Science Teachers and the Dissection Debate: Perspectives on Animal Dissection and Alternatives. Oakley, J. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 7(2):253--267, April, 2012.
abstract   bibtex   
This study investigated Ontario science and biology teachers' practices and attitudes toward animal dissection and dissection alternatives. The data was collected through a mixed methods approach involving online surveys (n = 153) and subsequent telephone interviews (n = 9) with secondary school science and biology teachers. The findings indicate that teachers identify strengths and drawbacks to both dissection and alternatives, but the majority continue to strongly favour traditional dissection and see it as vital to biology education. Further, although teachers expressed concerns with dissection, their concerns were overshadowed by an overall dissatisfaction with alternatives. It is argued that teachers need to engage more deeply with the ethical questions that underlie dissection and consider how its learning outcomes can be achieved through humane science education practices. It is also argued that science teacher education programs should include ethical discussions about the controversies of dissection and provide training to familiarize pre-service teachers with alternatives. (Contains 4 tables.)\textbar
@article{ oakley_science_2012,
  title = {Science Teachers and the Dissection Debate: Perspectives on Animal Dissection and Alternatives},
  volume = {7},
  issn = {1306-3065},
  shorttitle = {Science Teachers and the Dissection Debate},
  abstract = {This study investigated Ontario science and biology teachers' practices and attitudes toward animal dissection and dissection alternatives. The data was collected through a mixed methods approach involving online surveys (n = 153) and subsequent telephone interviews (n = 9) with secondary school science and biology teachers. The findings indicate that teachers identify strengths and drawbacks to both dissection and alternatives, but the majority continue to strongly favour traditional dissection and see it as vital to biology education. Further, although teachers expressed concerns with dissection, their concerns were overshadowed by an overall dissatisfaction with alternatives. It is argued that teachers need to engage more deeply with the ethical questions that underlie dissection and consider how its learning outcomes can be achieved through humane science education practices. It is also argued that science teacher education programs should include ethical discussions about the controversies of dissection and provide training to familiarize pre-service teachers with alternatives. (Contains 4 tables.){\textbar}},
  language = {en},
  number = {2},
  urldate = {2013-11-23},
  journal = {International Journal of Environmental and Science Education},
  author = {Oakley, Jan},
  month = {April},
  year = {2012},
  keywords = {Animals, biology, Computer Assisted Instruction, Ethics, Foreign Countries, Laboratory Procedures, Preservice Teacher Education, Science Instruction, Science Laboratories, Science Teachers, Secondary School Science, Secondary School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Surveys, Teaching methods},
  pages = {253--267},
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}

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