Dissection Alternatives
Dissection in science classrooms is an experience that almost every student has to go through, but one that many will regret. It is estimated that six million vertebrate animals are dissected in high schools each year, and another 5.7 million are used in college laboratories. The issue of educational dissection has become a national concern. Many groups such as PETA and The Humane Society have been lobbying for years to outlaw such practices, and implement new and safe dissection alternatives. Alternatives to dissection have become more popular in recent decades and may be the future of modern science and education.
A dissection alternative is defined as an educational aid or teaching approach that replaces
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They ruled that under her First Amendment rights Jennifer could object to the dissection on moral grounds, and therefore could not be forced to participate. Jennifer’s high school then instated a student choice policy so that students who chose not to participate in dissections would be offered a viable alternative. Now there are seven states that have informed consent laws regarding classroom dissection: Florida, California, Maine, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and New York. These laws require that students must be informed of a dissection lab at the beginning of a course, and if they wish, will be provided with an alternative. There are also two states where it is mandatory that students are provided with dissection alternatives: Maryland, and Illinois.
There are also several nations that have banned educational dissection from their science curriculums. Argentina was the first in 1987, followed by Slovakia (1994), and Israel (1999). And in 2001, India banned the use of mice, rats, and frogs for any type of dissection purposes.
The main issue with statewide dissection laws is that they only apply to elementary, middle, and high schools. Colleges and Universities are not required to follow each state’s policy. This can create many problems. At one particular University, the student choice policy for dissection may very from department to department or even from teacher to teacher. This can be very confusing and
When you dissect any animal, You'll be required to cut open the frog with a scalpel, you can easily identify the basic organs and systems of the frog, explore the anatomy of the animal, and write about the basic organs. About 10 to 12 million animals are put down through dissection every year in America. Most of the dissected are caught in the wild. Commonly dissected animals caught in the wild include 7 million vertebra like frogs, turtles, sharks and countless Invertebra like grasshoppers, crawdads, and starfish. In December 1999, the Israeli Minister of Education announced an immediate ban on dissection and live-animal experimentation in the country’s schools.
Around the world, millions of scientists conduct their studies by testing their research on animals. Many people believe that experimenting on animals is crucial to the advancement of medical discoveries. Studies show however, that animal experimentation is brutal and unnecessary. There are alternatives though: “replacement, reduction, and refinement” (Howard 2).
The movie “Breaking Away” presents the story of a young man from working class origins who seeks to better himself by creating a persona through which he almost, but not quite, wins the girl. The rivalry between the townies and the college students sets the scene for the story of four friends who learn to accept themselves as they "break away" from childhood and from their underdog self-images.
The cat dissection is the culminating component of this course because it solidifies our knowledge of anatomy and physiology by applying it to a tangible specimen. Mammalian dissection provides an experience that two dimensional diagrams are incapable of and serves as an indicator of whether entering a profession that involves the application of anatomy and physiology is suitable for students in this course. The cat dissection builds on the previous dissections of the fetal pigs and other individual structures throughout the year by applying them to a cat that shares similar well-developed organs and muscles found in human anatomy. I found value in recognizing the similarities and differences not only between human and cat anatomies, but also
This is not a huge issue as the students performing the dissections are older and understand the risks of not following instructions, there is also supervision provided by the teacher to help students dispose of the pig properly.
Throughout history, animal experimentation has played an important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefits. However, what many people tend to forget are the millions of animals that are tortured or killed during the process of these painful, deadly experiments. Many people seem to misunderstand animal nature and the laboratory procedures and techniques that are executed on the animals. The procedures are cruel, unreliable, and harmful. Luckily there are more humane alternatives that have also proved to be less expensive.
More than 90 percent in about 1000 scientists around the world, “felt that animal research is essential to scientific advancement” (Yoshida, 2011). One of the reasons that animals are used in labs is because it’s affordable, especially mice, since they are “mammals, […], [they] can be bred in a controlled manner, […], kept in a controlled environment”, and they don’t live long, plus fast reproduction (LifeVantage, 2017). Even though those are for science purposes and to help improve people’s lives and medicine’s quality, no living creature deserves to be locked up and live through pain, and then thrown away like garbage.
In my human anatomy teaching laboratories, the animal dissection experience generally emphasizes the isolation and
During this lab, many procedures needed to be completed. This dissection took a week. The dissection required many steps. This dissection required an understanding of how the body works and what the organs look like. The fetal pig dissection was helpful in learning
Using animals for medical experimentation and education is a controversial subject that often leads to a heated debate. The issues are complex, but the suffering and waste involved in animal experimentation are painfully obvious. Vivisection, the act of cutting into a live animal, has led the nation down countless scientific dead ends, while detracting funds and attention from more applicable scientific research. The practice of animal experimentation at NYU continues, not because it has been proven to be an accurate and reliable means of research (which it has not) but rather, because of tradition and promotion from those with strong vested interests (i.e. Lynne Kiorpes). These values have
Ever since the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, animal research has been under extreme fire for what they do. This is mainly due to the many changing perspectives on the relationship between humans and the other aspects of the world that are surrounding them. There are many main reasons for this change, but the main reason is the different ideas that surrounded the use and exploration of animals in laboratories is what is being brought into question.
Vivea, Becky “The things you dint know about Divergent” 28 October 2013, 15 June 2015
Woody Holton reveals the motives of the Founding Fathers depend widely on individual judgment of the terms under the Articles of Confederation. Holton claims that historians excessively rely on sources by the Federalist which reveals a prejudiced Federalist view (Hollitz, 110). Woody Holton uses the writings of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to expose the Founding Fathers deeper motives in writing the Constitution. The Founding Fathers were frustrated because state legislatures had been given in to popular demands to reduce taxes and increase the money supply (for relief from the recession). While citizens were behind on their taxes; states were unable to pay interest on bonds, which crippled the government operations
Every year there are millions of animals killed for scientific purposes. The reason we use animals is because they have similar organs to humans. Researchers can gain
Science education has also been affected however. Computer programs like BioPac, used here on LSSU’s campus, help collect data and analyze it. Experiments that normally would not have been able to be accomplished or ones that would have required great lengths of time can now easily be completed in a matter of minutes. Also, internet resources can help provide ideas for experiments, with instructions on how to complete them often, and also will provide forums for students to exchange and discuss results with each other. In response to students feelings of uneasiness about dissecting real animals andinhumane treatment of test subjects,