Struggling to Solve the Dissection Dilemma

-A Closer Look at Various Teaching Methods for Animal Dissection in

Science Classrooms

Presented by: Melissa M. Seiger

How about a joke?A frog telephoned the Psychic Hotline and was told, “You are going to meet a beautiful young woman who will want to know everything about you.”

The frog said, “That's great! Will I meet her at a party, or what?”

“No,” said the psychic, “Next term--in her biology class.”

Overview• One word echoes in my student’s ears and

mind…dissection• Unspoken code…not one student

questioned the concept• Rite of passage• The showdown with a student who is a

vegetarian• Restructure teaching animal anatomy• Key: finding a balance between alternative

methods and animal dissection to meet the needs of students

Presentation Purpose

• The purpose of this presentation is to convey my solution to the dissection dilemma which plagues my biology class.

Purpose of Dissection• Anatomy lesson• View and locate structures• The term dissection has come to be

associated only with animals (Berstein, 1997)

• Think outside the “box”• Dissection is an observing, questioning

activity where students can see and inquire about the internal aspects of an organism or animal, that would otherwise remain hidden and unknown (Berstein, 1997)

Since 1920’s animal dissection was used as an important teaching

method.

Today, it is still widely used among teachers, even in the face

of controversy and social pressure, prompting the use of

alternative methods.

Arguments of Dissection Supporters Advantages

• Hands-on activity

• Allows students to “test the truthfulness”

• Provides learners with “real material” and real experiences

• Provides a better understanding of natural variation

Arguments of Dissection Opponents Disadvantages

• Desensitizes students• Fosters disrespect for animal life and reinforces the

message to children that animals are here for us to exploit (Gilmore, 1991)

• Animals suffer pain and distress from capture, handling, confinement, transportation and killing methods

• Upsets the balance in nature and manipulates the gene pool

• Negative memories and messages associated with the experience

Alternative Methods to Dissection

•Include models, charts, computer simulations, lecture, videotapes, interactive videodiscs, anatomical overlays, field trips, obtaining organs from slaughterhouses, guest speakers, Internet resources, and many more creative methods.

Arguments of Alternative Dissection Methods Supporters

Advantages• Cleaner and cheaper

• Allow students to learn at their own pace

• Reduce safety considerations

• Active involvement of students

• Less time to present information and master it

• Just as efficient as actual organisms

Arguments of Alternative Dissection Methods Opponents

Disadvantages• No model is complete

• No simulation can replicate an actual organism

• Media fails to provide a full sensory experience

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More Dissection Comics

Background of my Personal Dissection Experience

• Early dreams

• Junior High dissection experience

• High school dissection experience

• Higher education dissection experience

Classroom Dissection Experience• Shock treatment and traditionalism

• PA Law: Must provide three weeks notice and an alternative

• Questioning the unspoken code

• The dissection dilemma

• “The Peanut Activity”

• Computer simulation, overlays, and models

• The solution: power of choice, challenge, connection, and comfort.

Summing-Up

• Opening the mind to change• The word, “dissection” is powerless• Views changed do to the acquisition of

knowledge stepping stones required for crossing the raging and controversial dissection river

• Trial and error process• A teachers goal is to have students succeed

by any means that will spark their curiosity and excitement for learning.