel free to follow both AiSPI and Animalearn on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Always happy to answer your questions!

Elisabeth

2/8/2019 09:32:49 am

Elisabeth, thank you for your response. Those definitely make sense so it is great that your organizations are working so hard to change the perceptions! Thanks for all of your great work!

2/11/2019 11:37:52 am

I think Elisabeth summed up nicely why educators continue to use dissection in the classroom. How will this change? We need more humane educators promoting the benefits of dissection alternatives and calling animal dissections out as an archaic method of learning especially when we are in a society that is so tech focused. Once there is more dialogue on this topic there will be more investigation into alternative methods.

Judy Crumpton

2/7/2019 09:56:43 am

Thank you both for your participation in the Summit! And thank you for your dedication with working in an area of education that desperately needs to change their perception and use of real animals in a cruel fashion. Showing us the path to humane science education alternatives for dissection is greatly useful as humane educators embark upon this topic!

2/7/2019 10:41:04 pm

Thanks, Judy - both Nicole and I were really happy to put this talk together. If there's ever any support you need please feel free to reach out.

Elisabeth

2/11/2019 11:43:57 am

Thanks so much for your supportive message Judy! It means a lot to me to be able to enlighten others about humane science education. I hope that you will take our resources and share them with any students and teachers that you engage with. We need humane educators like you to. help spark conversations about dissection and to generate excitement about innovative non-animal methods of learning life science!

Ingrid Norris

2/7/2019 02:19:08 pm

Just ordered the Virtuali-Tee. I would like to see them create a shirt that a dog or cat could wear and students could examine the same systems:) An important subject for sure, glad it was addressed in this summit. Thank You!

2/7/2019 10:44:12 pm

YES! The Virtuali-tee is so amazing. I bought one each for my two god-children for Christmas and they were a huge hit (the kids are 4 and 6 years old).

I did think about a dog/cat shirt too but also wouldn't want any negative welfare impacts for our animal friends, so if it could be done with just the dogs/cats that are cool with t-shirts, then awesome! Please let us know how you get on with the Virtuali-tee :)

2/11/2019 11:56:13 am

Hi Ingrid! That is so awesome that you purchased a Virtuali Tee! Teachers and kids love it! You could put the Tee on a stuffed bear or dog to simulate the experience. Thanks so much for your support of these amazing non-animal resources!

Stephanie Itle-Clark link

2/7/2019 04:04:50 pm

Thank you so much for sharing these amazing resources. So many fantastic options are being created and we can incorporate them into schools, camps, clubs, etc. I loved it. I hope more and more schools take notice of the way they can truly incorporate multiple components of STEM into their teaching with these humane alternatives.

2/7/2019 10:47:10 pm

Thank you, Stephanie! Always happy to share. And I'm very happy to report that our guest class program is getting busier all the time, so teachers are definitely starting to make the switch to non-animal teaching methods.

We really appreciate your encouragement and support. Thank you!

Elisabeth

2/11/2019 12:00:29 pm

Thanks so much for your supportive message Stephanie! We are so appreciative that humane science education was able to be a topic of conversation at the Summit. I hope that with this exposure we will have more humane educators implementing these resources in all facets of the work that they do. Your support means the world to me!

HUMANE SUMMIT 2019