![]() ![]() ![]() The Reston, Va.-based National Association of Biology Teachers says in a policy statement that while it supports the responsible treatment of animals and the use of other classroom teaching methods when appropriate, “no alternative can substitute for the actual experience of dissection or other use of animals.” By forcing a student to take part, she added, “you may be losing an amazing scientist.”īut others say the instructional value of conducting hands-on classroom dissections cannot be matched. “Students who opt out of dissection retain just as much as their dissecting counterparts,” said Jacqueline Domac, PETA’s education policy specialist. Advances in classroom technology make it unnecessary for teachers to use dissection, according to PETA, which regards such experimentation as a cruel practice that is more likely to offend students than to inform their knowledge of biology. Proposals that guarantee students alternatives to dissection are supported by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Norfolk, Va.-based advocacy organization that describes itself as the largest such animal-rights group in the world. He called it unnecessary, given the flexibility the state already grants districts in instructional methods, as well as an impediment to research. But she noted that the Republican governor vetoed similar legislation last year. Mitt Romney, said he was still reviewing the proposal. 9 approved a measure that would require the state board of education to draw up guidelines for alternatives for students who do not want to take part in dissection. The school system has more than 150 biology teachers who might at any given point consider using dissection in class, Mr. In the past, the northern Virginia district has used Internet sites and video presentations to instruct students without using dissection, he said. “We have a wide range of students who learn in different ways.” “My only concern is that I don’t want teachers to feel limited in the activities they can present, if it’s in the interests of helping children learn,” he said. Greene is generally supportive of the state law, though he hopes it does not limit classroom participation. Students who decline to dissect sometimes do so for religious reasons, he said, or because it makes them physically uncomfortable.Īs a general rule, teachers in the district already allow students to choose alter natives to dissections, he said. Greene, the K-12 science coordinator for the county’s 166,000-student school district. In Fairfax County, Va., the number of students who typically opt out of picking up a scalpel at the laboratory table is “absolutely very minuscule,” said Jack J. Earlier this month, Massachusetts lawmakers approved a similar measure, though that proposal’s fate remains unclear. ![]() Virginia’s measure pass ed the legislature this year and took effect this fall. Nine other states have passed laws or resolutions stating that students who object to dissections be given another option, according to an animal-rights organization that has been tracking the issue. ![]()
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