title: Biology teachers' attitudes to dissection and alternatives.
abstract: A survey of 5000 American middle and high school level biology teachers was completed to assess attitudes and classroom practice relating to dissection and alternative teaching methods. A preliminary sample of 494 respondents revealed that 79% of teachers used dissection to teach biology. While 72% believed that dissection was an important part of the curriculum, 17% disagreed; 69% considered dissection to be an essential hands-on activity. While 31% believed that alternatives were as good as dissection for teaching anatomy and physiology, 55% disagreed. The primary reason given for continuing dissection, rather than exclusively using alternatives, was the hands-on aspect of dissection (69%). While the majority (66%) of biology teachers favoured student choice between dissection and other learning methods, 20% disagreed. Although the effectiveness of alternative methods has been documented, and ethical arguments against dissection have been advanced, the mainstream introduction of humane alternatives to dissection requires a transformation of the beliefs, experience and practice of biology teachers.
authors.affiliation: The Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA. Iking@hsus.org
authors.forename: Lesley A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: Andrew N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Rowan
mesh_terms: D000826:Animal Testing Alternatives; D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D001290:Attitude; D001695:Biology / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D004210:Dissection; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans