| Autumn
2003 • Volume XII, Number 4
Dissection Alternatives: Choosing Better and
More Humane Teaching Methods
By Megha Even
 PCRM
has launched a new Web site to help students and teachers find and
use first-rate alternatives to animal dissection—a practice
that is steadily being eliminated in schools nationwide, and for
good reason.
While dissection was intended to interest students in science,
it often has the opposite effect. Many educators feel that teaching
science while preserving compassion and respect for life makes better
sense for everyone.
Computer dissection software also saves money, leaves natural ecosystems
intact, eliminates the risks of chemical exposure, and offers a
superior learning experience. Dissection lacks a key step in the
learning process—repetition. Once an animal is cut apart,
the exercise cannot be performed again. However, computerized techniques
allow students to explore human or animal anatomy as often as they
like, until they have fully grasped the information.
The
Answer Is Right at Your Fingertips
DissectionAlternatives.org
is an online resource available to students and teachers around
the world 24 hours a day. Oftentimes, students who oppose dissection
are not fully prepared to work with their schools to receive fair
alternative options and a fair grade. This new site offers an extensive
list of scientific software designers with contact information,
advice from physicians and students on instituting a choice policy,
demos to try out, and information about the increasing push to end
animal experimentation, not just in grade schools, but in the country’s
top medical schools and research laboratories.
 Advanced Classrooms
Here are some of the great educational alternatives available:
- The award-winning Digital Frog 2 allows students to “dissect”
a computer-generated frog with a digital scalpel. Animations,
quizzes, and movies help make biology fun. Visit www.digitalfrog.com.
- Tangent Scientific’s DryLab series features humane programs
for studying the frog, crayfish, perch, rat, fetal pig, or earthworm.
Visit www.tangentscientific.com.
- NeoTek offers a frog dissection computer lab and software to
study many other species. Visit www.neotek.com.
- ScienceWorks offers frog dissection CD-ROMs, plus many other
programs. Check out www.k12sciencestore.com.
For a more complete analysis of dissection issues and alternatives,
contact us for our new brochure “Alternatives to Dissection.”
Call 202-686-2210, ext. 327, or email research@pcrm.org
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